| Back to REPORTS | The Declaration of the Establishment Flood and sediment disasters are on the increase, and the annual average number of people affected by these disasters now amount ed s to some 130 million. This exceeds the number of people suffering from severe drought and famine, which were the most serious types of disaster in the 1970s. In addition, the total damage caused by natural disasters in the 90s was over 60 8 0 billion US dollars, five times that of the 70s and 15 times that of the 50s , showing a trend of increase . The world 's population is expected to exceed 8 billion in by 2025, and, unless appropriate countermeasures are taken, uncontrolled development in upstream areas in developing countries without appropriate countermeasures will almost certainly result in increased flood damage due to the greater further concentration of population , ( most notably the poor , ) in disaster-prone areas. This will make it difficult to break the vicious cycle of poverty. We can only break out of this situation if there is a new commitment to share information and experience and to cooperate at global level in the f ight against floods. For this, we need a n effective means of communication and cooperation between all concerned. We need a new global network, for the concentration of facts, opinions and commitments. A wide range of measures have been developed and implemented to combat the threat of flooding. Research workers, central and local government agencies, NGOs and even local residents groups have been very active in this work throughout the world. However, unfortunately , information on these measures and lessons learnt from their application have not always been shared between projects and with policy workers because the flood issues are usually seen only always recognized as a local problems with a and lower status of on the political agenda. To this end, we are hereby pleased to declare the establishment of International Flood Network on this special occasion of the 3rd World Water Forum. The objective of the Network, agreed to by the participating governments, international organizations, NGOs and individuals is to exchange information on positive experience in flood disaster mitigation so as to encourage its practical use in reducing the death and destruction caused by floods throughout the world. We open the extend the linkages of International Flood Network to all who wish to par ticipate in every countr y so that the edge of the world for making the peoples of the world will benefit better off both socially and economically through IFNet . We would like all of you to participate in IFNet and invite you willing to collaborate with us for the enrichment and development of the Network. Kyoto , 19 th of March 2003 Ryosuke Kikuchi Director General International Flood Network ^ to top