Water Initiative

To achieve its goals to promote sustainable development and better water management, the project will provide: (1) in-country (especially in Southern Africa) flexible-learning courses in water economics and transboundary water governance that will build issues of gender equity into the course structures; (2) create a student exchange program; (3) support web-based learning modules with the Global Water Partnership and International Water Management Institute (4) create interactive, flexible learning modules in water economics, water governance and gender equity in integrated water resource management in collaboration with the Global Development Learning Network housed by the World Bank Institute; and (5) develop internship programs for water professionals from the South.

Context

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that about 3,800 children die every day - almost exclusively in poor countries ? as a direct result of unsafe drinking water and lack of proper sanitation. Africa has the largest disparities in water availability and least coverage in potable water supply and sanitation. Without a fundamental change in how water is managed, scarcity problems will be made much worse with a growing world population and climate change that will increase the frequency and severity of droughts with potentially calamitous effects on food production in the South, especially Africa.

As the water available decreases, water conflicts will be exacerbated among users. Diverting water from one area or catchment to another is likely to increase in response to water scarcity. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world there are few locations where water is available without imposing substantial costs on users from where the water is being supplied, and also on the environment.

The UNESCO Chair addresses three key issues in water scarcity: (1) the economics of trade-offs across competing users and between water use and the environment to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Water; (2) the governance of water (especially across regions within states and between states); and (3) inequalities of water access and use, especially those based on gender.

The project will co-ordinate with WaterNet and UNESCO-IHE and link the Global Development Learning Network, the Global Water Partnership, the International Water Management Institute’s work on transboundary governance (especially in Africa) and Wuhan University’s work on the Yangtze River, the University of Pretoria interdisciplinary expertise in water and its partnership with the International Center for Water Economics and Governance in Africa (IWEGA) at the University of Eduardo Mondlane, the Water for Africa Research Project, University of London with its expertise integrated water management and gender equity, and Australian expertise in water economics and experience in the governance of the Murray-Darling Basin to provide: (1) high-level capacity building (South-South &North-South) in water governance and economics that will help achieve the Millennium Development Goals; (2) knowledge transfer and exchange between Australia, China and Southern Africa on water governance; (3) new insights about how to effectively manage water scarcity across boundaries; and (4) establish a pole of excellence in water economics and governance in Africa to complement the existing programs (MSc and short courses) of UNESCO IHE and WaterNet that are primarily in the sciences, engineering and law.

Long-term goal

The long-term goal of the UNESCO Chair is to help achieve Millennium Development Goals. The aim is to promote environmental sustainability and gender equality by supporting socio-economic-environmental resilience and sustainable development in Africa and Asia. This will be achieved by improving water governance and the capacity of current and future water professionals and policy makers.

Specific objectives

1. To increase the skills, capacity, networks and potential of leaders and prospective water managers and policy makers, through a co-ordinated suite of learning modules addressing key issues in water economics (water markets, water pricing, valuation), governance (especially transboundary issues, climate variability) and gender equity in integrated water resource management;
2. To strengthen and sustain institutional capacity (especially in Southern Africa), by providing a platform for collaboration and institutional development via professional courses, student exchanges, professional internships and flexible learning with the Global Water Partnership and the Global Development Learning Network; and
3. To develop innovative research, tools, case-studies and insights on water economics, water governance and gender equity that extends global knowledge and supports integrated water resource management.

Planned activities

The project will include the following activities:

1. Postgraduate teaching programme focussed on Millennium Development Goals 3 and 7 through a graduate course in water economics and water governance at the Australian National University offered in collaboration with Wuhan University, China and University of Pretoria;
2. Short-term training through a jointly taught (Australia/China and Australia/China/Southern Africa) intensive courses in water economics, governance, and gender equity in integrated water resource management;
3. Research through the publications of the UNESCO Chair and project team and partners;
4. Visiting professorships through a short-term scholar exchange program for Southern Africa and Chinese scholars;
5. Scholarships through the provision of a PhD scholarship on Water Sustainability; and
6. Institutional development through collaboration with the Global Water Partnership, Global Development Learning Network and International Water Management Institute to deliver interactive learning, tools, knowledge sharing and professional water internships.

