An Approach to Establishing the Asia-Pacific Water Museum in ...

An Approach to Establishing the
Asia-Pacific Water Museum
in Pathum Thani, Thailand
Contact:
Toshihiro Sonoda/Alexander Otte
International Hydrological Programme
Division of Water Sciences
UNESCO
t.sonoda@unesco.org/a.otte@unesco.org
www.unesco.org/water/ihp

Presentation’s
Objectives
© M. Lattanzi
• Introduce the project of the Asia-Pacific
Water Museum (APWM)
• Familiarize with UNESCO’s s involvement
• Invite participation to work together to
establish the Asia-Pacific Water Museum

The Asia-Pacific
Water Museum
- Background and context -
© A. Otte
Initiative of the Government of Thailand:
King Rama IX Museum Project, one of
the 99 commemorative project’s s on the
occasion of the 80 th anniversary of HM
King Bhumibol.
• The National Science Museum of Thailand incorporated APWM as
the 5th institution in the development plan, next to the King Rama IX
Reservoir.
• The Japan Water Forum (JWF) and the National Science Museum
of Thailand (NSM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the
establishment of the Asia-Pacific Water Museum in June 2007.

The National Science Museum of Thailand,
APWF Secretariat and UNESCO:
Towards the Asia-Pacific Water Museum
© A. Otte
Asia-Pacific Water Summit,
Beppu, Japan, December 2007
Joint press briefing of NSM,
HE the Ambassador of Thailand to Japan,
APWF Secretariat and UNESCO:
“Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the Asia-Pacific Water Museum
will present scientific, historical and cultural information related to water.
The Museum will serve as a regional platform that can make a valuable
contribution to sustainable water management by educating the public
about the complex human-water interrelationship in Asia and the Pacific.”
The Asia-Pacific Water Museum Project was launched at the
Asia-Pacific Water Summit as a concrete initiative within the Key
Result Area 1: Developing knowledge and lessons of the Asia-
Pacific Water Forum.

Strategic Objectives of the Asia-Pacific Water Museum
(Proposals only, consultation and partnership-building necessary for confirmation.)
Knowledge sharing and more efficient capacity-building are
essential to improving the world’s s water situation.
International Objectives:
- Contribute to MDGs;
- promoting understanding
and awareness of the
importance of water through:
exhibitions, educational
activities, public
programmes, symposia,
meetings, and information.
National Objectives:
- Provide visitors, notably
young people, with a unique
experience and an opportunity
to improve their understanding
of issues related to water
management and the need for
individual and collective action
and ethics.
© A. Otte
Regional Objectives:
- Act as a regional information
hub for water-related issues and
activities;
- Raise awareness of the
interconnectedness of water
issues in the Asia-Pacific region
across national boundaries and
show how these issues are
related to each other;
- Strengthen the network of
water-related museums in the
Asia-Pacific region;
- Serve as a forum for regional
water networks, such as the
Mekong Commission;
- Contribute to regional efforts to
achieve MDGs.

UNESCO inputs towards APWM
UNESCO established a working group of units in charge of the development elopment of museums,
water management, water, ecology and science education, tangible and intangible heritage
to provide a consolidated input to the Asia-Pacific
Water Museum Project.
• UNESCO is able to offer major inputs to the project, having both long-
standing expertise and worldwide networks on water sciences and
hydrology, and expertise on the historical and contemporary cultural
ural
role played by water.
• Technical assistance in conceptualization, helping to support a
regional planning process leading to a sustainable, world-class
institution, , i.e., assist the national working group in conceptualizing
APWM as
- a science centre with strong educational aims,
- an institution where genuine dialogue between members of the
public can take place on topics related to water and culture and
where participation and interaction are encouraged.

Coverage of the Asia-Pacific Water Museum
- Geographic scope and examples of possible content -
© UNESCO
Qanats, created by the ancient Persians some 2,800
years ago, are still providing water to 60% of the
irrigated land in Iran and spread around the globe.
“Hydraulic city” of Angkor, , in which religious and secular buildings were
connected to larger canals, surrounding moats and ritual basins.
Angkor Vat complex (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Qanat Kerman, Iran
© jurvetson/flickr
© hadifooladi/flickr

Coverage of the Asia-Pacific Water Museum
- Geographic scope and examples of possible content, cont’d -
Rama IX detention pond, Pathum Thani, Thailand
© UNESCO
The rice terraces of Ifugao, , Philippine Cordilleras, have
helped to create a beautiful landscape expressing
harmony with the environment for some 2,000 years.
Hydraulic achievements of HM King Bhumibol of Thailand,
e.g. “Monkey Cheek Dam”
The region as a whole contains many other
such examples of tangible, modern and
historical structures
.The Museum will also
represent Asia-Pacific
Pacific’s intangible heritage
related to water, such as feasts and rituals.
© StormCrypt/flickr
(UNESCO World Heritage Site)

Water Exhibition and Virtual Museum (plan)
Spirit of Water: 2003 Exhibition in Kyoto, Japan /
since 2009 permanently in Rabat, Morocco;
Virtual Water Museum (planned)

International Working Group
• Representatives from the Thai National Science Museum, the
Japan Water Forum and UNESCO will form the core of an
international working group that will invite the participation of
international and regional organizations working in fields relating to
water, as well as of museums and other cultural institutions working
in the field of water and culture.

The first phase of collaboration between
NSM, JWF, UNESCO focuses on:
(UNESCO’s s suggestions)
• sharing the organizations’ knowledge and experience in
the Museum planning process, to
• shape the vision of the Museum and further define its
mission,
• identify its staffing and budgetary needs, develop a
collections policy and exhibitions strategy, and create
an educational and public-service agenda.
• The planning process will involve consultation among
regional experts, key partner agencies and international
technical experts. Only a strategy of this sort will be able
to ensure the Museum’s long-term success.

Invitation to APWF:
Working together
towards the
Asia-Pacific Water Museum
©AFP
• Mobilize networks: experts, partner institutions, UNESCO Category y II
Centres;
• Identify water museums in the Asia-Pacific Region:
• Communicate about water museums in the region with the
International Working Group;
• share experiences and concepts;
• Envisage contributing to regional expert meetings;
• Integrate the Asia-Pacific Water Museum in the Asia-Pacific Water
Forum’s Network of Regional Water Knowledge Hubs.

Rama IX Museum at National Science Museum,
Technopolis, Pathumthani

• Klong 5 , Pathum Thani
• Next to Science Museum
and Rama IX Reservoir
- Land area 42 Rai
- Total indoor space 30,000 sq.meter
-Construction period 4 years
- Total Budget 1,800 M. Baht

Thank you very much.
Contact:
Toshihiro Sonoda / Alexander Otte
International Hydrological Programme
Division of Water Sciences
UNESCO
t.sonoda@unesco.org / a.otte@unesco.org
www.unesco.org/water/ihp