UN water prize for PIK researcher Zbigniew Kundzewicz

 “I am extremely pleased, honored, and humbled to have been selected to receive the prestigious Surface Water Prize, recognizing my contributions to flood science”, said Kundzewicz in his accepting speech during an event held virtually on March 22 in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the “Implementation of the Water-Related Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda.”

He stressed the importance of continuing to research the links between floods and climate change and variability. “During my 46-year career in water science and engineering, I have dealt with a wide range of issues and problems related to destructive abundance of water and the many dimensions of flooding and flood science. Floods continue to play havoc all over the world. They kill thousands of people annually and cause financial and economic losses of the order of tens of billions of US dollars. I hope that this Prize will continue to inspire younger scientists and researchers to work hard and to try to obtain relevant, practice-oriented, results.”