A blog by Marielle Velander. Masters student in Anthropology and Development at the London School of Economics. She is writing her dissertation on the politics of water technologies in the Thar Desert. She will be attending the the first annual Dresden Nexus Conference this March as a Water Youth Network Representative.
Three buzzwords seem to define 2015: global change, SDGs, and the Nexus Approach. These three words are exactly the thematic foci of the first annual Dresden Nexus Conference, organized by UNU-FLORES, Technische Universitat Dresden, and Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), and starting tomorrow, March 25. However, what attracted me to the conference were not those popularly discussed themes, but the fact that they are being triangulated with issues around water, soil, and waste. The conference is therefore a unique opportunity to stress the interrelationship between these three areas of environmental concern, and how incredibly important it is that these issues are taken into consideration when the SDGs are decided on in New York in September and a climate deal is negotiated in Paris in December.
The three-day conference runs from March 25 to 27, with each day focused on climate change, urbanization, and population growth respectively. Each day features an impressive list of keynote speakers directly related to the day’s topic, parallel sessions covering various aspects of the broad topics, and an afternoon plenary in which authorities on the topic leading a discussion on the outcomes of the day.
The first day, focusing on climate change, welcome Elena Manaenkova, Assistant Secretary-General of WMO, and Joseph Alcamo, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Systems Research and Chair of the Steering Committee of the UN’s World Water Quality Assessment, as keynote speakers. With their background in hydrology and water resource research, I look forward to hear what they have to say about integrating solutions for water issues into the climate change deal being discussed this year. The rest of the day will include sessions on topics such as the governance of climate adapatation, climate adapatation from a bottom-up perspective, and the information on climate change we need to manage resources of water, soil, and waste. The first day finishes with a reception hosted by the Mayor of Dresden at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts.
The second day, focusing on Urbanization, includes the keynote speakers Saeed Nairizi, CEO of Toossab Consulting Engineers Company, and William Rees, a human ecologist and Professor Emeritus of the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning. The sessions will focus on eco-cities, urban ecosystem services, urbanization as opportunity, and a topic in which I am most interested—integrated urban water management.
The final third day, with the theme of Population Growth and the Increasing Demand for Environmental Resources, will have keynotes from Michael Herrmann, Manager of the Innovation Fund at the United Nations Population Fund, and László Miklós, current head of the UNESCO-Chair for sustainable development and ecological awareness at Technical University in Zvolen (Slovakia). This day will include important discussions on issues such as the water quality dimension of the water-soil-waste nexus, regional land-use dynamics, water security and the nexus approach, and the potentials of integrated land-use planning.
Attendees will come from ministries, international organizations, and universities around the world that are leading the discussions on these topics. Needless to say, I very much look forward to seeing the conversations on integrated water solutions that emerge out of the next three days. And, I will keep you posted about the conclusions of the conference.
