On May 23 at 14:30, SIWI’s Chair Peter Forssman will announce both the Stockholm Water Prize Laureate and the Stockholm Industry Water Award Winner during the event “Cities and Green Growth – Urban Evolution” at Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre. The event is organised by City of Stockholm, OECD, Stockholm Business Region and a number of other actors.

H.R.H Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden will open the seminar, which also features Mayor of Stockholm Sten Nordin, Swedish Minister for the Environment Lena Ek, as well as international and Swedish policy makers, business leaders and experts. Seats are still available, register here!

Årets Vattenskola will be announced at 14:30-15:00 at a public event in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm, organised by Tekniklyftet and Vetenskapens Hus. The event takes place at 11:00-16:00 and will include entertainment, several award ceremonies, as well as an exhibition. If you are in Stockholm, come by Kungsträdgården to mingle with us at the SIWI booth and take part in the celebration!

Read more about the prizes:

• Stockholm Water Prize
• Stockholm Industry Water Award
• Årets Vattenskola

The SAS and Coca-Cola Environmental Foundation was established in 1998 with the aim to stimulate new generations to research and education within the environmental field. The foundation promotes and encourages projects that improves the environment in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

Read more about the Stockholm Junior Water Prize here.

SIWI’s Anders Jägerskog discussed the opportunities and challenges surrounding international water cooperation with representatives from The Global Environment Facility, the World Bank and UNDP.

The seminar outcomes have been published on The Environmental Change and Security Program’s blog - follow the link to read all about the issues debated at the seminar.

The complexity of water resources systems can often be addressed by applying decision support systems (DSS) and models, which can transparently present the elements of the system and their interrelationships. A DSS for IWRM will typically include a database and processing environment, a knowledge and information system, a modelling and analysis framework, a socioeconomic modelling and analysis framework, and a communication framework.

There are many IWRM areas where models and DSSs can inform the process by allowing water managers to better characterise multiple factors and future uncertainties. This Technical Focus Paper provides for guidelines for elaborating and validating modelling/DSS tools to assist decision-makers in implementing IWRM.

Download the paper here.

• Our registration is open and you are now most welcome to sign up for the 2013 World Water Week. Don’t forget that the early bird registration discount ends June 30!

• The 2013 Programme has just been released, where you can read all about this year’s exciting sessions, seminars, social events, field visits, and much more.

• Additionally, we can proudly present a new and improved online programme this year. Use the new feature to browse the events and plan your schedule!

• To read more about the World Water Week, visit www.worldwaterweek.org.

Read more and download the full magazine here.

Featured articles:

• A Last Ditch Effort to Save the Jordan River by Mr. Rami Abdelrahman and Dr. Anders Jägerskog
  
• Development Under Water Duress by Ms. Chibesa Pensulo
• Water in the Post-2015 Development Agenda by Ms. Maya Rebermark
• Exploring Water Cooperation on World Water Day by Ms. Lovisa Selander
• Top Ten Reasons to Attend the 2013 World Water Week in Stockholm by Ms. Sanna Gustafsson

Part of this was also broadcast on “News Today” in China on World Water Day, as part of a 10 minute feature on water management in all the Nordic countries. Articles in Chinese and English were also posted on Xinhua’s webfeed:

• Chinese version
• English version

Watch the video here:

Water is among the most shared resource on earth. Over 260 watersheds are shared by two or more states, and 40% of the world’s population shares critical water supplies with another country. The seminar thus aims to mark the 2013 Year of Water Cooperation by discussing tools, approaches and mechanisms that advance global transboundary water cooperation.

SIWI’s Anders Jägerskog will partake in a panel discussion together with representatives from The Global Environment Facility, the World Bank and UNDP.

Read more and RSVP here!

Abstract
The starting point of this paper is that most of the international transboundary water management (TWM) processes taking place globally are driven by ‘the hydraulic mission’ — primarily the construction of mega-infrastructure such as dams and water transfer schemes. The paper argues that such heroic engineering approaches are essentially a masculinised discourse, with its emphasis being on construction, command and control.

As a result of this masculinised discourse, the primary actors in TWM processes have been states — represented by technical, economic and political elites operating in what generally gets termed ‘the national interest’. Left out are the local communities relying on the resource directly: the water users; the poor; women; and other important groups.

Instruments such as the UN Watercourses Convention of 1997 make an effort to present an attempt at a gender-balanced approach — through asserting the importance of the ‘no-harm rule’ and the ‘equitable share approach’. However, they end up supporting the status quo through the omission of any reference to gender issues.

The paper provides an overview of the masculinised discourse on TWM institutions, proposing that this is the case because of the intersection of two masculinised fields — water resource management and the disciplines engaged in the research of transboundary water management, namely, political science and international relations.

The paper investigates two southern African examples that illustrate the potential for including a gendered perspective and pro-poor policies that take into account the needs of the water users or ‘stakeholders’.

The analysis includes the international and regional legal agreements on transboundary water issues, searching for evidence of a gendered approach. It is concluded that the laws and organisations responsible for transboundary water management currently do not reflect a gendered approach, despite the international recognition given to the necessity of including women in water management structures at all levels.

Read the full paper here.

Visit Feminist Review’s website for all articles.