People

The Chairholder is Professor R. Quentin Grafton of the Australian National University. He is Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Otago, Co-Chair of the ANU Water Initiative and also Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy (CWEEP). He is the author of some 80 journal articles, numerous chapters in books and several books. His most recent book (an edited collection) is ‘Economics of Water Resources’ (published June 2009) and has an edited book in press with Cambridge University Press entitled Water Resources, Planning and Management. His current research in water includes market-based water recovery in the Murray-Darling Basin, rural water trading, water demand, urban water pricing and management, optimal water allocation between use and non-use, and adaptation to climate change. He has also held the position of Chair of the Social and Economic Reference Panel for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and currently serves on several scientific or advisory committees for the Australian Government including the National Council on Education for Sustainability.

Dr Daniel Connell is Director of Education programs of the UNESCO Chair. He is a research fellow at the Australian National University in the Crawford School of Economics and Government and the ANU Water Initiative. He works on cross-border water governance issues relevant to large hydrological systems and his most recent book, Water Politics in the Murray-Darling Basin, examines implementation and the institutional arrangements in place in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Jamie Pittock is Director of International Programs of the UNESCO Chair (as of August 2010). He worked for non-government environmental organizations from 1989 to 2007 on a range of conservation issues, primarily the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. In Australia, Jamie worked for mainly for WWF Australia (1994-2007), where he led the advocacy program for the introduction of national environmental legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. From 2001 to 2007 he directed WWF International's Global Freshwater Programme, mainly from the Netherlands. This work involved supporting river basin management programs globally with fundraising, training, and policy development, linked to international institutions such as the World Water Forum and Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. He is also the co-facilitator of the China Council on International Co-operation on Environment and Development's Taskforce on Ecosystem Services and Management.

Key individuals among the partners include:

1. Professor Wang Shuyi, Wuhan University is a Member of the Standing Committee of Hubei Provincial People’s Congress and Vice Chair of the Chinese Association of Environment and Resource Law,
2. Professor Rashid Hassan, University of Pretoria is an expert on water economics and water use efficiency and water valuation. He is a Member of the Academy of Science, South Africa and Chief Editor of the African Journal Agricultural and Resource Economics,
3. Mark Giordano, Head of Institutions and Policy Group at International Water Management Institute is a geographer and economist with extensive experience in economic development, water management and transboundary resources,
4. Dr Frances Cleaver, Director of Water for Africa Research Project, University of London is one of the world’s leading researchers in gender equity and water resource management.
5. Dr Stefano Farolfi, Scientific Director, International Center for Water Economics and Governance in Africa (IWEGA), Universidade Eduardo Mondlane.
6. Professor Innocent Nhapi, he received his PhD in Sanitary and Environmental Engineering from UNESCO/IHE DELFT, in The Netherlands. His research interests include transboundary water quality monitoring, Eco-technology research in Africa, and catchment water quantity and quality management.
   Department of Civil Engineering, University of Zimbabwe, Box MP167, Mt Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe. Tel/fax: +263 4 303288. E-mail: inhapi@eng.uz.ac.zw
7. Professor Dominic Mazvimavi, Director Institute of Water Studies, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He is one of Africa's leading experts on environmental flows and river flows. He obtained a PhD in Hydrology from the Wageningen University and the International Institute of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands. He serves as the Managing Guest Editor for the Journal of the Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. Prof Mazvimavi has research interests on water resources planning and management, hydrological regionalization, effects of land-use change on runoff, and environmental flow assessment. He has previously worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango Research Centre of the University of Botswana, and Senior Lecture at the University of Zimbabwe. Prof Mazvimavi plays a very active role in Waternet, which is a SADC initiative aimed at developing IWRM capacity through postgraduate and short-term training programmes.
   
   

Governance

An Advisory Council is being established that will provide advice and oversight to the activities of the UNESCO Chair. Details on membership of the Advisory Council will be provided in the near future.

• Robert Hill (Chair)
• James Horne
• Marcus Howard
• Karen Hussey
• Tom Kompas
• Bob McMullan
• Awadhesh Prasad

[back]