As chairman of the Steering Committee of the International Sediment Initiative it is a honor for me to provide a short speech related to the IRTCES Silver Jubilee.

First of all I congratulate IRTCES for the excellent work which has been done in the fields of training and education, in the exchange of knowledge, in consultation and in the worldwide cooperation with a large number of institutions involved in sediment issues. Because of the efforts of IRTCES many sediment related problems could be solved. This is very important due to the fact that erosion and sedimentation processes and management are increasingly important in all parts of the world. Erosion and sedimentation processes have significant socio-economic and environmental impacts.

The need to strengthen the awareness of the importance of sediment problems was also recognized by the member countries of UNESCO-International Hydrological Programme and as a result the International Sediment Initiative ISI has been set-up. The vision of ISI is the advancement of sustainable sediment management at global scale. In this context ISI focuses on economic, social and ecological aspects related to sedimentation. Main activities are: Global evaluation of erosion and sediment transport, case studies illustrating all features of sediment, review of global erosion and sediment-related research, capacity building for sustainable sediment management and networking.

ISI activities fit excellent with the objectives of IRTCES. To strengthen the cooperation between ISI and IRTCES, the secretariat of ISI has been implemented into IRTCES. I would like to thank the Chinese government, Dr. Hu and especially Dr. Liu Cheng for the perfect support given by IRTCES to ISI.

With this thank I would like to finish and wish all the best for the future of IRTCES.