Summary
News
- The "Big Splash" global school experiment on water quality launched on World Water Day
- MedPartnership launches new website
- UNESCO-IHE mentioned in Reuters news clip about art installation in desert
- Reminder: Deadline for NFP fellowships for the 2012 Short Courses on Water Conflict Management - 29 April 2011
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
- Sustaining the Blue Planet: Global Water Education Conference
- ISI International Advanced Training Workshop on Water and Soil Conservation
Featured International Events
- IWA, the Small Sustainable Solutions 4 Water
- ModelCare 2011: 8th International Conference on Calibration and Reliability in Groundwater Modeling - Repositories of Knowledge
Vacancies
- Professor in Hydraulic Engineering for Land and Water Development – UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
Did you know?
Facts and figures about water-related disasters
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Visit the UNESCO Water Portal
News
The "Big Splash" global school experiment on water quality launched on World Water Day
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This year’s edition of World Water Day, on 22 March, which was officially celebrated in Cape Town (South Africa), saw the launch of a global chemistry experiment involving the testing of water quality by school children all over the world.
The ‘Big Splash’ was one the highlights of the day’s events in Cape Town, which were organised with all of the United Nations agencies that are members of UN-Water, including UNESCO. It kicked off a global chemistry experiment "Water a Chemical Solution".
For the event, 1,000 15 to 18-year-old students in the Cape region of South Africa tested water quality, from 22 to 25 March, measuring salinity and acidity, and learning how it is filtered and distilled.
This initiative, launched by UNESCO and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) as part of the International Year of Chemistry, aimed to raise the awareness of primary and secondary school students of the importance of water as a vital resource. Students will be able to register the results of their tests in an interactive on-line map.
After its launch in South Africa, the experiment will be available to interested schools all over the world.
More on the Global Chemistry Experiment
MedPartnership launches new website
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The UNEP/MAP GEF Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean Large Marine Ecosystem (MedPartnership) is a collective effort of leading organizations including UNESCO (regional, international, non-governmental, etc.) and countries sharing the Mediterranean Sea towards the protection of the marine and coastal environment of the Mediterranean. The MedPartnership is led by UNEP/MAP and the World Bank and is financially supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and other donors, including the EU and all participating countries.
UNESCO-IHP is the leading partner in charge of executing the Sub-Component 1.1 on "Management of Coastal Aquifers and Groundwater".
The MedPartnership works through two lines of actions: technical and policy support led by UNEP/MAP (Regional Project) and project financing led by the World Bank (Investment Fund/Sustainable MED). The Regional Project is being carried out in 13 GEF-eligible countries (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Montenegro, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority).
The new website is aimed at providing information on the MedPartnership’s activities and achievements as well as on the events taking place not only in the frame of MedPartnership, but also elsewhere when the subject is related to the project’s activities.
MedPartnership website
UNESCO-IHE mentioned in Reuters news clip about art installation in desert
Ap Verheggen, a Dutch artist and filmmaker, plans to build an ice sculpture in the desert to bring awareness about adaptation to climate change. Using the latest refrigeration and solar power technology, Verheggen will place an art installation in the desert that will collect moisture from the air in order to continually make ice and maintain the integrity of the sculpture.
Reuters video | Ap Verheggen’s website
Reminder: Deadline for NFP fellowships for the 2012 Short Courses on Water Conflict Management - 29 April 2011
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UNESCO-PCCP and UNESCO-IHE will organize regular short courses on "Negotiation and Mediation for Water Conflict Management". The 2012 courses will take place in The Hague and Delft, The Netherlands, from 13 February to 02 March and from 05 March to 23 March 2012. These courses are part of the MSc in Water Management – specialization Water Conflict Management and the LLM in Water Governance and Conflict Resolution. They can also be taken by external candidates interested in a short training session in water and conflict management. These short courses are both eligible for NFP fellowships. The deadline to submit your NFP application online is 29 April 2011.
Candidates need an admission letter from UNESCO-IHE before they can apply for an NFP fellowship. For more information on NFP fellowships please consult NFP’s website. You can consult here for other possible sponsors.
More information about the short courses
Events
UNESCO Water Family (*)
Sustaining the Blue Planet: Global Water Education Conference
13-16 September 2011: Bozeman, Montana, USA
ISI International Advanced Training Workshop on Water and Soil Conservation
20-28 September 2011: Beijing, China
Featured International Events
IWA, the Small Sustainable Solutions 4 Water
18-22 April 2011: Venice, Italy
ModelCare 2011: 8th International Conference on Calibration and Reliability in Groundwater Modeling - Repositories of Knowledge
18-22 September 2011: Leipzig, Germany
Access a complete list of water events around the world
Vacancies
Professor in Hydraulic Engineering for Land and Water Development – UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
UNESCO-IHE seeks a professor to assume leadership of the Hydraulic Engineering – Land and Water Development (HELWD) Core Group of staff, which is primarily concerned with education and research related to managing land and water resources in agricultural landscapes for food security.
The Core's activities focus on the role of water in the development of rural areas and urbanizing catchments, and the topics of irrigation, drainage and flood protection, as shaped by social transformations, new technologies and debate about global change. The current staff of the HELWD core consists of lecturers and senior lecturers anchoring the teaching program and leading research in the field, and facilitating capacity-building and development projects with local partnerships around the world. Its activities fall into two main fields:
- Irrigation, drainage and flood protection, including measures to install, improve, operate and maintain water management systems at the main and field system levels;
- Integrated water management for the development of lowland and delta areas.
More information
Did you know...? Facts and figures about water-related disasters
- Trends in natural disasters show they are continually increasing in most regions of the world. Among all observed natural and anthropogenic adversities, water-related disasters are undoubtedly the most recurrent, and pose major impediments to achieving human security and sustainable socio-economic development, as recently witnessed with disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Cyclone Sidr in 2007, Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and many others.
- During the period 2000 to 2006, 2,163 water-related disasters were reported globally in the Emergency Disasters Database (EM-DAT), killing more than 290,000 people, afflicting more than 1.5 billion people and inflicting more than US$422 billion in damages.
- The factors that have led to increased water-related disasters are thought to include natural pressures, such as climate variability; management pressures, such as the lack of appropriate organizational systems and inappropriate land management; and social pressures, such as an escalation of population and settlements in high-risk areas (particularly for poor people).
- The United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) warns that unless preventative efforts are stepped up, the number of people vulnerable to flood disasters worldwide is expected to mushroom to two billion by 2050 as a result of climate change, deforestation, rising sea levels and population growth in flood-prone lands.
These facts and figures come from the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) publication "Global Trends in Water-Related Disasters: an insight for policymakers".
UNESCO's Water Family consists of the following:
- International Hydrological Programme
- World Water Assessment Programme
- UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
- Water-related Institutes and Centres under the Auspices of UNESCO
- UNESCO Water-related Chairs
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