It’s with a smile I think back on the World Water Forum and the event on the UN Watercourses Convention. What used to be more of a utopia turned into something more real during that event. Maybe after all ”the Convention on the Law of the Non- Navigational Uses of International Watercourses” will have enough signatories to enter in to force. Around 10 different countries received the WWF Living Planet Award for ratifying the Convention. Countries like Finland, Iraq and not least Sweden proudly received the reward and expressed their support to the Convention. The importance of its entry into force is growing with emerging global water scarcity and climate change making the situation even more sever.

I was even happier today when I learned that Tunisia just ratified the Convention and one country closer to the entry in to force. Eighteen more to go!

by Anna Forslund, Swedish Environmental Flows Initiative and WWF
 

….det är fortfarande med ett leende på läpparna som jag tänker på World Water Forum och ” evenemanget runt FN:s vattendragskonvention. Vad som för några år sedan kändes som en utopi, fick då mer konkreta former. Kanske kommer ”the Convention on the Law of the Non- Navigational Uses of International Watercourses” till slut få tillräckligt med underskrifter för att  träda i kraft. Ett tiotal representanter för sina nationer fick ta emot WWFs ”Living Planet Award” för att de skrivit under konventionen, som sätter upp riktlinjer för hur länder som delar gemensamma vattendrag ska samarbeta . Länder som Finland, Irak, och inte minst Sverige tog stolt emot utmärkelsen och visade sitt stöd för fortsatta gemensamt arbete för att få den att träda i kraft. Vikten av att konventionen växer bara med att vattenbristen i världen blir allt allvarligare där klimatförändringarna ytterligare förvärrar situationen.

Mitt leende blev ännu bredare i dag när jag fick reda på att ytterligare ett land har sällat sig till skaran. Jippi! Även Tunisien har nu ratificerat . Nu fattas 18 underskrifter!

av Anna Forslund, Swedish Environmental Flows Initiative och WWF

Fredagen den 22 maj ska jag möta upp 20 st nervösa och förväntansfulla ungdomar på Stockholms Centralstation. Det är då dags för finalhelgen i Svenska Juniorvattenpriset.

Den 7 april var det deadline för att anmäla sig till tävlingen Svenska Juniorvattenpriset. En jury bestående av representanter från bland andra SMHI, Albaeco, Ramböll och forskare från universitet samt representanter från skolvärlden, valde ut 9 projekt att gå till final i tävlingen. Finalisterna kommer till Stockholm den 22 till 24 maj. Då väntar en helg med mycket spännande att lära, trevliga evenemang och inte minst en hel del spänning i tävlingsmomentet t.ex. juryintervjuerna men inte minst prisceremonin. Helgen avslutas med prisceremonin under vilken vinnaren tillkännages. Vinnaren belönas med en glasskulptur och 30 000 kronor som fördelas lika mellan vinnaren och dennes skola för att stimulera till framtida vattenprojekt. Vinnaren kommer sedan vara Sveriges bidrag i en internationell final.

Svenska Juniorvattenpriset är en av många (drygt 30) nationella tävlingar som pågår världen över. Vinnarna i dessa tävlingar får representera sina respektive länder i den internationella finalen Stockholm Junior Water Prize som genomförs under världsvattenveckan i Stockholm i augusti.

Mer att läsa om 2009 års finalister i Svenska Juniorvattenpriset finns i olika lokalpress. Klicka här för länkar.

av Annika Börje

I was sure my Swedish employers thought long and hard to find somewhere even colder than Sweden to send me on assignment.  Perhaps they were thinking that “if we send him to Mongolia, he will never again complain again about our winters.”
 

So a short flight from crowded Beijing (population 12 million ) brought me into Chinggis (Genghis) Khan airport on the edge of Ulaan Baatar, capital city of the emptiest country in the world.  The rural areas – the vast Gobi Desert and steppes - did indeed look more like the surface of the moon, home to just 300,000 nomads who occupy a rural area the size of Western Europe.
 

I was visiting Mongolia at the request of UNDP, who had identified the country as being ‘off track’ and at risk of missing the Millennium Development Goal targets for water and sanitation.  Water scarcity may be the issue in some countries, but overwhelmingly the failure to deliver these basic necessities is due to poor governance, and to a lack of will to address taboo or “unglamorous” subjects.  UNDP’s GoAL-WaSH programme seeks to address these issues, supporting national efforts to meet the MDGs.
 

And water and sanitation do indeed seem to have been neglected.  Two huge new coal mining deals with China – that could potentially double the size of Mongolia’s economy – seemed to be the talk of the town.  Hummers and large 4x4s crowded Ulaan Baatar’s dilapidated streets, and the city centre was surrounded by vast tented camps – ‘ger’ areas containing former nomads who had abandoned their traditional way of life and set up their tents on the edge of town.  Water, sanitation and other public services in these areas are dire.
 

Mongolia’s extreme climate complicates the sanitation situation further.  Open defecation when it is -40˚C outside is no joke.  And when summer comes – and temperatures rise to 40˚C - untreated waste rapidly becomes a health hazard.  
 

I was pleased that our workshop was so well attended by stakeholders in the Government and other actors involved in water and sanitation.  But much more resources are needed to ensure that Mongolians’ most basic needs are met.  Let us hope that the new mining revenues actually help?
 

by Alastair Morrison, Projrct Manager, UNDP Water Governance Fercility at SIWI

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