Årets Världsvattenvecka - World Water Week in Stockholm - handlar om samarbete i alla former: mellan sektorer, intressegrupper och länder mm. Igår bjöd Swedish Water House in till ett frukostmöte om Världsvattenveckan på Ekoteket i Kulturhuset för att presentera det övergripande temat, innehållet samt nyheter för i år.  Under seminarier och workshops kommer man att bland annat prata om de nya hållbarhetsmålen som tar vid efter MDGs, hur samarbete kan främjas mellan länder som delar vattenresurser, hur vetenskap, policy och praxis kan sammanlänkas samt hur gapet mellan mark, vatten och ekosystemfrågor kan överbryggas.



Några saker på programmet är nya för i år. Man satsar bland annat på de unga genom att arrangera en Youth Day på onsdagen. Alla under 35 får då besöka Världsvattenveckan gratis och ta del av alla de aktiviteter som pågår. På kvällen hålls Junior Water Prize ceremonin som en perfekt avslutning på ungdomsdagen. På fredagens Closing Session kommer även ungdomens perspektiv att lyftas genom en presentation av två unga vattenexperter. Nytt är även en satsning på att göra festivalen ”grönare” genom att servera klimat- och vattensmart mat, minska avfallet, samt klimatkompensera för inbjudna gäster mm. Helt rätt satsning enligt mig. Utöver att prata om globala vattenfrågor ska Världsvattenveckan visa hur man kan minska sitt vattenfotavtryck. Att man även bjuder in vår ungdom till att bidra med sina idéer, tankar och lösningar är förstås både bra och viktigt!

Dagens ungdomar är de som kommer att få hantera framtidens utmaningar – självklart ska de ha möjlighet att påverka policybeslut och vilka satsningar som görs. Jag ser verkligen fram emot Världsvattenveckan och kommer vara där, kommer du? Läs mer och anmäl dig här: www.worldwaterweek.org.


 

Klockan ringde kl. 6 då jag steg upp och tittade ut genom fönstret. Mörkt och blåsigt ute. Det var måndag och dags för höstens första frukostmöte, denna gång med temat Världsvattenveckan 2013. En liten men tapper skara hade tagit sig till seminarielokalen för att lyssna på rapporteringen från Vattenveckan i somras samt ta del av det nya temat ”Water and Cooperation- Building Partnerships”. De diskussioner som stöttes och blöttes under Världsvattenveckan i somras, då temat var Water and Food Security, har nu samlats i Overarching Conclusions. Jag vill speciellt tacka alla de Juniora Rapportörer som närvarade på samtliga seminarier, workshops och side-event och sammanfattade och presenterade olika metoder för att trygga tillgång till mat och vatten globalt. Nu blickar vi fram mot nästa sommar och 2013 års World Water Week in Stockholm. Anmälningsformuläret för vetenskapliga bidrag och seminarieförslag finns nu uppe på hemsidan. Temat samarbete täcker in både samarbete mellan länder eller regioner, olika typer av aktörer (företag, myndigheter, civilsamhället) och mellan olika tematiska områden (kopplingen mellan mat, vatten, energi och klimat). Tillsammans med deltagarna spånade vi kring temat och Världsvattenveckans upplägg. Tydligt var att Världsvattenveckan fått mycket uppmärksamhet internationellt men att i Sverige har intresset varit svalare. I norden är vatten en icke-fråga i allmänhetens ögon och därför skulle det eventuellt finnas grund för att ha spetsigare problemformuleringar för att fånga intresse. Vi på Swedish Water House ser detta som en utmaning och kommer under våren arbeta för att lyfta temat Samarbete på olika sätt. Har du tankar kring hur Världsvattenveckan skulle kunna nå ut bättre, samt funderingar kring temat? Hör då gärna av dig till Elin Weyler som arbetar med veckan elin.weyler@siwi.org.



Karin Lexén, Director World Water Week & Prizes på SIWI presenterar Världsvattenveckans tema för 2013.

Yesterday at the World Water Week we brought together the Swedish and French Government agencies for marine and water environments (SWaM and ONEMA) to discuss how to best combat water pollution from agriculture in Europe. Poland, with roughly 50% of its land being used for agriculture, contributed with the important insights into the challenges that reforming agriculture entails.

Prof. Waldemar Mioduszewski from Poland took part in the seminar

Professor Waldemar Mioduszewski from the Institute of Technology and Natural Sciences in Falenty and Dr. Marek Gielczewski, Warzaw University of Life Sciences in Warzaw spoke of the Polish share of nitrogen and phosphorous load to the Baltic sea which is the largest of all the Baltic countries. But the fact is that Poland is a very populous country and so if looking at the unit load per hectare and per capita, the loads are not very high as compared to other countries. Still, the situation needs to change, but it will be all the more difficult to reduce the load because of the amount of land and people involved.

We compared the pollution situations in Sweden, France and Poland and what we need to do more research on in the future. Also taking part in arranging this seminar was the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Swedish Board of Agriculture, the Swedish-French Association for Research and Baltic Compass. You can look at all the presentation here!

On the second day of the World Water Week, we brought together NGOs, policymakers and international negotiators to discuss adaptation to climate change at the local level. We wanted to discuss how achievements in the UN climate negotiations can be translated into concrete actions on the local level. But the strongest outcome of the seminar really was that there needs to be an information flow from the ground level and up. It is also vital to exchange good practices between developing countries that are struggling to adapt to and cope with climate change.

