World Water Week Daily 26 August 2015

STOCKHOLM
waterfront
world water week daily | WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST | 2015
Water diplomacy maps
complex future
Prof Seifeldin H. Abdalla
TEXT | nick chipperfield PHOTO | mikael ullén
The complexity of inter-state water
management was thrown into sharp
relief during a standing-room-only
session yesterday on strengthening
water diplomacy for transboundary
co-operation.
“As water resources become
more scarce, the interdependencies
between water, energy,
food, regional security […] are
becoming much more pronounced,
so there’s a real need for
people to look across these suite of
issues and find solutions that countries
can live by,” Dr Aaron Salzberg,
special co-ordinator for water resourc-
published by stockholm international water institute
es at the US Department of State,
told WaterFront.
He described water diplomacy as
“the process of facilitating dialogue
on shared waters.”
“It’s about how you bring parties
together, how you support [them] in
achieving their interests, their needs
and their desires on the shared water
problem, and about finding peaceful
ways to resolve some of those differences,”
he said.
Aaron Salzberg
“It’s crucial to shift thinking
from allocation to sharing”
Panel members
stressed the
importance of
political will to
make complex water
agreements work.
“Countries have to
be committed.
They have to be a
willing to work through differences,”
Salzberg said.
Other key elements for effective
water diplomacy were identified as
reliable data – which is trusted by
all parties – practical help, in terms
of legal and negotiating advice and
technical support, as well as financial
resources.
Prof Seifeldin H. Abdalla, chairman
of the Water Resources Technical
Organ, Ministry of Water Resources
and Electricity, Sudan emphasized the
importance of transforming “rigid”
understandings of water quality into
flexible approaches which see water as
a sustainable, shared resource.
“It’s crucial to shift thinking from
allocation to sharing,” Abdalla said.
Abdalla pointed to the Nile Basin
Initiative in 1999, and other agreements
in Africa and the Middle East,
as successes of water diplomacy.
He cautioned, however, that mistrust
and sovereignty issues are
“never far from the surface” between
nation states.
“Most countries believe that they
have untapped potential in water
resources, and as they seek to exploit
them, without effective co-operation
this could cause problems in the future,”
he said.
“The tradeoffs
that I
think we’re
going to have
to make will
cut across
sectors. It’s not going to be about
trading water in one place with water
in another. So I think there’s going
to be a future for water diplomacy,”
Salzberg said.

WEDNESDAY: WORLD WATER WEEK DAILY
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP KEY
TO SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN
Inclusive business models
and the integration
of effective water management
into supply
chain cost structures
were hot topics at a
session convened by the
Ruth Mathews
Alliance for Water Stewardship
and the Water Footprint Network,
which looked at how a world of nine billion
people could be fed sustainably.
“Inclusive business models can make a
big difference. We need to build a synergy
between global actors, big corporates and
local existing water users,” said Timothy
Williams of the International Water
Management Institute.
Enhancing multi-stakeholder approaches
NUMBER OF
THE DAY
Photo by: Mustafah Abdulaziz
163,812 KM
A FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIP
In 2011, New York-born photographer
Mustafah Abdulaziz embarked on his
global project “Water”. Yesterday he took
a seat on the SIWI sofa.
“Photography is a universal language
and water applies to all of us.
I wanted to make it more human,
– combining competences from the private
and public sectors – managing supply
chain risk, as well as reconciling local,
national and global interests, were identified
as key to ensuring sustainable food
production.
Ruth Mathews, executive director of the
Water Footprint Network, told WaterFront
that while many actors wanted, and indeed
needed, to take these steps, the lack of
structures to make such steps legal obligations,
irrespective of economic costs, was
obstructing progress.
“If we can make that transition, so that
the aim of successful business and successful
economies is sustainable development,
then we’ve got the environment and economy
happening together,” she said.
AREA IN THE US COVERED BY LAWNS,
2 EQUALING FIVE TIMES THE SIZE OF
BELGIUM. (SOURCE: NASA)
create something where the viewer can
feel, think and imagine. People often describe
what’s happening with water, but
under the descriptions lies a wealth of
emotions. My goal is to incorporate that
human touch and show our fundamental
relationship to water.”
CORRUPTION
HAMPERS
WATER ACCESS
Women are primary victims
of corruption – and the
water sector is no exception.
“Corruption can be
defined in many ways and
comes in many forms, we recognize
it when we encounter
it and we are increasingly
aware of its detrimental effects.
According to the World
Bank, 20 to 40 per cent of
water sector finances are lost
to dishonest practices,” said
Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, chair
of Global
Water Partnership,
in
yesterday’s
session
Don’t
cheat on
us! Gender
dimensions
in water
corruption.
Anyone who is serious
about achieving universal
Dr Ursula Schaefer-Preuss
access and sustainable use of
water resources must therefore
address corruption as a
major obstacle, she added.
Moa Cortobius from
SIWI went into more detail,
presenting findings from a
recent research project. She
spoke of how women have a
broader definition of corruption.
“They include nonfulfilment
of government
responsibilities, discrimination
and sexual and physical
abuse,” she said.
Cortobius also highlighted
some of the recommendations
from the research
projects. The essence of it
being that: “Anti-corruption
activities need to address
the forms of corruption that
specifically affect women.
Also, women need to be fully
engaged in anti-corruption
and integrity initiatives,”
she said.

