FRIEND (Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data) is a contribution to the International Hydrology Programme (IHP) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and aims to develop better understanding of hydrological variability and similarity across time and space, through mutual exchange of data, knowledge and techniques at a regional level. The project was founded in 1985 by a small international team of European scientists, who sought to realise operational benefits from the vast amount of information gathered from representative and experimental basins across northern Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. The outcome of their work attracted considerable attention and its merits ensured that FRIEND evolved through several successive phases.

LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN REGION FRIEND AMIGO PROJECT

The FRIEND AMIGO project was launched in 1999 covering the Meso American and Caribbean Region, but since 2004, this project has extended its activities to the whole Latin American and Caribbean Region. As part of the FRIEND community, the objective of this regional project is to develop analytical tools to understand and to characterize the hydrological cycle processes and to establish specialized databases of reference. In its conceptual platform, the FRIEND AMIGO also includes an important component of training, directed to reinforce the capacity of the national hydrological services to evaluate the water resources.