Global conference says that water must be included in COP-15 climate negotiations

2009 World Water Week participants unanimously support Stockholm Statement on water, climate change, and adaptation.

The participants of the 2009 World Water Week in Stockholm urged that water must be included in the COP-15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.

“Water is a fundamental element in economies, communities, and public health. We know that it is the medium through which climate change manifests its most serious effects. To be effective, climate negotiations must factor in the impact and importance of water for the world and, indeed, human well-being”, said Anders Berntell, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

The key messages of the Stockholm Statement are:

• Water is a key medium through which climate change impacts will be felt
• Adaptation is a prerequisite for sustainable development and poverty reduction
• Integration of water with land and forest management is key to effective adaptation
• Ecosystem protection and sustainability is fundamental to adaptation and human development
• Higher-quality information that is more effectively shared will strengthen responses
• Vulnerability assessments and risk management are critical to sound adaptation practice
• New and additional funds are essential.

The World Water Week in Stockholm has been organised and directed by SIWI every year since 1991. The 2009 edition the attracted over 2400 registered participants. The main theme was “Accessing water for the Common Good” with sub-themes on Financing, Climate change, the Water and Food nexus and Transboundary Waters.

Source: SIWI, 21 Aug 2009

2009 World Water Week: Call for Workshop Abstracts and Seminar Proposals

The First Announcement for the 2009 World Water Week in Stockholm, August 16-22, provides  information on the theme, structure, and special focus of the 2009 Week. It also provides guidelines for convening a seminar or side event or submitting an abstract for presentation during the 8 workshops. The theme for 2009 is Water – Responding to Global Change: Accessing Water for the Common Good  with Special Focus on Transboundary Waters.

Download the First Announcement and learn more about the 2009 World Water Week at www.worldwaterweek.org.

Wasted Food Is Also Wasted Water

The world’s growing food crisis — which triggered riots and demonstrations in over 30 developing nations early this year — is being aggravated primarily by wastage and overconsumption.

“Obesity is a much bigger problem than undernourishment,” said Professor Jan Lundqvist of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

[...]

Speaking on the sidelines of the Stockholm International Water Conference, Lundqvist told reporters Thursday that “improving water productivity and reducing the quantity of food wasted can enable us to provide a better diet for the poor and enough food for growing populations.”

A study titled “Saving Water” released here argues that while the risk of under-nourishment is reduced with an increasing supply of food — provided access is ensured — the risk of over-eating and wastage is also likely to increase when food becomes more abundant in some societies {see also SIWI press release]

[...]

Meanwhile, a report released by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says that while each person in Britain drinks, hoses, flushes and washes their way through around 150 litres of water a day, they consume about 30 times as much in “virtual water” embedded in food, clothes and other items — the equivalent of about 58 bathtubs full of water every day.

Titled “UK Water Footprint: The impact of the UK’s food and fibre consumption on global water resources”, the study released here points out that Britain is the world’s sixth largest importer of water [see also WWF-UK press release]

Read more: Thalif Deen, IPS, 21 Aug

Running dry (from the Economist)

Everyone knows industry needs oil. Now people are worrying about water, too.

“WATER is the oil of the 21st century,” declares Andrew Liveris, the chief executive of Dow, a chemical company. Like oil, water is a critical lubricant of the global economy. And as with oil, supplies of water-at least, the clean, easily accessible sort-are coming under enormous strain because of the growing global population and an emerging middle-class in Asia that hankers for the water-intensive life enjoyed by people in the West.

Oil prices have fallen from their recent peaks, but concerns about the availability of freshwater show no sign of abating. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, estimates that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, which it calls an “unsustainable” rate of growth. Water, unlike oil, has no substitute. Climate change is altering the patterns of freshwater availability in complex ways that can lead to more frequent and severe droughts.

Read more: Economist, 21  Aug 2008

See also: Thalif Deen, Food, Fuel and Water Crises, IPS, 22 Aug 2008

Development: Water Progresses, Sanitation Regresses

STOCKHOLM, Aug 18 (IPS) – The world’s poorest nations are making halting progress in water, but little or no tangible improvement in sanitation — two of the basic necessities of life.

As far as the global state of sanitation is concerned, says Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), “It’s one of the world’s greatest scandals.”

Addressing the 18th international water conference in the Swedish capital Monday, Berntell said that 2.5 billion people still lack access to adequate sanitation, resulting in some 1.4 million preventable child deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases each year. (…)

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