2009-01-09
First announcement: Joint SINCIERE-Nanjing University Workshop
Nanjing University, China, April 15-17, 2009 Organizers: Nanjing University and SINCIERE
Integrated Water Resource Management in China:
Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development
Background
China started its economic reform in 1978, and over the past three decades, China experienced a rapid transition in its economic systems driven by industrialization in production expansion, urbanization in infrastructure development, and mechanization in agriculture production, with increasing use of energy and natural resources, which have led to profound changes in ecosystems and the environment. Increase in energy production and use, infrastructure development, mass production and consumption, population growth and lifestyle changes have interacted with each other and made combined impacts to the living environment at local, regional and global levels. Climate change in particular has increasing impacts to the ecosystems, which return with adverse feedback effects.
In China, such a development is driven mainly by business/commercial forces with inadequate respect to the protection of the environment and natural resource basis, which are further undermined by the lack, or delay, of effective policy interventions to safeguard the environment and public goods. The deterioration in local and regional environmental qualities and eco-system changes, including water, air and soil, has led to drastic impacts in the human society and its living environment, upon which people are depended. So are with the global climate change and its impacts, as China has become the world major GHG emitter, also being affected in different regions and formalities, such as floods, droughts, snow/glacier melting, and extreme weather events, etc. These drastic, sometimes devastating, environmental changes have made substantial impacts on ecosystems, and affected people’s living conditions and wellbeing. It has been noted that poor people and marginalized communities are those being affected the most.
In most fields of the environmental research in China, emphasis tends to be sectoral and disciplinary oriented, with less consideration on cross-sectoral oriented and integrated research, bridging natural and social sciences. There is also the tendency of separating scientific research with policy considerations, especially on important social issues, which aims to provide incentives or disincentives by stimulating changes in political, economic and social systems, and the human behavior.
Workshop plan
SINCIERE has reached an agreement with Nanjing University on a joint workshop of integrated water resource management and related policies for the promotion of sustainable development in China. The main purpose of the workshop is to gather interested experts and institutions, both from China and Norway, to discuss potential areas and activities for joint research on key water resource management issues and policies that will affect China today and in the future. Potential interest in topics of presentations and discussions could include wide range of issue areas, e.g., water pollution from industrial and municipal sources, climate change impact on water resource availability, land use change and impact to water basin management, interaction between water and biodiversity, etc. We aim for innovative science- and policy-oriented research that can contribute to both scientific excellence and sustainable development with local, regional and global relevance. It is a particular interest of the Nanjing University to be more actively involved in SINCIERE’s activities with the participation of its faculty members and related departments and research centers.
The reasons of focusing on water resource management and policies is that water quality has been deteriorating in majority of the river basins in China, and hundreds of millions of people are being affected by drinking water safety, due to pollution and adverse changes in water systems. Human health related to water pollution has gained increasing attention of policymakers and health authorities. The mechanisms of change and responding strategies are needed in this context.
Since its inception, SINCIERE has developed the DPSIR philology: Drivers - Pressures - State - Impacts - Response (DPSIR) philosophy as the key conceptual model for the research cooperation proposed by SINCIERE, and it is well suited for building the necessary scientific understanding needed for sustainable management of natural resources. The model motivates both interdisciplinary research and policy relevant scientific development in basic disciplines. Interdisciplinary research should meet traditional scientific quality standards in basic disciplines and at the same time, be innovative in the interface between science and policy, which aims to promote societal changes toward sustainability.
It is our inspiration that this workshop will be able to bring new perspectives to joint environmental research in the above-motioned direction and stimulate interdisciplinary research with increased participation of Chinese and Norwegian scientists. In addition, more effective network activities can be better initiated with efforts from the participants of both sides.
The workshop is planned to be held within 2.5 days in mid-April 2009, which is supposed to be the best time in Nanjing and southern China. It is expected that some 60 participants from China and Norway will attend this workshop. The tentative workshop agenda is shown below:
*Day One (starting at 2pm, April 15)*
Keynote speeches: Nanjing University, Norwegian Embassy, SINCIERE, other keynote speakers
Session 1: Drivers in water quality and quantity changes
Session 2: Pressures on water systems: regional and global
*Day Two*
Session 3: State of aquatic environment
Session 4: Impacts of water quality and pollution
Session 5: Responses in policy intervention and social development
*Day Three (half day)*
Discussions:
- Joint research interest and proposed projects
- SINCIERE and Nanjing University Partnership
- Fundraising and project management