It’s all
about the
vision
TEXT | görrel espelund PHOTO |mikael ullén
Stockholm Water Prize Laureate Rajendra
Singh wants to engage the young
generation in the endeavour to create
a better planet. It all starts with a
change of mind.
Shri Rajendra Singh
“We need to change the way the young
are educated. In schools and universities
they don’t learn how to protect
nature, rather they are taught to abuse
our natural resources. I am trying to
change that through educational institutions
where we form study groups to
take action and stop the exploitation
of our resources.”
Singh has been busy in Stockholm
and on several occasions he has had
the opportunity to tell how he – as a
medical doctor – arrived in a small
community in Rajasthan only to
realize that the inhabitants were not
interested in his medical knowledge.
They were interested in water.
Some 30 years later, the traditional
methods that he’d learnt from an old
villager have brought water to more
than 1,200 villages.
A VISION OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Addressing the issue of water and sanitation from a human
rights perspective yesterday, vision speaker Catarina
de Albuquerque, Executive Chair of the Sanitation and
Water for All Partnership, spoke about the importance of
accountability. This is something that was not built into
the MDGs, but must, according to de Albuquerque, be
part of the SDG framework.
“Water is a core human rights principle, and for human
rights to be fully enforced,
governments and other
duty bearers should be held
to account if they don’t
comply,” she said, adding:
“Existing structures should
be used and adapted to
perform this function.”
Catarina de Albuquerque
“Just like the old farmer passed on
knowledge to me, I want to teach the
young. I don’t do lectures, I take the
students out on small excursions in
nature.”
Another theme close to his heart it
the relationship between water, nature
and peace. He makes it sound very
simple: if we keep the water healthy,
people will stay healthy. But if we
pollute the rivers and misuse our water
resources, we create tension between
people.
“Water is life for everybody. Before
we used to talk about war over
resources such as land and oil, today
water is a resource that can lead to
tension. So to ensure peace, we need
to keep the water clean.”
Singh has been dubbed “the Water
Man of India” – but it wasn’t until
The 2015 Stockholm Junior
Water Prize was last night
awarded to Perry Alagappan
from United States.
Alagappan has used the
power of nanotechnology to
create a fully renewable and
sustainable filter that can
remove 99 per cent of heavy
metal contaminants from
water.
“I don’t think it has sunken
he received the Stockholm Water
Prize that the authorities in his home
country started to pay attention to his
work, he points out.
“After the announcement of the
award many state governments have
started to listen to me. They want to
know about my models and replicate
the work in their own states.”
But to bring about real change takes
more than new policies and campaigns,
it is all about community engagement.
To get people involved, they
must be part of the decision-making
process and sense the ownership of
the project, Singh explains.
“The most important thing is to
change people’s mind-set. The vision
must come first – only then can we
bring in technical solutions.”
2015 STOCKHOLM JUNIOR WATER
PRIZE WINNER
Perry Alagappan
recieved the prize from
H.R.H. Crown Princess
Victoria of Sweden.
in completely yet. It’s such an honour to win,” said Alagappan
shortly after receiving the award.
”I want to launch this study as open source technology that
other can use and build upon in their research,” he added.

BIG VARIATIONS IN MENA CLIMATE PROJECTION
TEXT |andreas karlsson PHOTO | mikael ullén
Allowing global mean temperature
to increase by two degrees Celsius
will have a huge, and in many parts
devastating, impact on the Arab region.
Dr Phil Graham
Data from the Swedish Meteorological
and Hydrological Institute, SMHI,
shows that temperatures will increase,
precipitation patterns will change, as
will river runoff. But the differences
within the region are considerable.
SMHI has conducted a study of
how climate change will affect North
Africa and South-west Asia as part
of the Regional Initiative for the
Assessment of the Impact of Climate
Change on Water Resources and Socio-
Economic Vulnerability in the Arab
Region, RICCAR. Dr Phil Graham from
SMHI spoke at a session yesterday,
confirming that the sub-regional
variation in projected reaction to
climate change is substantial.
“Different sub-regions will respond
differently to climate change, meaning
that there is a need for more detailed
studies and strategies,” he said.
He also pointed out that for
some sub-regions the data shows
a considerable uncertainty, which
should not be mistaken for a lack of
information.
“It might seem like disappointing
news which doesn’t tell us anything.
But that is not true. What we now
know for sure for certain sub-regions
is that it is very difficult to say what
the future holds for various scenarios.
This is also a result which is important
to take into account,” Graham said.
world water week voices
what do you think will be the buzz topic of the week?
“International
collaboration
around water and
how we find sustainable
solutions for
the future.”
“I definitely think
it will be the SDGs
and how we can frame
our work for the future
and collect the necessary
data working towards
the SDGs.”
“I think it will be
issues around
accelerators and
how we can actually
achieve more
with less.”
Lefadi Makibinyane,
Rand Water, South Africa
Dr Sandy Williams,
Scriptoria, UK
Nicoline Blokzeijl, WASH
Alliance International,
The Netherlands
“The much needed
focus on women and
water and how we can
move to help women
and girls in terms of a
water perspective.”
“I’m sure it will be
the SDGs, with this
being the eve of
their adoption.”
“The post-2015
agenda, what the
SDGs call us to do
and how the sector
can work towards
the future.”
Milly Mattou, Department
of Water & Sanitation,
South Africa
Nicola Love, Water &
Sanitation for the Urban
Poor, UK
Muthi Nhlema, Water for
People Malawi, Malawi
C = 55,86
M = 80,86
Y = 0
K = 0
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Publisher: Torgny Holmgren
SIWI EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor: Victoria Engstrand-Neacsu
Graphic designer: Elin Ingblom
WORLD WATER WEEK DAILY EDITORIAL STAFF
Nick Chipperfield, Görrel Espelund and
Andeas Karlsson
Photography: Mikael Ullén