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WATER COOPERATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND POVERTY ERADICATIONManaging water: from local wisdomto modern scienceIgnasius D. A. Sutapa, Executive Secretary, Asia Pacific Centre for EcohydrologyThe Asia Pacific Centre for Ecohydrology (APCE) is acategory II centre of the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Itfocuses on ecological approaches to water resources management,to provide sustainable water for the people by harnessingscience and technology, education and culture. APCE is committedto contributing towards overcoming current and importantissues of national, regional and global interest, such as poverty,climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.Several activities have been planned to help achieve this objective.These activities benefit from the results of past and current researchactivities conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)and its partners.APCE has and develops expertise and experience in:• relationships between ecological pattern and hydrological process• disturbance and dynamics in natural and anthropogenic ecologyand hydrology• ecohydrological approaches to biodiversity conservation,environmental management and ecological restoration• integrating hydrology with ecological planning,design and architecture• transdisciplinary studies of regional sustainability fromthe perspectives of ecohydrology, ecology or both.Some recent activities are detailed below.Integrated Flood Analysis System courseThe Asia and Pacific region has various climate characteristicsthat put it at risk from hydrometeorologicalhazards which are often associated with extreme events.Some countries in the region are vulnerable to floods,and the annual flood losses are too high for any governmentto bear.A technical course was organized based on the frameworkof the Flood Forecasting and Warning Systemwhich was conducted in 10 countries (Australia,Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao People’s DemocraticRepublic, Malaysia, the Philippines, the Republic ofKorea, Thailand and Vietnam). This Integrated FloodImage: APCEOne of the constructed wetlands used to improve domestic wastewater treatment[ 188 ]