August 27, 2008 at 2:27 am · Filed under related research and tagged: consumption, international, scarcity, virtual water, water use
A new report published by WWF in the UK highlights the impact of ‘virtual water’ use on diminishing global water supply, using the concept of a ‘Water Footprint’. According to the authors’ approach, a water footprint is a measure of the total water used to produce goods and services that a particular individual, business or nation uses. It is made up of both direct water use and indirect use. The indirect water use is measured as ‘virtual’ water (the volume of water required to produce a certain product). It includes use of blue water (rivers, lakes, aquifers), green water (rainfall in crop growth), and grey water (water polluted after agricultural, industrial and household use).
The report is published as: Chapagain, A. K. and S. Orr (2008) UK Water Footprint: the impact of the UK’s food and fibre consumption on global water resources. London: WWF.
Download the UK Water Footprint report here
August 19, 2008 at 4:22 am · Filed under news and events and tagged: events, international, risk, scarcity
Maude Barlow, author of Blue Covenant, will be discussing her very important new book at an upcoming event in Brisbane.
Date: Tuesday 2 September
Time: 6:00pm for 6:30pm start
Venue: Irish Club, 175 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane
Tickets: $15 / $12 concession, bulk purchase (6 or more) $10 each
Bookings: Through Brisbane’s Better Bookshops: Avid Reader: 193 Boundary St, West End, Ph: 07 3846 3422 or books{at}avidreader.com.au
Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water by Maude Barlow
Scientists call them “hot stains” – the parts of the earth running out of clean, drinkable water. They now include northern China, large areas of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia, the Midwestern United States, and sections of South America and Mexico. How did the world’s most vital natural resource become so imperiled? And what must we do to pull back from the brink?
In the tradition of such classics as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, Blue Covenant addresses an environmental crisis that – together with global warming – poses one of the gravest threats to our survival.
World-renowned activist and author Maude Barlow has been at the forefront of international water politics, and in this timely and important book she discusses the state of the world’s water, how water companies are reaping vast profits from declining supplies, and how ordinary people from around the world have banded together to reclaim the public’s right to clean water.
August 18, 2008 at 4:14 am · Filed under related research and tagged: collaborative planning, international, monitoring and evaluation, tools for engagement
The aim of the HarmoniCOP project (2002 -2005) was to increase the understanding of participatory river basin management planning (RBMP) in Europe. RBMP is the integrated cross-sectoral planning and management of river basins if necessary across political and administrative borders. The project’s objective was to generate practical information about participation processes in river basin management and to support the implementation of the public participation provisions of the European Water Framework Directive.
Find out more about HarmoniCOP here.