David Molden, Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) showed how people in the Himalayas are trying new crops and approaches to adapt to rising temperatures.

Mohammed Younis Khan from the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme had travelled several days from the Chitral Valley to share his experience on how glacial entrapped valleys in Pakistan manage their water through a community-led governance structure plugging into the region’s customary laws. Roy Anunciacion, Coordinator at the People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty explained how farmers in Uganda adapt their own practices by improvising local irrigation and planting trees that conserve water. And Joanna Elliott from the African Wildlife Foundation showed how the rapidly disappearing Mau forest in Kenya is now being restored as a result of the involvement of local communities in the reforestation and the government’s firm goal to restore Kenya’s forests.
Ambassador Bo Kjellén pointed out that the UNFCCC climate negotiations is not the real world, but only a projection of it, and that these examples of local struggles are continuously needed for negotiators to hear in order to remember what they are fighting for.

World Water Week kicked off today with the Young Water Professionals Seminar. I was excited to see that so many people had manage to get up early in the morning - on a Sunday - to take part in the event. The theme of the seminar this year was Green Economy and the water, food and energy nexus. The seminar started with a couple of presentations setting the stage for spurring discussions.

First, Joppe Cramwinkel, Director of the World Business Council for Development gave an inspirational speech. He highlighted the challenges we are facing; people are still suffering from hunger, environmental damage is severe, and energy needs are increasing. We know what problems we are facing, we know what we need to do and we know that we need to act now. The next step is to scale up. Businesses can do much but governments and the private sector needs to work together. They can educate, regulate and invest - all to facilitate the transition. Lisa Deutsch, from Stockholm Resilience Center was the second speaker of the day. By taking a single cup of coffee as an example, she illustrated the many different services a cup of coffee can provide - if the right methods are applied. By changing the way we produce coffee from sun coffee to shade coffee, revenues can be made while ecosystem services are protected. She also introduced the concept of Virtual Water to the audience, which allows countries suffering from water scarcity to import water intensive products from regions with more water.  Josephine Gustafsson from Stockholm International Water Institute talked about the impact food waste has on the nexus. By throwing away food we squander resources. The world is hungry because we waste food was her message. All actors can do something - but we need to work together to solve the problem.

After the presentations the participants were divided into groups for a break-out session, discussing what is needed form different actors in order to move towards a green economy. Many interesting points were raised in the discussions. Education was raised as a key to change, as well as clear objectives and framework for business to act from.  Identifying agents for change was also mentioned as a part of the solution. In some countries business has actually taken large steps towards sustainability when realizing that they need to protect the resources they are depending on. Finding a common vision between different actors can also drive change. Today there is little linkage between different sectors, which makes it more difficult to find possible synergies. After the seminar had ended, the room was still buzzing of ideas - young water professionals sharing their thoughts with each other and the speakers. I am sure the discussions will continue throughout the week and outside the walls of Stockholm International Fairs.

I’m circulating in and out of the three office rooms of the World Water Week and Prizes, as well as the one of SIWI:s communications staff. There is a lot going on at the moment and there is a slightly suspicious calmness and concentration overall. Everywhere else, people are returning from vacations and are now starting to focus on the World Water Week in Stockholm. Practical issues such as dress code, tickets, dietary requirements and speakers’ registration are being double-checked by our delegates.

The World Water Week and Prizes team has been working towards this for a year and throughout the summer. We are so well prepared, but dreams about how the week’s well-oiled processes will work are starting to come. If the sense of control is due to increased routine or an increase in staff since last year is difficult to say, but the fact of the matter is that one colleague has left and four are carrying out their very first World Water Week so routine does not explain it all. As a, by now experienced, team member I can feel the anticipation increasing and the team spirit lifting. This is the core of the World Water Week, the secretariat that do their utmost to make everyone attending our important conference have a pleasant, learning and fun time, whether or not they are participating for the first time. World Water Week delegates will see the professionalism of this group, their dedication and eagerness.

The programme is packed - jam-packed. We have so many meetings, seminars and events that finding time to reflect will be impossible during the week, we just have to go with the flow. In all my time with SIWI I have still not sat through a full seminar, and I envy the delegates that can pick and choose from all the different sessions and get to engage in discussions with convenors, speakers, presenters and colleagues. Then again, I will be able to walk through the venue, checking in on the sessions and – hopefully – see all the parts come together. I don’t have bad dreams, I know the World Water Week will be a success.

Den 27 mars besökte jag gymnasiet Dragonskolan i Umeå för att tala om SIWIs och SWHs arbete, samt om Världsvattendagens och Världsvattenveckans tema ”Water and Food Security”.

Jag landade tidigt i ett snötäckt Umeå och skyndade mig till skolan för att träffa de första eleverna, en blandad grupp från flera olika program och klasser. Det är nyttigt att ibland lämna sitt skrivbord och träffa ungdomar som ställer relevanta, och ibland svåra, frågor om SIWIs arbete. SIWI är ett policyinstitut, men vad innebär det egentligen? Det enkla är ibland det som är svårast att förklara, men klargörandet att SIWI ställer upp riktlinjer och skapar program för att lösa världens vattenproblem, snarare än att bygga brunnar i utvecklingsländer, var ett svar som eleverna accepterade . Vi gick sedan över till ämnet för föreläsningen ”Water and Food Security” eller det något krångliga svenska namnet ”hållbar vattenanvändning för en tryggad matproduktion”. Där det finns brist på vatten finns det nästan alltid brist på mat. 1,1 miljarder människor har enligt FAO inte tillgång till tillräckligt med rent vatten för att klara sina dagliga behov och lika många är hungriga.

