77ª Reunión Anual de ICOLD y XXIII Congreso Internacional de Grandes Presas
Brasilia 2009
- May 29, 2009
INVITATION
On behalf of the International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD) it is my pleasure to invite all the ICOLD delegates and dam experts to attend and actively participate in the 23rd INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON LARGE DAMS and in the 77th ANNUAL MEETING, which will be held in Brasilia, Brazil, in May 2009.
These events will carry out after more than eighty years of existence of ICOLD. As ICOLD was established in 1928, in 2008 the Committee has been celebrating 80 years of its activity. Thus ICOLD, which has a strong and permanent structure that has been adapting and adjusting itself throughout the years to achieve its aims of working for the benefit of society, continues to hold its Congresses, Meetings, Conferences and Symposiums, where its participants provide accounts of the state of the art where dams are concerned, explain how dams contribute to sustainable development and its management, taking into account the importance of technical, economic, social and environmental aspects.
The Congress and the Annual Meeting are being held in Brazil, in its capital, the City of Brasília. In the past, the Brazilian Committee on Dams has successfully organised two Executive Meetings (in 1966 and 2002), and one Congress in Rio in 1982. And on this occasion it has taken on the challenge of organising yet another International Congress that, as is usually the case, it will do with great technical brilliance and excellent organisation, to show us all Brazil’s great natural beauty. Furthermore, the country’s excellent dam experts will be showing us their achievements, as well as the role that dams have played in developing the nation and generating hydropower.
Brazil is one of the largest states in the world, and has major rivers with abundant water resources. Brazil is also a nation that plays a very important role in the field of large and very large dams. The country has some of the largest dams in the world, and I think dam experts would find it extremely interesting to see with their own eyes, the Brazilian experience in planning, constructing and operating large dams in harmony with the environment. Brazil has enormous hydropower potential, and therefore it also has great possibilities for developing this type of clean and renewable energy.
ICOLD is the world’s leading professional organization, dedicated to advancing the art and science of dam engineering and promoting a wise and sustainable development and management of the world’s water and hydropower resources, and ICOLD is now focused on the dissemination of dam technology in favor of the developing countries.
Therefore, the subjects that are going to be discussed at this Conference are all issues that are essential to dam engineering and the role played by dams in achieving sustainable development:
- DAMS AND HYDROPOWER
- MANAGEMENT OF SILTATION IN EXISTING AND NEW RESERVOIRS
- UPGRADING OF EXISTING DAMS
- DAM SAFETY MANAGEMENT
The ICOLD Technical Committees are also going to meet during the Annual Meeting; these Committees, with more than 400 experts from all over the world, are responsible for analyzing and proposing the latest breakthroughs in the area of dams, which will subsequently be published in the ICOLD Bulletins. ICOLD will also be holding an Executive Meeting, at which the 88 members countries of the organization will develop the policies and processes that have to be implemented in the next few years.
All these interesting activities are going to take place in the centre of the country, in the City de Brasilia, which has been the capital of Brazil since 1960, since it took over these functions from Rio de Janeiro. Brasilia is a new and very interesting city, declared by UNESCO to be a Historical and Cultural Heritage of Humanity, where one can see and appreciate the architectural marvels of Oscar Niemeyer.
That is why I urge you to accompany us at our forthcoming ICOLD CONGRESS
Luis Berga
ICOLD President