Water Webinar Series

Water and Sustainable Development: Water Security in Transboundary and Interstate Rivers

Our next webinar will be Tuesday 26 September 2023, at 4.00pm (UK Time). 

Watch Event

Water management and its intersection with climate change have emerged as pressing global concerns, intricately intertwined with sectors such as food, energy, environment, and development. Economic development, rapid urbanisation and population dynamics have resulted in a new era of complexity in water management. Over the years, a legacy of inadequate water management practices has taken a toll on water resources in countries in the global North and South, profoundly affecting both the quantity and quality of available water for all uses. The cumulative impact of these challenges has been further compounded by the far-reaching consequences of climate change. Notably, transboundary and interstate rivers have emerged as critical focal points of concern, exemplifying the escalating severity and complexity of water management issues.

This webinar will focus on critical aspects of water security, potential solutions and collaborative efforts necessary to ensure sustainable management and security of these river systems. Examples will include transboundary rivers, with special emphasis on key regions such as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and the Hindukush Himalayas, and the interstate rivers of the United States (Colorado) and India.

Panel members are Professor Neil Grigg, Colorado State University; Dr Aysegul Kibaroglu, Middle East Technical University, Ankara; Dr David Molden, former Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal; and Dr Srinivas Chokkakula, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

Moderator

Professor Cecilia Tortajada Professor in Practice, School of Social & Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow, UK; and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. She is a past president of the International Water Resources Association, and Member of the OECD Initiative on Water Governance and of the International Selection Committee of the Millennium Technology Prize, Technology Academy Finland. The main focus of her work is on impacts of global events on water resources, food, environment and societies.

Introduction

Professor Fabrice Renaud is Head of the School of Social & Environmental Sustainability and Professor of Environmental Risk and Community Resilience, University of Glasgow. Before that, Fabrice was Head of the Environmental Vulnerability and Ecosystem Services section of the United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security in Bonn, Germany. Fabrice leads research on (1) use of ecosystem-based approaches for reducing risks from natural hazards, and (2) broad sustainable development issues with a focus on human-environment interactions.

Panellists

Professor Neil S. Grigg is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University.  He graduated with a B.S. from the US Military Academy and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Auburn University and Colorado State University in Civil/Hydraulic Engineering.   His professional career of more than 50 years includes positions in academia as professor, department head, assistant dean, and water institute director; in government at the state level as an assistant secretary for natural resources and director of division of environmental management; in business as a co-founder of a consulting engineer firm; and in the military as a US Corps of Engineers army officer.  He has served as the US Supreme Court’s River Master of the Pecos River since 1988.   He has authored seventeen books in the fields of water resources and infrastructure, with the most recent in 2023 as Water Resources Management: Principles, Methods, and Tools.  John Wiley & Sons.

Dr Aysegül Kibaroglu is Professor of International Relations at MEF University, Istanbul. She was a visiting professor at University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Building a Regime for the Waters of the Euphrates-Tigris River Basin (2002, Brill) and co-editor of Turkey’s Water Policy (Springer, 2011). She has published in International Negotiation, Water International, Water Policy, International Journal of Water Resources Development, Global Governance and International Affairs. Her recent book, Turkey’s Water Diplomacy: Analysis of its Foundations, Challenges and Prospects is published by the Anthem Press. She is a founding member of the Euphrates Tigris Initiative for Cooperation (ETIC).

Dr David James Molden is a research for development specialist with more than 30 years of experience in designing, planning, executing, and monitoring programmes on water and natural resources management with work experience across Asia and Africa. He was Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) from 2011 to 2020 and prior to joining ICIMOD he was the Deputy Director General for Research at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), which received the 2011 IWRA Crystal Drop Award and the 2012 Stockholm Water Prize. Dr Molden received a PhD in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University in 1987 specializing in water resources, and has since developed broader interests in integrating social, technical, and environmental aspects of natural resources management. He has contributed to the publication of more than 200 works in books, journals, reports, the media, and educational materials. He is an Honorary Member of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) and has received many awards including the Outstanding Scientist Award of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in 2009.

Dr Srinivas Chokkakula is a Senior Fellow and the MoJS (Ministry of Jal Shakti) Research Chair – Water Conflicts and Governance at CPR, where he leads the Transboundary Rivers, Ecologies, and Development studies (TREADs) programme – a research cluster founded by him. His research and policy interests lie primarily in the water sector, focusing on transboundary water conflict/cooperation and governance. He has written and published widely on the subject.

He has interdisciplinary training in geography, planning and engineering. He has a PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle, and an MA from the University of Miami, Florida in political geography; an earlier Masters in Urban Environmental Planning from CEPT University, Ahmedabad; and a B. Tech. in Civil Engineering from Kakatiya University, Warangal. He did his post-doctoral research at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, SOAS, University of London. He has received several scholarships and fellowships, including the Chevening (Young Indian Environmental Managers 2000) and the Fulbright (Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Chair in Public Policy 2022-23).

Before his PhD and the shift to academics, Srinivas worked with PVOs for a decade, engaging with wide ranging topics including urban and regional planning, and local governance in India; disaster response and reconstruction; and indigenous knowledge systems for natural resource management. He is a keen supporter of the non-profit sector, he founded, helped establish NGOs, and served/serves on their boards.

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First published: 1 August 2023