Vi diskuterade om det är rimligt att vi i Sverige spolar i våra toaletter med rent dricksvatten medan 8 000 barn världen över dör varje dag på grund av vattenrelaterade sjukdomar. Och hur kommer det sig att så många människor går och lägger sig hungriga när vi producerar tillräckligt med mat för att mätta alla? Att undersökningar visar att var fjärde matkasse i Sverige slängs förbluffade eleverna, som lovade att fundera en extra gång innan de slänger mjölken som enligt datumförpackningen gick ut igår. Om vi istället tittar, luktar och smakar på maten kan vi spara mycket mat, och därmed även mycket vatten.  Innan det var dags att lämna Umeå fick varje grupp information om det svenska juniorvattenpriset. Möjligheten att vinna 30 000 kronor och representera Sverige i den internationella finalen under Världsvattenveckan 26-31 augusti lockade flera elever och vi ser fram emot att ta del av deras spännande projekt. Du kan läsa mer om priset här:  http://www.siwi.org/svenskajuniorvattenpriset 

av Julia Hector, SIWI

Är du intresserad av vatten- och utvecklingsfrågor? Vill du ta del av och bidra till ny forskning och innovativa lösningar på världens vattenutmaningar?
Världsvattenveckan är ett unikt forum där forskare, beslutsfattare samt representanter från företag och civilsamhället utbyter idéer, erfarenheter och strategier som bidrar till ett mer hållbart samhälle.

Vi söker nu dig som vill arbeta som Junior Rapporteur under årets Världsvattenvecka den 26-31 augusti. Årets tema är vatten och livsmedelstrygghet. Som Junior Rapporteur hjälper du ledande experter att sammanfatta och analysera allt som händer under Världsvattenveckan.

Uppdraget är inte betalt med ger mycket bra möjligheter till nätverkande! SWH står för din avgift, luncher och sociala event. Vi vänder oss i första hand till personer baserade i Sverige. Du kan också arbeta som assistent. Vi behöver din ansökan senast den 1 maj. Se mer information om hur du ansöker här.

Av Karin Glaumann, Swedish Water House

The World Water Week in Stockholm this year focused on one of the increasing challenges for sanitation and water service delivery - urbanization. The global population is now more than half urban and cities are growing at a tremendous rate, especially in the developing world and in the small and medium-sized towns. This rapid urbanization process poses many challenges for those trying to provide services. First and quite simply, the increasing human density corresponds to increasing quantities of waste. This of course leads to environmental degradation, water pollution and a multitude of related health and livelihood impacts. Urbanization exacerbates the need for improved sanitation. Secondly, cities are often experiencing population growth that far exceeds their absorptive capacity in terms of shelter, water, sanitation infrastructure, public health services, employment, education, food supplies and environmental protection - a striking new challenge that has arisen within the span of a lifetime. The service backlog thus gives rise to an increasing number of slums and informal areas lacking adequate sanitation services.

There are a number of recent initiatives moving the focus of urban sanitation to the spotlight. For example, the City Sanitation Strategies in Indonesia that have developed over the last 5 years focusing on city-wide operational which transformed the sector. Increasingly investors such as the World Bank, Gates Foundation, African Water Facilities and European Union are financing urban solutions. The urban environment is challenging, but also leading to innovations in service delivery and financing, like the private entrepreneurs supported through Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WUSP).

In our attempts to come to grips with the scale of the urban challenges there is increasing recognition that the term "urban" hides a complex mix of heterogeneous contexts. There is amazing diversity in the level of service provision within cities, from high income-high water consumption areas connected to sewerage systems, to proper toilets without proper waste management, to nothing at all. Although statistics usually show urban areas as having greater access to sanitation services, this can be misleading. In the case of urban slum dwellers, proximity doesn’t mean access to improved services. At the World Water Week, sector professionals were increasing recognizing that this spatial diversity needs to be taken into account when planning, designing and monitoring for urban sanitation.

In many ways meeting the urban challenge requires a paradigm shift in how we view the urban context and how we design urban sanitation services. The heterogeneous nature of the problem means that the solutions will also have to be heterogeneous. Instead of rolling out a single standard of city-wide services, meeting the needs of ALL city dwellers will mean adapting technology, management and financing structures that are matched to the urban context in which they are living. Matching services to specific contexts and social demographics will mean looking at a multitude of solutions and integrating them along the entire chain of environmental service delivery (including solid waste and drainage). Future city-wide planning may need to allow different standards and options at different levels of the city. One way of doing this is to start looking at the functions that services provide instead of focusing on specific technologies. This will open the door for innovation and critical linkages to complementary services. We need to start thinking out of the box, adapting solutions to specific urban contexts (http://susana.org/lang-en/library?view=ccbktypeitem&type=2&id=1019), and taking action at a variety of levels within the urban context. The urban challenge is also an exciting opportunity for a paradigm shift within the sanitation sector - as long as we remember that this transition requires advocacy and our active engagement at both local and global levels (see my news stream entry from 16th July).

This question was discussed by a high level panel of national representatives at one of the World Water Week seminars Water and Climate in Focus: Raising the profile of water in the global climate discourse” last week. There is a need to continue acknowledge water’s cross-cutting nature and its relevance for both climate adaptation and mitigation- something all panelists agreed on. The African ministers talked about the implications climate change has and will have for African countries in the future. The shrinkage of Lake Chad for instance will affect water availability and thus put a stress on local populations, leading to an increased risk of water-related conflicts. 

