The negative consequences of extreme hydrological events have increased due to the increase of human settlements in disaster prone areas. Many people around the world are impacted every year by water-related disasters. Flood frequency statistics have changed in recent years due to the variations in climate and land use changes. These need to be revised to raise the resilience of hydraulic structures during flood events. For example, in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa countries, engineers and managers have been using tools and guidelines developed since the 60-70s for the design of hydraulic infrastructures despite the huge ecological and climate variability observed.
IHP VIII encourages the development of scientific and methodological basis for hydrology and water sciences to prepare and respond to extreme events. Research in river flow formation processes, methods of hydrological calculations and forecasting, mathematical and numerical modeling and improvements to the theory of channel processes and sedimentation are among the research topics suggested by Member States.