On World Water Day (22 March 2017), the International Water Security Network (IWSN) will join experts from across the world in discussions focussing on Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation. Following a Papal Audience with Pope Francis, the Watershed initiative will launch a programme of activities that will take place over the next five years.
The aim of Watershed is to promote positive action on improved and sustainable water management, to engage and inspire the public, participants and politicians, and to highlight the environmental, social and economic costs of inaction in this critical area. By operating at a global level, Watershed hopes to influence agenda-setting by governments, multilateral organisations and others who have the power to increase the pace of change.
Collaborating partners include Circle of Blue, UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme, Global Water Partnership, Stockholm International Water Institute, Project Wet, Ball State University, Texas A&M University, The Rockerfeller Foundation, and Étage, with input from the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Environment.
For World Water Day, one key Watershed initiative is #MyWaterStory, which is encouraging the public to share their stories about how water affects their lives, communities and cultures. These stories can be shared via social media, or uploaded directly to the Watershed website. If you add @water_network to your water story, IWSN can retweet your effort!
IWSN is part of a number of UWE-based initiatives that are grappling with different dimensions of the global water challenge, including improving water quality (led by Professor Darren Reynolds), alternative sanitation solutions (led by Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos) and greater resilience to flooding and droughts (led by Professor Lindsey McEwen), as well as Professor Chad Staddon’s work on improving water services security in cities around the world.
The International Water Security Network is funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a charitable foundation helping to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.
Contacts for more information:
Chad Staddon, IWSN Director and Professor of Resource Economics and Policy, University of the West of England. Email: chad.staddon@uwe.ac.uk. Tel: 07966 170557
Wayne Powell, IWSN Administrator. Email: wayne2.powell@uwe.ac.uk. Tel: 0117 3282694