Through its advocacy on the climate negotiations, the Water and Climate Coalition have pushed for water to be treated as a unique agenda item on the SBSTA agenda (The Subsidiary body for scientific and Technical Advice). Although this did not happen a fair compromise was reached and instead of addressing water as a separate agenda item it was to be addressed under the Nairobi Work Programme on Adaptation. This should be seen as a major achievement; however, the coalition will continue to push for water being treated as a single agenda item. Among the panelists there was a concern that treating water as a separate agenda item can make other groups push for their issues to be treated the same way. Climate negotiations have too many issues to deal with. They already have troubles going through all agenda items with the very limited time- how is it possible to include even more? Angela Kallhauge, working as a senior advisor at the Swedish Energy Agency’s International Climate Policy Unit meant that the coalition should focus on educating climate negotiators at home so when they are at the negotiations they have “water with them in thought“ all the time. Are there too many issues? Hannah Stoddart from Stakeholder Forum responded and said that we cannot compare water with many of the other issues that want to be placed on the agenda. Water differs since “it is the essence of everything”. If we want to make climate adaptation and mitigation successful pushing for a space for water on the SBSTA agenda is the way to start!
 

World Water Week - now it is up and running, full force, unstoppable - the water agenda brought forth lound and clear across the board. 6 days straight about water -  Water and sanitation, water for urban poor, water and development, lack of water, desalination of water, water and conservation, water and climate - as one speaker said "water is like air, it is everywhere and everything depends on it, it is almost difficult to speak of it since it is relevant  to everything!" This week is about knowledge. Learning more about water. Understanding more about water. Thinking about water. Expand your horizon. Get to know more people. It is exciting!

Swedish Water house convened the Annual Meeting of the Water and Climate Coalition together with Stakeholder Forum. Despite the late hour (from 19:00 -21:00!) we had a afull house of 17 members, partners and obervers, like SEI, Green Cross, Conservation International, WWF, GWP and others,  keenly supporting and following the work we have done under UNFCCC. As our oldest colleague from Stakeholder Forum is moving on to new and exciting assignments there was a heightened sense of shared goals and common efforts as we take on the new work plan.

For the fourth year in a row, the Swedish Water House, together with the International Water Association, yesterday arranged the Young Water Professionals seminar at the World Water Week in Stockholm International Water Association at the World Water Week in Stockholm. One thing that we wanted to change this year was to give more time for discussions since these have proved to be very interesting, full of creative ideas, thoughts and perspectives. Our experience has been that the time for discussions often has felt too short, thus, we made an exercise for the YWPs to work with- hoping for a more interactive seminar. The exercise the participants were given was to rebuild the city of Banda Aceh that was shattered by the tsunami in 2004. How do we build a city that provides for its people while at the same time being socially and environmentally sustainable? What are the best solutions for water supply, sanitation, energy and food production and livelihoods, considering the local context? The participants were divided into these different areas to try to answer this question. When planning their city they both had to consider the overall challenges that Rose-Osinde Alabster (UNICEF) had presented in the beginning of the seminar such as climate change, population growth and unsustainable resource use and the local context (political setting, climate, natural resources available, culture, gender and so on) described by Alastair Morrison (WGF at UNDP).

It soon became clear for the participants that the real challenge was to get all these systems working together. The different systems are largely dependent on the same resources and if not coordinated can easily result in competition for financing, water etc. The young water professionals had many ideas on how these different systems could be integrated. The sanitation group suggested that wastewater could be used both for biogas production, and as fertilizers for agriculture. The water supply group had thought about creating a system that did not use up too much energy. The food production and livelihoods group suggested household gardening as a solution for Aceh and had thought about how to make use of wastewater and rainwater for these gardens. Although there was a realization in all groups that some trade-offs had to be made, the focus was on solutions. Using a case to work with was very much appreciated by the young water professionals. It was a great way of getting the young water professionals engaged -the room was buzzing of ideas! Hopefully, we’ll try something similar next year.

See more pictures from this seminar at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldwaterweek/sets/72157627367549817/

Karin Glaumann, SWH 

Someone just called me to ask whether he was young enough for the Young Water Professionals seminar that we arrange on the 21st of August during the World Water Week in Stockholm. His question was perfectly logical in view of the seminar’s name, and I was happy to convey the message that we do not have an age limit. But the question undoubtedly gave rise to today’s philosophical moment. What defines being young? The age at which you are no longer seen as young seems to differ substantially between countries. A reasonable answer to the question might be “as long as you consider yourself in the beginning of a career”. But then again, with today’s flexible working market you may just as well be older and starting a new career. And somewhere during that career path you will master enough knowledge and skill to become senior. The point at which you go from being “just” an expert to being a senior expert is equally elusive and, naturally, subject to interpretation.

Philosophical meanderings aside, with this seminar we are hoping to provide a platform for young water professionals, however they chose to define themselves, to meet their peers as well as more senior experts, to discuss future challenges in the water sector. This year we have created a scenario for the participants with the task to rebuild the Indonesian city Banda Aceh, shattered by the tsunami in 2004, into a resilient city. The central question that will be guiding the work is: Building a city in this area, how can we create sustainable solutions for energy and water supply, sanitation, industry and agriculture without overexploiting or polluting water sources? Have a closer look at the programme and the case study here. Please note that to join this seminar you need to be registered for the Water Week. However, for Sweden-based young water professionals there are still a couple of free seats left… send me an e-mail no later than tomorrow Friday the 5th if you want to sign up! ann-mari.karlsson@siwi.org

The relation between water users and service providers has received too little attention and is underdeveloped: The rights and obligations of both users and providers of water services are poorly defined and the mutual understanding between the parties is often lacking. Further, many urban water users get their water through intermediate suppliers, also lacking agreements with customers as well as bulk suppliers.

