Challenges
for
Water
Security
in
the
Poor's
World:
The
agenda
for
research
and
policy
to
manage
water
scarcity,
plenty,
pollution
and
waste
in
an
age
of
climate
risk
Dr. Narain’s lecture, the “Challenges for Water Security in the Poor’s World”, will address the fact that large parts of the developing world are faced with huge and mounting water challenges. On the one hand, there is scarcity and competition for the resource between current agricultural users and new users in industry and urban areas. On the other hand, there is increasingly variability in rainfall, leading to floods and droughts because of now more visible climatic changes. Current technologies for water and waste management are unaffordable and therefore, unsustainable. What is the way ahead? What should research be advising policy and practice to build a new water future?
Event Parking
If you are driving to the event, we recommend parking in lot N or lot W where the $5 payment can be made with coins or credit card at the blue pay-and-display ticket machines. A map of visitor parking lots can be found at: https://uwaterloo.ca/map/?basemap=D
Biography
Dr. Sunita Narain has been with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) since 1982. She is currently the director general of the Centre and the director of the Society for Environmental Communications and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth.
Dr. Narain is a writer and environmentalist, who uses knowledge for change. In 2005 she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government. She has also received the World Water Prize for work on rainwater harvesting and for its policy influence in building paradigms for community based water management. In 2005, she also chaired the Tiger Task Force at the direction of the Prime Minister, to evolve an action plan for conservation in the country after the loss of tigers in Sariska. She advocated solutions to build a coexistence agenda with local communities so that benefits of conservation could be shared and the future secured. She was a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Climate Change as well as the National Ganga River Basin Authority, chaired by the Prime Minister, set up to implement strategies for cleaning the river.
Dr.
Narain
began
her
work
in
the
early
1980s,
as
a
co-researcher
with
Anil
Agarwal,
an
eminent
and
committed
environmentalist
who
gave
the
country
its
environmental
concern
and
message.
In
1985,
she
co-edited
the
State
of
India’s
Environment
report,
which
built
an
understanding
in
the
country
on
why
India
is
so
important
for
the
poor.
With
Anil
Agarwal
she
learnt
that
environment
and
development
are
two
sides
of
the
same
coin
and
that
for
the
millions
of
poor,
who
live
on
the
margins
of
subsistence,
it
a
matter
of
survival.
In
1989,
learning
from
the
successful
initiatives
of
people
to
manage
their
environment,
Anil
Agarwal
and
she
wrote
Towards
Green
Villages
advocating
local
participatory
democracy
as
the
key
to
sustainable
development.
She
has
continued
to
research
and
write
about
how
environment
must
become
the
basis
of
livelihood
security
of
people
in
the
country.
She
has
also
linked
issues
of
local
democracy
with
global
democracy,
arguing
that
every
human
being
has
an
entitlement
to
the
global
atmospheric
common.
In
2012,
she
has
authored
the
7th
State
of
India’s
Environment
Reports,
Excreta
Matters,
which
presents
a
comprehensive
analysis
of
urban
India’s
water
and
pollution
challenges.
There will be a poster exhibition and reception after the lecture in the M3 Atrium.