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Accelerating sustainable development of transboundary water resources through collaboration

22 March 2023, 12:00 pm–2:00 pm

Ripples in water

To mark World Water Day on 22nd March 2023, UCL Environment Domain and the Southeast and London Water Alliance (SEAL) are hosting a virtual symposium.

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

Dr Mohammad Shamsudduha – UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction

The event focuses on the theme of ‘accelerating change’ to solve the World’s water and sanitation crisis through collaboration, cooperation, and partnership between sectors and across political boundaries. To accelerate the momentum towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for which the role of freshwater is essential and cross-cutting, the forthcoming UN 2023 Water Conference is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to mobilise actors and generate action and partnerships.

Transboundary water resources support the livelihoods of more than 3 billion people around the world. Transboundary water security depends on active cooperation and sharing of data in order to devise better water management of rivers, lakes, and aquifers across political and administrative boundaries. Effective cooperation and partnership are crucial to achieve sustainable development, regional peace, and stability under climate change, the current economic crisis, and geopolitical uncertainty. Climate vulnerable nations that are dependent on transboundary water resources need to be supported through international collaboration and partnerships in scientific research and cross-sectoral cooperation.

We invite you to join us in the virtual water symposium to mark this year’s World Water Day. In the symposium we will host academic researchers, practitioners, and policy makers who will share their thoughts on challenges and solutions to achieving SDGs through accelerating positive changes in water management practices, water diplomacy, public-private cooperations, digital data and technology, education, and public awareness.

The event will consist of presentations from four leading experts in transboundary water research. This will be followed by  a Q/A session. 

Speakers

Dr Clara Bocchino
Dr. Clara Bocchino is a Consultant and Programme Manager for the Fondazione per l’Ambiente – Teobaldo Fenoglio, Italy. Born and raised in Italy, Clara got interested in community-based natural resource management whilst attending a Human Geography course for her BA degree in Languages and Literature at IULM University in Milan. Clara wrote her dissertation on a case study from Zimbabwe, at a time when transfrontier conservation areas were being established in Southern Africa. Since then, she became interested in the impact of transboundary conservation on local socio-economic relations and development and, through her PhD in Environmental Quality and Regional Economic Development, Clara began to build her expertise. Clara has worked as a researcher and coordination of a research network on One Health action research in the Great Limpopo TFCA, the case study for her PhD. Clara dabbed into Disaster Risk Reduction, legal studies and scenario planning, and their application to the sustainable design and implementation of TFCAs. Clara has accompanied SADC TFCAs Network for the past five years as coordinator and facilitator. From 2018 to 2021, Clara coordinated the Big Data Analytics and Transboundary Water Collaboration for Southern Africa, under Winrock International. This experience made her realise how many opportunities for integrated ecosystem management had been missed so far by separating water from environment, from landscape planning. Clara has tried to bridge that gap in her work as a consultant in governance and programme design, and as programme manager for the Fondazione per l’Ambiente - Teobaldo Fenoglio, in Turin (Italy).

Professor Moshood N. Tijani
Professor Moshood Tijani is currently a Senior Policy Officer Water Resources Management at the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), Abuja, Nigeria. He is charged with driving the water agenda for sustainable utilization and management of water and groundwater resources in the African continent. He holds a doctorate degree in Hydrogeology and Hydrochemistry from the University of Muenster, Germany as well as a Post-graduate Certificate in Hydrogeology from University of Tuebingen, Germany. His areas of professional competence include groundwater resources assessments with reference to exploration, aquifer characterization and environmental water quality assessments. Before joining AMCOW, he has over 20 years of teaching and research experience and over 80 scientific publications. He is a member of national and international professional Hydrogeological Associations.

Dr Madhumita Chakraborty
Dr Madhumita Chakraborty is a hydrogeologist, working on understanding hydrogeological settings and groundwater contamination dynamics within aquifer systems with the aim of identifying safe drinking water sources. Madhumita completed her Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur in India, where her research work focused on a comprehensive hydrostratigraphic and hydrogeologic assessment of the transboundary Bengal aquifer system of the Ganges River delta, with a special focus on groundwater arsenic contamination. Currently, Madhumita is a postdoctoral fellow at Washington and Lee University in the USA, where she is working on exploring machine learning applications to characterize the spatial distribution of contaminants in the local groundwater. Madhumita will begin a new appointment as an Assistant Professor at Washington and Lee University in 2024. Her long-term research goals involve working toward developing knowledge systems that strengthen water security and promote sustainable and equitable water management under the escalating trends of groundwater stress across the globe.

Professor Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor is a Professor of Hydrogeology at University College London in the United Kingdom and an Adjunct Professor of Hydrogeology at Makerere University, Uganda. For three decades, he has worked with researchers, practitioners and stakeholders across tropical Africa and South Asia to inform strategies to expand and sustain access to safe water for drinking and food production. Richard has recently led large transdisciplinary research consortia including AfriWatSan and GroFutures to address these challenges in tropical Africa. Richard is the recipient of a Senior Fellowship from The Royal Society and a Contributing Author to two chapters, Changing Water Cycle and Africa, of the 6th Assessment Report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. His research is rooted in the development and analysis of observations as well as the strengthening of individual and institutional capacities.

Conveners and moderators

Dr Mohammad Shamsudduha
Associate Professor, Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, UCL

Prof. Luiza Campos
Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, UCL

Dr Becca Burns
Strategic Research Facilitator UCL Environment Domain