Freshwater Stewardship Globalised

WWF and other NGO, research and business partners have formated a Global Water Roundtable (GWRT) to develop global standards for freshwater stewardship. The new standard setting process, unveiled at the annual World Water Week gathering in Stockholm for water professionals from governments, businesses and NGOs, will operate under the umbrella of the Alliance for Water Stewardship of which WWF is an organising member.

"Water resources around the world are in a crisis and poor water management is a major factor," said Jason Clay, Senior Vice President for Market Transformation at WWF. "The Global Water Roundtable is a pragmatic, consensus-driven way to recognize those water users who are doing their best to lessen their water footprint."

The GWRT is modeled after similar standard-setting roundtables convened and facilitated by WWF that focused on 12 species produced from aquaculture and four global agricultural commodities (sugar, soy, palm oil and cotton).

The initiative is supported by a USD1 million grant from JohnsonDiversey, a global provider of commercial cleaning and hygiene solutions. The company is also a participant in the WWF Climate Savers programme, under which it has committed to substantial independently verified emissions reductions.

While the GWRT's initial focus will be on setting agreed standards for responsible environmental and social water use and accountability, the initiative could lead to certification processes recognising responsible water use.

The GWRT will consist of a series of meetings with stakeholders around the world, initially to develop an agreed set of standards covering water impacts, quality and management schemes.

Other organising members of the Alliance for Water Stewardship which will manage the process include World Wildlife Fund, the Pacific Institute, The Nature Conservancy, Water Witness International, The Water Stewardship Initiative, the Water Environment Federation and the European Water Partnership.

Source: Eropean Warter News

Dutch Water Pyramids help Indonesia

On the Indonesian island Pomana, two huge Dutch water pyramids will start to provide clean sweet drinking water to the local population this summer. This sustainable invention, a large pyramid shaped silver coloured balloon, 8 metres high and with a diameter of 30 meters is now on board of a ship from Rotterdam on its way to Indonesia. This innovative project is the result of collaboration between consulting and engineering firm MWH together with the producer, Aqua Aero Water Systems and the local NGO Yayasan Dian Desa.

In 2006, the water pyramid project received the innovation award of the World Bank. The installation produces around 1000 litres of clean water per day and requires a minimum of energy: the fan which maintains the pressure in the tent and the water pump run on solar energy. Saline groundwater pumped into the pyramid, evaporates as during the daytime when the temperature in the tent rises up to seventy-five degrees Celsius. Dirt and salt remain on the ground and the clean, sweet water drips along the inside of the canvas in a gutter collection system. The exterior of the tent is also used. When it rains, the water flows from the roof to a gutter into a reservoir where it is stored for drier times. The project is largely funded by Partners for Water, a governmental program which aims to enforce the international position of the Dutch water sector. The people in Pomona have hardly any water fit for drinking available to them. Currently, they have to purchase additional drinking water from the adjacent island Flores. When the pyramids are there the population of Pomona will have 2000 litres of water per day sourced from their own island. It is a big step towards sustainability of their community. MWH Consultants provide specialist advice in water, environment and energy sectors delivering successful and sustainable solutions the world over. This includes the Water Pyramids. Source: European Water News

Water : Should it is treated as commodity??

Prompted by the crises of clean water, that for about 1.3 billion people around the world has no access into water ( based on United Nation data), therefore, 23 institutions under supervised of UNESCO, held some conferences since 1997, called The World Water Forum.

The World Water Forum is the main water-related event in the world, aimed at putting water firmly on the international agenda. A stepping stone towards global collaboration on water problems, the Forum offers the water community and policy-and-decision-makers from all over the world the unique opportunity to come together to create links, debate and attempts to find solutions to achieve water security.

The first convention held in Morocco, on March 1997 and discussed about four main topics; Perspectives on World Water, On the Road toward a Long-Term Vision for World Water, The challenges of the 21st Century, Celebration of World Water Day *-----(source: World Water Forum Report)

The Second World Water Forum in The Hague-Netherlands, in 2000’s generated a lot of debate on the Water Vision for the Future and the associated Framework for Action, dealing with the state and ownership of water resources, their development potential, management and financing models, and their impact on poverty, social, cultural and economic development and the environment. The Ministerial Declaration identified meeting basic water needs, securing food supply, protecting ecosystems, sharing water resources, managing risks, valuing water and governing water wisely as the key challenges for our direct future.

The Third World Water Forum held in Kyoto, Shiga and Osaka, Japan, on March 2003. Took the debate a step further also within the context of the new commitments of meeting the goals set forth at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in New York (2000), the International Freshwater Conference in Bonn (2001) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (2002).
The large number of participants ensured that a variety of stakeholders and opinions were represented aiming at accepting differences and finding a common way forward. This event followed by 24,000 participants, 1000 journalist and 130 ministers. * ----- (source : World Water Forum Report)

The Fourth World Water Forum closed on March 22 March 2006, in Mexico City, after seven days of debates and exchanges.
The Forum represents a unique opportunity to foster the world’s attention on water related issues.

The Fifth World Water Forum will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 16 to 22 March 2009.* ----- (source : Water World Forum Report)

Nevertheless, even though water crises has now a big deal, water resources still over exploited by many countries, and treat it as a commodity (water as an economic goods). The efforts to privatize water caused by global capitalism raises day by day, in order to achieve the economic aspects of this natural resources. The fair and equitable distribution of clean drinking water has become a complex and controversial subject matter for most governments and their citizens.

Based on the problems above, the management of water should focus on providing a strong guiding principle for management of water resources and for environmental law in general. This focus also helps illuminate how water resources can be and should be treated as a right uses, rather than treated as an economic goods.

Global Protection of the Atmosphere.

Increase in the average temperature of the surface of the Earth, commonly known as Global Warming, and significant change in weather condition and temperature, generally known as Climate Change has been a great challenges at recently time. Since in the last few decades the scientists has recognized that global climate change and global warming caused by human activities.

The greenhouse theory includes the emission of the greenhouse gases and the greenhouse
effects, as a result of human activities. This theory has been widely accepted as a hypothesis that influences much in global warming and climate change as well. It began with facts that some humans activities such as farming, industrial process, in appropriate land used, used of fossil fuel etc were sending gases into the atmosphere that raised the temperature of the planet.

Deforestation and illegal logging also have been believed to have much contribution in this phenomenon. Forest has been disappeared extremely in the past decades. For example, in the late of 1900’s, Indonesia was still a densely forested country with the total forest representing for about 80% of total land area. However, since 1990’s deforestation has increased significantly and Indonesia lost almost 1/3 of it own forest.

In order to reduce the risk of global warming, and reduction of the emission of the greenhouse gases such as CO2 and other tracer gases, the International Conference on The Changing Atmosphere: Implication for Global Security has been held in Toronto on June 1988, known as Montreal Protocol,then followed by the signed and ratified Kyoto Protocol in the 2002’s. Both of Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocol aimed to reduce the carbon dioxide concentration at the atmosphere by decrease the fossil fuel consumption and switching to fuel that emit less carbon dioxide.

In particular, the choices we make presently about how we generate and use energy will either lock us into decades of unmanageable carbon emissions or set the stage for a sustainable future. What do you all think??

Can you imagine if there is no water in the world?