Last month, the new 6-year agreement between the Government of the Netherlands and UNESCO (signed during ISARM2021 closing session) became effective. This new chapter also comes with a reshaped governing board. With Koos Wieriks as chair and Mariëlle van der Zouwen, Abou Amani and Dominique Berod as members, the governing board holds extensive expertise and experience, representing UNESCO, WMO and both the government and knowledge institutes of the Netherlands. Below, all members are further introduced.
IGRAC Governing Board
Koos Wieriks |Governing Board Chair | IGRAC
Koos Wieriks has more than 40 years experience in the fields of water management, drinking water and sanitation, disaster risk reduction, IWRM, sustainable and coastal development.
He served a.o. as board member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, personal advisor water management of the Prince of Orange, Secretary General of the International Commission for the Protection of the River Rhine and as as principal advisor for the national capital integrated coastal development project in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Mariëlle van der Zouwen | Management Team Member | KWR Water
Mariëlle van der Zouwen leads the Knowledge Management Research group and is a member of the management team. With the experts in the group, she gives shape to the connecting role of KWR. This role can be seen in the management and further development of national and international knowledge and innovation models. Over recent years, Mariëlle has been working on the structure of the knowledge group. This takes place together with colleagues by setting up applied research in the area of water-knowledge infrastructure and management and governance for a resilient, urban water cycle and through professionalisation of communication activities.
Abou Amani, Director | Division of Water Sciences | UNESCO IHP
Abou Amani joined the IHP's Division of Water Sciences in January 2016 as the Chief of the Section on Hydrological Systems and Water Scarcity.
In this position, based at the Paris Headquarters, he led and guided Section activities that provided Member States with improved knowledge, capacity, policy advice, methodologies and tools for addressing water related disasters, hydrological change and water scarcity challenges.
Dominique Berod | Head, Earth System Monitoring Division | WMO
Dominique Berod is the Head of the Earth System monitoring Division at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). He is responsible for WMO activities on water, cryosphere and ocean monitoring and information systems.