On the occasion of the Wilson Center's 50th anniversary, its Environmental Change and Security Program and nine co-sponsoring programs convened experts on November 28 from government, the NGO sector, and academia for a comprehensive look at the first year of the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy and new research and practice on water, peace, and conflict.
This series is part of the training sessions created by the partners of the Big Data Analytics and Transboundary Water Collaboration for Southern Africa. These partners include: USAID's Sustainable Water Partnership, the South African Department of Science and Innovation, the Groundwater Management Institute of the Southern African Development Community, the Water Research Commission of South Africa, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and IBM Research-Africa.
World Water Day is observed annually on March 22 to raise awareness about the vital importance of water to safeguarding human security and maintaining the health of the planet's ecosystems. This year's theme, "Water and Climate Change," highlights the urgent importance of strengthening water security and establishing access to a sustainable water supply in the face of changing climate conditions worldwide. The observance will also raise public awareness about the many ways shifting atmospheric and oceanic conditions are reshaping t
The USAID Resilient Waters Program presented alongside the Global Analysis and Assessment for Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS) team at the Stockholm World Water Week 2019 conference at the end of August. GLAAS is a UN-Water initiative implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO). The showcase of Resilient Waters took place at a session to launch the 2019 GLAAS Report.
James Callegary is a hydrologist with the USGS and holds a doctorate in Soil and Water Science from the University of Arizona. He will be discussing lessons learned from his 15 years working along the US-Mexico border with special emphasis on the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program. James also conducts research on groundwater-surface-water interactions, watershed restoration, and carbon sequestration. Register and learn more using the button below:
The Sustainable Water Partnership held this webinar on August 15, 2019 to learn about the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) efforts to better understand and manage transboundary water sources.
Presenters
According to the United Nations (UN), transboundary waters—the aquifers and lake and river basins shared by two or more countries—account for an estimated 60 percent of global freshwater flow and are home to more than 40 percent of the world’s population. Depleted and degraded transboundary water supplies have the potential to cause social unrest and spark conflict among countries.
The world’s 286 transboundary river basins support the socioeconomic well-being of more than 40 percent of its population, as well as the ecosystems on which they depend. The use of shared water resources by one country will, in most cases, impact other countries sharing the same system. Coordination among countries in the development of transboundary basins can reap greater mutual benefits than would otherwise be available to countries pursuing individual development.
In the last decades, the awareness on the reasons why gender should be particularly mainstreamed in the water realm rapidly grew. Investing in gender mainstreaming in water programs is fundamental and now well justified, because it represents a step forward towards the realization of the SDGs and of the 2030 agenda. This is particularly true and even more challenging in the case of transboundary water bodies, which require cooperation and collaboration among the various authorities in charge of waters across the national borders, based on mutual trust and on transparency.
The U.S. Government Global Water Strategy sets water security as its overarching goal. The strategy envisions a water-secure world, where people and nations have the water they need to be healthy, prosperous, and resilient. Achieving water security requires understanding how complicated and interconnected social, environmental, political, and economic factors shape access to safe drinking water and sustainable management of water resources.
