Our vital resource, the protection of water nowadays: Interview with Professor Dr. András Szöllősi-Nagy

Abstract

Dr. András Szöllősi-Nagy is an internationally renowned professor, by qualification an engineer, hydrologist. Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (management of hydrology and water management systems). He has been a visiting professor at several foreign universities (Sweden, Canada, Thailand, China). For twenty years he was Secretary of the UNESCO International Hydrology Programme in Paris, and he was Deputy Director- General of UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector for ten years. For the past five years, he has been rector of the UNESCO-IHE Institute of Water Science in Delft, the Netherlands. He is professor of Stochastic Hydrology at Delft University of Technology and at the UNESCO-IHE. His main research interests are stochastic hydrological systems and recursive forecasting algorithms, as well as the hydrological effects of sustainable development and climate change. Lecturer at the Faculty of Water Sciences of the University of Public Service, Honorary Doctor of the University of Debrecen. His professional opinion and resolutions – given his professional career so far – serve as a credible and effective guide for responsible water professionals. We asked the professor about how science serves national water management, what has happened so far and what we still need to do to conserve available water resources, and how extreme situations and epidemics affect these activities.