Stockholm International Water Institute » Swedish Water House

SIWI seminar to be broadcast on “Kunskapskanalen”

Sanna — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:54:50 +0000

The seminar “Shared Water – New challenges for Peace and Development” that SIWI and Swedish Water House arranged together with Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) in December will be broadcast on “Kunskapskanalen” 6 February 4.20-6.20 p.m. and 7 February 4-6 p.m.

To watch it on the web, search for “Dela Vatten” on urplay.se.

Visit Swedish Water House website to read more about the seminar.

Transboundary Water Management: Who Does What, Where? – Analysing the Data in SIWI’s Transboundary Water Management Database

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:57:33 +0000

In 2011, the Swedish Water House conducted a mapping of regional and international actors working in transboundary water management (TWM), which aimed to assist the identification of knowledge gaps and needs for further actions that could lead to more informed decision-making in water management. It also sought to promote objective decision-making, thereby helping to form a framework for resource allocation in TWM. Based on the mapping a database was created. The on-going activities of 94 actors, and more than 700 transboundary river and lake basins, aquifers and large marine ecosystems1 can be found in the database. Similar efforts made previously have focused on legal frameworks or on capacity building through sharing project information (IWLEARN, 2012; WWF et al., 2010; UNWAIS, 2012; TFDD 2007). The TWM mapping and database takes a broader focus and an actor-based approach. The complexity and significance of TWM have been reiterated by researchers, politicians and water professionals. The socio-economic disparity as well as power asymmetries between the riparian countries is one of the obstacles to cooperation of TWM institutions. The development of physical infrastructure is often a sensitive issue, but one of the main driving forces of cooperation in some cases. The primary objectives of TWM cooperation can be divided into three categories: 1) maximum utilisation of the common good (utilitarian approach); 2) conflict prevention; 3) maintaining ecological sustainability. This report analyses the findings from the database. It shows that more actors working with transboundary water issues focus their efforts on Africa than in any other region. Furthermore, most activities are located in transboundary rivers, while other basin types receive less attention. The three basins with the largest number of actors working with TWM are the Nile, Volta and Mekong. According to the analysis of three basins with the most active number of TWM actors (the Nile, the Volta, the Mekong River Basin), the utilitarian approach appears to be the most prominent objectives of the current actors activities. Activities to maintain ecological sustainability are more prevalent in the Mekong River Basin, where information management has been successful and led by the strong institutional capacity of the transboundary basin organisation, Mekong River Commission. Conflict prevention activities are not as prominent in practice as they are in academic literature on transboundary water issues. None of the actors in the database involved in the Nile, Volta and the Mekong, are focused on conflict prevention as their main objective. Actors also provide different tools aimed to support transboundary water management, often in the form of publications. Most of the tools developed are broad and cover several aspects of TWM. The most common are tools providing information on how to construct legal frameworks.

Klustergruppen om vatten och företagsansvar

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:46:18 +0000

Alla företag är på något sätt beroende av vatten för sin verksamhet, och allt fler företag börjar utforska hur de kan ta ansvar för en hållbar vattenanvändning. Företag kan vara beroende av vatten i sin direkta verksamhet men de flesta är det indirekt genom sin leverantörskedja, vilket ökar komplexiteten i ansvarsarbetet.

Det här är en broschyr om SWH:s klustergrupp för svenska företag som vill samarbeta med varandra när det gäller vattenförbrukning och företagsansvar.

Planning for Drinking Water and Sanitation in Peri-Urban Areas

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:37:07 +0000

Safe drinking water, good sanitation and hygiene are fundamental to peoples health, survival, growth and development. In some parts of the world, the supply of water and sanitation is part of the existing technical infrastructure. However, in many developing countries the situation is quite different and planning and implementing of an adequate supply is an important task.

In Planning for Drinking Water and Sanitation in Peri-Urban Areas, the Swedish Water House assesses the challenges in these areas and presents a potential framework for sustainable planning.

Future Dams – Recommendations to Swedish Stakeholders on Implementing Dams and Development A New Framework for Decision Making

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:35:09 +0000

This Policy Brief contains recommendations for Swedish actors implementation of “Dams and Development, A New Framework for Decision-Making” which was launched by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) in November 2000. The recommendations are made by the Swedish Committee for Water and Dam Issues (SKVD) and their main purpose is to help ensure that dams and other water infrastructure projects with Swedish involvement are ecologically, economically and socially sustainable.

Click here to read the Policy Brief in Swedish.

Health, Dignity, and Development: What Will It Take?

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:35:07 +0000

This report, the abridged version of the full report Health, Dignity, and Development: What Will It Take? underscores the need to focus on the global sanitation crisis, improve domestic water supply and invest in integrated development and management of water resources. All are necessary for countries to reduce poverty and hunger, improve health, advance gender equality, and ensure environmental sustainability.

The actions proposed in this report are based on sound principles and fundamental truths and contributes to the understanding of the broader water resources management actions needed to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Key Recommendations: Health, Dignity, and Development

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:34:14 +0000

This is a brochure version of The UN Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitations key recommendations on how to increase access to water and sanitation. The report underscores the need to focus on the global sanitation crisis which contributes to the death of 3,900 children each day, to increase access to domestic water supply, and to invest in integrated development and management of water resources. All are necessary for countries to reduce poverty and hunger, improve health, advance gender equality, and ensure environmental sustainability.

Investing in the Future: Water’s Role in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:31:23 +0000

Poverty, hunger, environmental problems and diseases would be directly combated and significantly scaled back if fought with water access as a primary goal. However, 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people lack access to sanitation.

This policy brief illustrates waters importance in the Millennium Development Goals and the efforts to combat the worlds most plaguing problems. It is based primarily on the Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation Interim Report, entitled Achieving the Millennium Development Goals for Water and Sanitation: What Will It Take?

Paper: Transboundary Water Management – Who does what, where?

Nora — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:47:17 +0000

A new paper published by the Swedish Water House analyses the findings from the SIWI Transboundary Water Management database. It shows where TWM actors are working, what they are doing and the tools they are promoting. More actors focus on Africa than anywhere else and most activities are located in rivers, while other basin types receive relatively little attention. Activities most commonly aim to enhance water management and efficiency, primarily through technical assistance and capacity building. Download the report here.

A database describing what regional and international actors are doing in the field of Transboundary Water Management is now available at Swedish Water House’s website.

Transboundary Water Management database

Currently, the database holds information on activities, projects, tools and publications of more than 80 actors, including River Basin Organisations, Regional Economic Communities, Financial Institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations, UN Agencies and Intergovernmental Organisations. The database can be used for multiple purposes. Organisations can use it as a base for discussion on future activities, hence decreasing the risk of duplication. Researchers can use it to identify research needs and water managers and decision-makers to identify working models or tools that facilitate river basin management. Explore the database here!

Swedish Water House General Information Brochure

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:40:18 +0000

Swedish Water House (SWH) is an independent programme at Stockholm International Water Institute. SWH gathers the Swedish resource base on water and development issues and provides a platform for innovative thinking on emerging issues, knowledge dissemination and multidisciplinary policy development concerning global water issues.