2degrees network

01:00 p.m. (BST) / 08:00 a.m. (EDT)
8th Sept. 2010

Water Risk and Strategy working group

Conservation International, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), WWF, Global Water System Project (GWSP), City University of New York Environmental Cross-Roads Initiative, DIVERSITAS & Kings College London

This webinar will be streamed live from World Water Week in Stockholm.

2010 is the International Year of Biodiveristy, calling to action the recognition of biodiveristy values for their own sake, and for their role in maintaining ecosystem function and providing services for people such as water provision, filtration and removal of wastes, and climate regulation. In spite of its critical importance, we are failing to sufficiently protect and value our biodiversity and ecosystems. Fortunately, advances in science and tools, as well as supporting policies, offer us opportunities to correct past failings.

This session will emphasisze ways in which increasing the availability of scientific data and tools can enhance appreciation of ecosystem services, identify threats and tipping points, guide prioritiszation for conservation, and further human welfare and poverty alleviation through better informed policy-making. Using real-world case studies, including those with a heavy emphasis on water quality, presentations will illustrate the intimate relationship between protecting clean freshwater for human use and conserving freshwater biodiversity. We will discuss policy mechanisms that provide incentives for protection of water resources, and are compatible with conservation aims. Discussions will also focus upon the integration of sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems into national, regional and international policies and development, bridging the gap between scientists and policy-makers.

Programme

Chairs: Dr. Tracy A. Farrell, Conservation International (CI), and Dr. Ian Harrison, IUCN-Species Programme and CI, USA

 14:00 - Welcome and introduction. Dr. Tracy A. Farrell and Dr. Ian Harrison, CI, USA

14:15 - Life Cycles: Sustaining the Flows of Water, Fish, and Human Culture. Brian Richter, TNC, USA

14:30 - New Tools for Assessing the Water Quantity and Quality Services Provided by Global (Protected) Ecosystems and their Beneficiaries. Dr. Mark Mulligan, King's College London, and UNEP-WCMC, UK; and Luis Leonardo Saenz Cruz, King's College London, UK

14:45 - Global Analysis of Threats to Freshwater Ecosystems. Prof. Charles J. Vörösmarty, Global Water System Project/CUNY Environmental Cross-Roads Initiative/DIVERSITAS, USA

15:00 - A Catchment Scale Assessment of Africa's Freshwater Biodiversity: Application for Managing Threats and Safeguarding Human Livelihoods Dr. William Darwall, IUCN Species Programme, UK

15:15 - Local community water resource management on the Nosivolo river, Madagascar.Dr. Luciano Andriamaro, Conservation International- Madagascar Program

15:30 - Coffee Break

16:00 - Convention on Biological Diversity 2020 goals: Integrating Water? Lina Barrera, CI-Center for Conservation and Government, USA

16:15 - Ramsar: Increasing Wetland Protection. Prof. Nicholas Davidson, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Switzerland

16:30 - Environmental Flows and International Water Law. Flavia Rocha Loures, WWF, USA

16:45 - Ecosystem services and mainstreaming in policy making and development. Johan Sundberg, SIDA, Sweden

17:00 - Panel Discussion

17:30 - Close of Seminar

For more information, please contact Izabela Stacewicz