The service relationships are often pictured as a triangle, with the state on the top, where politicians/policy makers institute utility regulation or develop contracts or compacts with service providers. This relationship has received long and persistent attention in the privatisation debate and the ensuing call for improved regulation of public as well as private service providers. On the other side, the state has a relationship with the citizens, expressing their voice through elections or other ways of contacting or influencing the various levels of government and state authorities. This relationship has received heightened attention in the definition of water (services) as a human right.

At the bottom of the triangle, then, is the more or less direct relationship between water users and the providers that physically make water available for human consumption. The 2004 World Development Report focussing on ‘Making Services Available for Poor People’ labelled this relationship, or exchange of services and ‘client power’ as ‘the short route of accountability.’ In contrast, ‘the long route of accountability’ went via the state machinery. The point made here was the influence the customers could have over the supplier through their commercial relationship.

Still, this potential commercial power of the client has been more conducive to generate informal and most often inadequate service provision, and has not been sufficient to bring sustainable services to urban dwellers, and certainly not to the poorer slum dwellers. The missing link for sustainable and equitable services is the lack of arrangements that are sufficiently awarding for providers, yet affordable and accessible for the communities.

In Albania, the Water Regulatory Authority and the MDG-F-sponsored programme for Economic Governance, Regulatory Reform, Public Participation and Pro-Poor Development have taken note of the wide disparity and the often poor conditions offered to households by the water system operators. This situation impelled them to develop a ‘model contract’ in consultation with all stakeholders, including consumer rights organisations and associations of water system operators. Opting for a long and detailed contract, it serves also as an educational tool for water services users and providers to learn about their rights as well as obligations towards one another. This ‘model contract’ is being implemented progressively by water operators throughout Albania.

In the Philippines, the National Water Resources Board and the MDG-F-sponsored programme for Enhancing Access to and Provision of Water Services with the Active Participation of the Poor found that many of the smaller water supply schemes were unsustainable as those in charge of operations and maintenance were often lacking the necessary capacity. It was found that when the customers were involved in determining the appropriate level of service as well as the appropriate tariff. Developing realistic levels of services and tariffs, water service providers were able to operate successfully. This mutual agreement and understanding of each others rights and obligations to one another were formalised and signed by representatives of the customers and the service providers, and witnessed by local leaders and other customers.

This work on the mutual understanding of rights and obligations of both water consumers and water service providers is being presented at a Side Event at the World Water Week (Interests of Water Users and Service Providers: Mutual Understanding of Rights and Obligations - Sunday, 2011-08-21 at 17:45 to 18:45 in Room K24). It is proposed as a practical way of working towards the realisation of the human right to water, and it addresses the too poorly developed – too often even missing – link in the urban water supply chain.

Vill du volontärarbeta som Junior Rapporteur under årets Världsvattenvecka den 21-27 augusti? Som Junior Rapporteur hjälper du ledande experter att sammanfatta och analysera allt som händer under Världsvattenveckan.

Uppdraget är inte betalt med ger mycket bra möjligheter till nätverkande! SWH står för din avgift, luncher och sociala event. Vi vänder oss i första hand till personer baserade i Sverige. Vi behöver din ansökan senast den 1 maj. Se mer information om hur du ansöker här.
Du kan också arbeta som assistent. Senaste ansökningsdag för assistenter: 18 april. Se mer information om hur du ansöker här.

av Ann-Mari Karlsson, Swedish Water House

The theme of this year’s World Water Week is 'Water in an Urbanizing World'. This is indeed a very important issue as water has become an increasingly fragile and scarce resource in rapidly growing cities. In many developing countries municipalities struggle to provide its residents with even the most basic water services. Amid the water scarcity urban agriculture has find its way to become one of the main livelihood strategies for poor city dwellers to cope with the harsh reality of city life. 

World-wide an ever growing force of urbanization is taking place as people leave their rural homes for a perceived urban life full of luxury, comfort, opportunities, and access to basic social amenities. In Kenya, as in most developing countries, the majority end up living in informal settlements (slums). In Nairobi alone there are about 150 slums with over 1.5 million inhabitants. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, possibly the largest in Africa, with anywhere between 300,000 and one million people living in wood and tin shacks squeezing in an area just about half the size of Central Park in New York.

Kibera Slum in Nairobi, photo by Schreibkraft

Life in Kibera is accompanied by high levels of poverty, unemployment and food insecurity. As in so many other slums across Africa and the world a common way to deal with these challenges is to engage in urban farming. Many people in Kibera are now growing food on every piece of available land, in backyards, along stream, roads and railway, and under power lines. Often on land they don't own. Most of the farmers in Kibera are women and their efforts yield significant benefits in terms of nutrition, food security, and income for their households. In order to water their crops they use any available water source, often from local streams, roadside drains, and untreated wastewater and sewage. All likely to be heavily contaminated due to the slum's poor sanitation arrangements and unregulated municipal and industrial effluents. And even though wastewater can carry a number of risks, such as pathogens and contamination from all sorts of industrial waste, it provides a free source of fertilizer to farmers who don't have money to buy expensive fertilizers. Urban farming is believed to account for some 20% of the global food supply, with half of this food being grown using wastewater, according to a 2009 survey of 53 cities conducted by the International Water Management Institute. But in sub-Saharan Africa, urban farmers depending on wastewater for their crops are producing 70–90% of the perishable vegetables consumed in African cities. This poses severe threats to the health of both producers and consumers. Among wastewater-related infections, diarrhoea is the top cause of death among children under the age of five in the developing world.

