The annual meeting of the Commission in 2024 was held in conjunction with the 35^th IGC in Dublin from 26-30 August. Our Commission applied for a total six different sessions themes (for details please refer to our Annual Report 2023), which were complemented by another three session themes proposed by non-members and allocated by the LOC to our commission. In order to better align topics and stay within the agreed scope of the Commission we strongly suggest for the next time to consult with affected Commissions before unilateral session proposals are allocated to them. Nevertheless, the close collaboration at the conference between prof. WINDE and the chairs of the added sessions (Ms Renee GRUNDLING: wetlands, Dr Seema RANI: water management) proved to be successful. Dr. RANI later also became a member of the Commission.

The nine themes originally resulted in a total of 18 sessions attracting some 89 submission (75 oral, 14 posters). All submissions had to be reviewed by the proposed session chairs, which for the five themes submitted by our Commission amounted to 37 abstracts reviewed by the chair. Eventually, the following sessions were approved and held:

• Water resources management and planning (3 sessions, 11 papers)
• Advances in hydrological methodology and water management (1 session, 5 papers)
• Emerging water issues – anticipating research and new solutions (1 session, 3 papers)
• ‘Clean water and sanitation for all’ – opportunities and challenges to still achieve SDG 6 by 2030 (1 session, 3 papers)
• Urban water crises – the new normal? (1 session, 3 papers)
• Wetlands: changing landforms under changing environmental and climatic conditions (1 session, 4 papers)
• PFAS in the freshwater environment: occurrence, pathways and monitoring (1 session, 3 papers)
• Geographies of rivers and floodplains (1 session, 3 papers)

In total, the Commission covered eight different themes in 10 sessions and 35 papers. In the seven sessions I attended there was only one no show (Mr. RAI). Generally, all presentations were of good to very good quality with a few discussions suffering from the language barrier.

At the congress, our member Dr. Gabriela MOROSANU from the Romanian Academy in Bucharest received the 2024 Early Career Award in Geography of the IGU, a well-deserved recognition of here work and achievement on which the Commission cordially congratulates her.

In contrast to other congresses, talks started already on Sunday. In my view, extending conference into weekends is not to be encouraged as the frequent travelling of many academics already puts significant strain on family live.

Unfortunately, the envisaged water-related field trip specifically for our Commission did not materialise despite the promising early attempts to liaise with the local colleagues in Dublin. However, a general field trip open to all participants to the Glendalough valley also touched onb water issues and related impacts of mining

Preparatory work

The Commission envisages to actively participate in the upcoming 35^th IGC from 25-30 August 2024 in Dublin, Ireland. In August 2023 the following proposals have been submitted to the LOC via the provided online platform and distributed to all members. In total, eight sessions were tentatively approved/ allocated for/to our Commission. The corresponding call for abstracts opened on 3 October 2023 and closes on 12 January 2024. A reminder to submit abstracts to the approved sessions has been sent out by the chair to all members on 25 October 2023.

‘Clean water and sanitation for all’ – opportunities and challenges to still achieve SDG 6 by 2030
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.

Urban water crises – the new normal?
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.

Emerging water issues – anticipating research and new solutions
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.

Advances in hydrological methodology and water management
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.

Problems in the face of plenty: water issues on the Emerald Isle; Open session
Status: not approved; The two generic reason provided by the LOC for rejecting session proposals were both not applicable to session 5 leaving it unclear why the proposal has been rejected.

In addition to the sessions above, Prof. H. Beckedahl, in consultations with the chair, submitted a special proposal on wetlands:

Wetlands: Changing landforms under changing environmental and climatic conditions
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.

Furthermore, the LOC decided to allocate the following three sessions to our Commission unilaterally submitted by non-Commission members, explaining a certain degree of overlap with the sessions listed above:

Geographies of rivers and floodplains
Chairs: Emily Rick1,2, Dr. Jonathan Turner1, Kate De Smeth1; 1University College Dublin, School of Geography, Dublin, Ireland. 2Teagasc Research Centre, Wexford, Ireland
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.

PFAS in the freshwater environment: occurrence, pathways and monitoring
Chairs: Dr Susan Hegarty1, Prof Fiona Regan1, Prof Jennifer Tank2; 1DCU, Dublin, Ireland. 2University of Notre Dame, South Bend, USA)
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.

Water resources management and planning
Chairs: Dr. Seema Rani; Dept of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India)
Status: approved under the conditions that a minimum of four corresponding papers are submitted and accepted.