AWP was involved in the first Asia international Water Week held in Gyeongju, 20-23 September in South Korea. AWP ran two sessions in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus theme and participated in the Asia to World Statement and an Asia Water Council meeting.

Water-energy-food Nexus Sessions

AWP helped organise two sessions in the Water-Energy-Food theme of the conference, one on managing trade-offs (as convenor) and another on governance (as co-convenor with the Global Water Partnership). AWP supported several speakers to present in the sessions:

• Huw Pohlner, Aither, spoke on Making difficult decisions between competing demands: valuing water for food, energy and environment
• Emily Barbour, an Australian postdoc at Oxford University, spoke on Identifying ‘win-wins’ and trade-offs in water resource management
• Prof.Dr. KhinNiNi Thein of the National Water Resources Committee, Myanmar, spoke on Driving forces and motivations for better nexus governance
• Robert Argent, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, spoke on Water data and information to underpin nexus governance

Huw Pohlner, Aither, spoke on Making difficult decisions between competing demands: valuing water for food, energy and environment.

The AWP Head of Knowledge & Communications, Dr Ralph Ogden, convened the trade-offs session and supported Vadim Solokov of the GWP in convening the governance session. The AWP-supported speakers and others from IUCN, Can Tho University, IWMI and FAO provided excellent narratives to small but engaged audiences, with good discussions at the end of both sessions.

Asia to World Statement

The Asia Water Council organised Asia international Water Week. One of Council’s roles is to raise global awareness of Asia’s water problems and promote sustainable development. They convened a forum during the conference to promote an ‘Asia to World’ statement, outlining a comprehensive vision for sustainable water management in Asia.

Dr Ralph Ogden, AWP Head of Knowledge and Communications, making an address at the Asia to World Statement.

AWP attended and spoke at the forum, emphasising that no one country or organisation has the solution to our current and looming water problems, which is why AWP supports organisations like the Asia Water Council (and the visionary Asia to World Statement) that promote cooperation to solve water problems.

Kini Contacts

Karen Delfau, Executive Director of IWCAN and Kini lead, attended and connected with several practitioners and organisations working on projects aligned with key Kini knowledge categories.

A highlight was meeting with Kusum Athukorala, Chair of the Sri Lanka Water Partnership, who contributed a Kini interview (soon to be released) and discussed how Kini might align with themes in the 2018 World Water Forum in Brazil.

Karen Delafau, Executive Director IWCAN (right) with Kusum Athukorala, Chair of the Sri Lanka Water Partnership.

Other contacts included:

• IUCN – work on Mekong’s 3S Rivers project
• REACH Water initiative at the University of Oxford – exploring ways that REACH water can collaborate with Kini
• Global Waterintelligence – approaches to share knowledge
• IWRA – on forthcoming research in the application of Smart Water Management approaches to address irrigation and agricultural challenges in the Indo-Pacific
• IWA South Asia on building links with Kini
• Jakarta City Government’s sub-Division of Raw Water, Clean Water, and Wastewater were very interested in collaboration, knowledge sharing, public awareness campaigns and possible involvement as a leader in the Community of Practice
• Asia Water Council and K-water – learning about each other’s interests.

Asia Water Council meeting

AWP attended the 5^th AWC Board of Council meeting, held on the sidelines of the conference, in its role as Chair of the Strategy and Policy Special Committee.