In today's cities more and more people compete over a limited quantity of water for domestic and productive uses. The current trend of rapid urbanization and growth of urban slums outpacing urban growth by a wide margin will result in higher proportions of the urban population living in poverty. If more and more poor people turns into urban agriculture to eke out a living this can put already stretched urban water supply and wastewater systems in developing countries under increasing pressure. Urban farming can provide slum dwellers with food and income but there is a need to provide cheap ways to increase water use efficiency in production and safe ways of using wastewater if this potential solution is not to turn into a threat. The upcoming 1st Africa Agriculture and Water Dialogue in South Africa and the World Water Week with one of its workshops focusing on future challenges for urban water services and infrastructure could provide good platforms for the interesting and necessary discussions around the nexus of urban farming and water. 

Discussions about urban water management have during the past two decades been dominated by the privatization debate. There seems to be no conclusive evidence regarding any absolute advantages or disadvantages of either public or private operation and even ownership of the urban water infrastructure. A lasting outcome from the debate is instead the recognition of the plurality of actors on the urban water scene. We have public and private water utility companies. We also have small-scale often informal providers, which operate more or less efficiently, but nevertheless have a role to play.

With the plurality of actors, and sometimes even multiple physical systems within the same urban area, the need for governance and appropriate regulation of urban water activities have come to the fore. Water utility regulation, of both private and public service providers, is generally seen as a government prerogative. How well regulators in different parts of the world will be able to enhance the urban water service efficiency and equity, by monitoring and providing incentives for correction and improvement, remains to be seen.

In a review of utility performance in the United States and elsewhere, it was found that the debate over privatization had overshadowed influential drivers of success, such as "effective staffing, consistent community support for adequate funding, detailed asset management, performance measurements and rewards aligned to organizational objectives, and processes that are transparent and open to the public."

Some of these drivers have been well addressed by the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), which under the leadership of Mr. Ek Sonn Chan has been recognized for its remarkable trajectory from a corrupt and inefficient utility to one of world class performance, and bestowed with Stockholm Industry Water Award in 2010. In 1993 Mr. Ek Sonn Chan was appointed as General Director of PPWSA. Together with his team, he managed to refurbish the whole supply system, introduce cost-effective billing and creative payment collection methods, as well as to provide clean water to almost all of the city’s residents.

While remaining in public hands, PPWSA has put tremendous effort into 'effective staffing' and 'performance measurements and rewards aligned to organizational objectives'. Also, in the quest to raise tariffs to cover costs of operations, maintenance and future expansions, PPWSA managed to secure community support by turning to those having been excluded from services in the previous inequitable system. Moreover, by subsidizing connections, and transparently explaining the cost and procedure for getting one; service coverage has gone up, and petty corruption down.

The issue of utility management - where the PPWSA is an outstanding success story - along with the appropriate policy and regulatory environment remains as challenges at the global level. Also, the long term financing of urban infrastructure still requires much more attention - and priority! That is, money!

Still, with more money, the need for well-focused and balanced investment increases. An increasing proportion of available funding needs to target enhanced service coverage and quality by investing in water distribution and sanitation systems that serve also low-income groups. (Too large a proportion of investments go to high-visibility objects like treatment plants. These are needed but cannot be optimally utilized if the rest of the infrastructure is lacking or is out of reach for the people it should serve.)

The upcoming World Water Week in August 2011 addresses the overarching challenge of Responding to Global Changes: Water in an Urbanizing World. One of the workshops looks into the pertinent topic of 'Financing of Urban Infrastructure'. It will examine examples of instruments and incentives that are deemed to be successful cases of financial arrangements. While the announcement points to the urgent challenge of matching realities of affordability and population growth with the need for cost-efficient, equitable and sustainable services, it claims there are bold ways to scale up and maintain infrastructure and also address challenges of resource management. This promises to be an interesting event!

The other workshops announced for the World Water Week raise the perspective and address some of the future challenges for urban water services and infrastructure. Where are we heading in terms of the long-term water management and catchment-related changes and risks in urban areas? What are the consequences for ecosystems and adjacent rural areas? What kind of responses is needed to adapt cities to climate variability and change? And what new approaches, technologies and infrastructures are required to sustainably manage the resource fluxes in our increasingly urban world? 

Some workshops keep present-day inequities in focus and explore issues like: How do we promote the efficient service delivery to the disfavored urban populations that currently stand without? What are the opportunities for forging closer links between the formal and informal service providers? And what regulatory frameworks are there to foster socially just service provision?

With basic water and sanitation services being recognized as human rights (by most states), urban water managers have additional impetus for actually focusing on those not previously privileged beneficiaries of subsidized services. With additional legal weight behind their claims, low-income urban populations hopefully stand a better chance ahead of duly benefitting from existing and future urban infrastructure systems. Can water sector regulators also find incentives and ways to monitor the equity as well as efficiency in the urban water service delivery - then we can hope for truly pro-poor water governance seeing the light of day!

by Marianne Kjellén,
Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm University and WGF (UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI)

The Cluster Group on Water and Rights launched their policy brief “The Human Right to Water and Sanitation - Securing access to water” for basic needs at World Water Week 2011. The UN Independent Expert on the Rights to Water and Sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, came by the book launch event and gave support to the work of the cluster group as well as stressed the importance of the newly published policy brief. The policy brief can be downloaded here.
 

Catarina de Albuquerque, the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Gunilla Björklund, independent consultant and expert and Åsa Elfström international water expert Svenska Kyrkan and Ann-Mari Karlsson, SWH/SIWI.
 
 

While the first week as an intern at the Swedish Water House has come to an end, it is time to summarize. So far I'm of the perception that I during this summer have learned more than during my three years time at the university. Pieces are falling into place and a more complete view approaches while moving from the theoretical based education at the department of Political Science at Uppsala University, to a more daily based reality.

Some people gets access to clean drinking water, in a plastic bag / photo by Erik Forhammar 

Working at the Swedish Water House I've gotten some insight in crucial issues such as the conception of everyone's right to safe water and sanitation which vast numbers of people lack access to. The later part of the first week was very exciting since Sweden abstained from voting in favour of the UN Draft Resolution on Human Right to water and sanitation adopted by the General Assembly. This resulted in putting SIWI and SWH in the media centre and kept the phones busy the day after. Questions such as "Why doesn't the Swedish government support everyone's right to water and sanitation?" were raised. But the answer is more complicated then what appears … Sweden does support everyone's right to water and sanitation but agrees with the UN independent expert that it is implicit in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

During my internship I'll be working with the preparations of the World Water Week and find material to seminars that will be arranged later on the year. I will also link to my own experiences from Ghana where I spent my first part of the summer. Apart from having four interesting weeks in Ghana- partly working at a local NGO (Light for Children) based in Kumasi and partly gathering material for my thesis - I was trying to get used with the primitive living standard. Bringing buckets every day from the common water pump- which only runs at a certain time in the day- in the yard in to the house, made me realize how much I actually appreciate the clean running water we have from the tap in Sweden and all the efforts that is being saved through this system.

Water pump site in a rural village, Ghana / photo by Erik Forhammar

Ghana has a sanitation coverage of only 10%, a water supply coverage of 80% and like the most countries the lack is even more critical among the rural population. They are combating common diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and guinea worm caused by contaminated water. I wonder how the recently heavy floods will hit the people and affect their right to "adequate standard of living". Myself,  I had no problem of getting access of potable water from plastic bags which could be bought in every street corner, and in my case, for a very reasonable price. Likewise I had the pump of clean water just outside the house not several hours away which is the case for many people living in rural areas.

So far this summer has been full of new impressions and I'm looking forward to the rest of my time at the SWH and also to follow the continuing process of providing safe and accessible water and sanitation for everyone.

by Erik Forhammar, Intern at SWH

Communities in Kenya are facing a changing climate that threaten to put poor people into even tougher constrains. Today we got some ideas on how this can be tackled. 

Ms. Wangu Mutua told the participants at the Side Event "Separate Streams" at the World Water Week how Vi Agroforestry have supported farmers to develop a number of simple but ingenious actions to enhance their adaptability to a changing climate. I personally was impressed by the work with promoting the raising of low feed small animals. For example, chicken breeds that both can exist on lower levels of feed and are resistant to long drought periods. Ms Wangu also told about how farmers improve their agricultural practices by for example covering the earth between the plants with dry grass to limit evaporation. All methods they use are at field-level and do not require large investments. The staff of Vi Agroforestry live in the rural areas close to agricultural communities and engage with existing institutional groups, such as church groups that local people already trust and feel comfortable with.

I can understand that the work is difficult and it has taken a long time to reach the fruitful results that are being seen today. These results give more hope for the future. Since some groups have been successful with adaptation strategies to climate variability, it shows that it is possible for others to learn from them and to develop similar but locally adapted methods. If just a fraction of the money that is discussed for adaptation could support some programs like this one I believe there is greater hope for dignified livelihoods for many more people in a changing climate.

Read more about the Vi Agroforestry program in the newly published policy brief "Adapting water management to climate change".

by Anneli Nordling, Cluster Group Leader, Cluster Group Climate, Water and Vulnerability

The hot topic of the right to water was discussed also at this World Water Week. The UN Independent Expert on the obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque came to the Week to present her first year's conclusions. For the assembled water community, the issue of pricing of water, as well as the privatisation of water services are still highly relevant topics. Catarina de Albuquerque emphasised that from a human rights perspective, it does not matter whether services are public or private, as long as everyone's right to access is fulfilled.
 

Just as with other rights, such as the right to food and the right to education, people who can afford it are often required to pay to have these things - but states need to consider that prices are affordable for all. The important thing is for states to make sure that those who cannot afford water and improved sanitation are not deprived of their rights. One of the added values of recognising the human right to water and sanitation is that it can help strengthen focus on the rights of those who are underserved, marginalised or discriminated in society.
 

by Ann-Mari Karlsson, Cluster Group Leader, SWH Cluster Group Water and Rights

The Swedish Water House cluster group The Swedish Environmental Flow Initiative (SEFI) co-convened a Sunday afternoon seminar together with the Global Environmental Flows Network (eFlowNet), USAID Global Water for Sustainability Program (GLOWS), Conservation International, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), UNEP-DHI Centre for Water and Environment (UDC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The title of the seminar was "Environmental Flows for Sustainable Development, Poverty Alleviation and Biodiversity Conservation".

Water managers have a daunting task of maximising economic and social welfare, and doing so without compromising the health of vital ecosystems. Incorporating environmental flow regimes in water management is an efficient way to safe guard vital ecosystems. The aim of the seminar was to highlight how different sectors work to incorporate environmental flows in their water management and what benefits and tradeoffs exists for the goals of maximising economic and social welfare, and how climate change will affect this work in the future.
One of the more important things that were highlighted in the seminar was that the environmental flow concept is evolving from a biodiversity conservation concept to more and more reflect the human aspect. Maintaining health ecosystems is not only a question for conservation of biodiversity, but really a question of maintaining resources that humans are dependant on. None the less, the term in it self may be a hinder for implementation as many view any term containing the word "environmental" to be something that only concerns biodiversity conservation. Another interesting thing that came up was the implication of climate change on implementing environmental flows, and the need to incorporate this in e-flow work. Even though climate change and increased variability and uncertainty will make the work harder, it is important to remember that the implication climate change will have on water availability and flow patterns, it is miniscule to the implication of human water use such as large scale irrigation schemes and hydropower production.

And then, in the evening, finally it was time! After what feels like a long journey, the cluster group on environmental flows launched the report "Securing Water for Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing: The Importance of Environmental Flows". This report is a joint collaboration between the conveners of the afternoon seminar. The launch was accompanied by a press release and a press event where the refreshments were served and a short presentation of the key messages of the report was made.
 

A pdf of the report can be found at http://www.swedishwaterhouse.se/opencms/en/resources/
 

by Birgitta Renöfält, Cluster Group Leader of the Swedish Environmental Flows Initiative
 

Första dagen på vattenveckan, en första doft av höst i morgonluften. Young Water Professionals-seminariet var proppfullt med motiverade studenter och unga människor i början av karriären. Jag har lärt mig en hel del nytt. Till exempel att läckande vattenledningar är ett särskilt stort problem i de megastäder som ransonerar kranvattnet - där det är vattenbrist. Det är alltså inte bara fysisk brist på vatten som leder till lite vatten i kranarna, utan att det är hål i vattenledningarna! Vilken utmaning som ligger framför dessa städer att byta ut och laga alla ledningar som börjar bli gamla nu. Eller som ingen har haft råd att sköta sedan de byggdes.

En hållbar stad måste numera också bygga flexibla system som klarar av både mer och mindre vatten i framtiden. Vi vet inte exakt hur klimatförändringar kommer slå, och därför måste man ny tänka på ett nytt sätt när man bygger infrastruktur som rör vatten. Förbereda för extra pumpstationer till exempel. En utmaning är också hur samhällen ska börja bygga för framtida generationers behov och inte bara de behov som vi själva har just nu. Det låter bra, men hur genomför man det politiskt? Hur kan man argumentera nationalekonomiskt? Svaren kommer säkerligen diskuteras under veckan som kommer. Det ser jag fram emot!
 

av Ann-Mari Karlsson, Water and Rights cluster group leader

Time for World water week again; busy corridors, great meetings, lots of fun…

The Swedish water house will be busy during the week in launching two new policy briefs… and several seminars and side events… As usual many burning topics will be discussed and transboundary waters will be in focus.

Another hot issue; water and climate change will be intensively discussed throughout the week; how can the water community contribute the best to the climate change processes and what role will water have in the COP-15 agreement? Watch out for exiting discussions and results!

by Karin Lexén, Director, Swedish water House

The Swedish Water House will once again be heavily involved in the upcoming World Water Week in Stockholm, from August 16-22, 2009. It is shaping up to be an exciting programme and the Second Announcement is hot off the press and now available at www.worldwaterweek.org. The theme for 2009 is “Responding to Global Changes: Accessing Water for the Common Good” with a special focus on Transboundary Waters.

The Swedish Water House will once again support the involvement of Junior Rapporteurs at the World Water Week. These JRs will team up with a lead rapporteur and follow specific themes throughout the week with the goal of presenting their reflections at the closing plenary session and preparing a thematic report for the Synthesis Report of the week. From the reaction we received from last year’s Junior Rapporteurs, we are sure this will continue to be an exciting (but very intense) opportunity for many students and water professionals starting their careers. We are now starting the selection process for the JRs by going through almost 100 applications received over the past few months.

SWH will convene a number of events as well. SWH events range from the Young Water Professionals seminar on Sunday to the Water Footprint seminar on Tuesday to the Water and Climate Focus days on Wednesday and Thursday. We continue our support to the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) Multistakeholder Forum by funding a number of participants from developing countries. Our cluster groups will play an active role in organizing the environmental flows seminar, two side events on the right to water, and two side events on water and climate change. It’s going to be a busy week!

For more information on Swedish Water House involvement in the week, stay tuned to this website as well as www.worldwaterweek.org.

by Michael Moore

I can start feeling the heat from the upcoming World Water Week (16-22 August), or the Week as we say here at SIWI/SWH. We are all on the hunt for the world’s leading experts and committed grassroots to arrange fruitful seminars and side events with interesting debates. So many actors are in place during one week!

The activity at SIWI is intense in the summer, and it is clear that summer is approaching. I co-organise a side event together with the Church of Sweden, the agricultural university SLU, and the German Ministry for economic cooperation and development (BMZ) on water as a human right, Tuesday the 18th August (followed up on Wednesday the 19th).

We will get a quick visit by the UN Independent Expert on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, which is really great. It will be interesting to hear her thoughts, after the first out of three years on the post, on how governments can improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation for those who lack it.

by Ann-Mari Karlsson