Climate Change in Africa by Jim Heck

Climate change in Africa is Jim Heck's #5 story for 2013. Jim began his career with the United Nations, working in several capacities for UNESCO, the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In 1976 he and his wife formed Morgan Tours, Inc., which in 1979 became Explorers World Travel (EWT). For the last 15 years, Jim has specialized in East Africa and probably knows more about the Serengeti and other wilderness touring in the area than any man alive. But his career in Africa spans a much wider area:

Climate Change Exacerbates Social Tensions and Causes Conflict

A wide array of research reveals that climate change plays a salient role in social change, violence and war. This research summary is one of the most comprehensive surveys of the social impacts of climate change ever assembled.

Climate change and conflict

The relationship between climate change, social tensions and conflict is well laid out by Kate Johnson. She provides a good overview of many of the ways in which climate impacts human behavior. She explains how climate change has the potential to increase conflict in environmentally and politically vulnerable states.

Climate Change and Conflict: Excerpts from a 2013 US Intelligence Report

A March 2013, Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, prepared for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, indicates that a changing climate and competition for natural resources can fuel tensions and conflicts. Here are select quotes from the report that highlight this relationship.

"Competition and scarcity involving natural resources—food, water, minerals, and energy—are growing security threats."

"Extreme weather events (floods, droughts, heat waves) will increasingly disrupt food and energy markets, exacerbating state weakness, forcing human migrations, and triggering riots, civil disobedience, and vandalism."

"Natural food-supply disruptions, due to floods, droughts, heat waves, and diseases, as well as policy choices, probably will stress the global food system in the immediate term"

Event - Creative Disruptive (Water) Leadership Workshop

Creative Disruptive (Water) Leadership workshop will take place Friday May 31 to Sundany June 2, 2013, in Wyebridge, Ontario.

Great leaders learn to develop a capacity to navigate through complexity, to facilitate collaboration and to disrupt when the time is right. This workshop will focus on offering important techniques to move you along the spectrum of your leadership journey. We will offer you the inspiration and tools to become more creative, more innovative, and to build your leadership potential.

Video - Water in the Anthropocene

Water in the Anthropocene (Ambient Version) from Globaïa on Vimeo.

Water in the Anthropocene is a 3-minute film charting the global impact of humans on the water cycle. Evidence is growing that our global footprint is now so significant we have driven Earth into a new geological epoch — the Anthropocene. Human activities such as damming and agriculture are changing the global water cycle in significant ways.

The data visualisation was commissioned by the Global Water Systems Project for a major international conference (Water in the Anthropocene, Bonn, Germany, 21-24 May, 2013).

Video - The Big Thirst the Business of Water

The golden age of water—where water is unlimited, safe, and free—is over. Award-winning investigative journalist Charles Fishman reports on his three-year odyssey to uncover how the world of water is changing and the enormous implications for each of us, no matter where we live. This video briefly explores the cutting edge of waters bio-chemistry. Our relationship with water is one of the deciding things of the next century.

Water is not only a matter of life and death. Dirty water is not only deadly, treating water-born illnesses is a very expensive proposition. India spends more on diarrhea than the total economic output of half of the nations in the world.

The US uses more water in a day than oil throughout an average year, and more water in four days than the entire world uses oil in a year. However, the US uses less water than it did in 1980. In the last 25 years the country has more than doubled its water productivity. This makes the point that it is possible to be a modern economy and use substantially less water.

We need to pay attention to what businesses are doing, this includes both risks and the opportunities. Positive change starts with putting a price on water. This will not only reduce use it will drive innovation. Fishman goes on to cite three examples of water innovation by businesses around the world.

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Worldwatch Institute: The Looming Threat of Water Scarcity

Some 1.2 billion people-almost a fifth of the world-live in areas of physical water scarcity, while another 1.6 billion face what can be called economic water shortage. The situation is only expected to worsen as population growth, climate change, investment and management shortfalls, and inefficient use of existing resources restrict the amount of water available to people, according to Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs Online service (www.worldwatch.org). It is estimated that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will live in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, with almost half of the world living in conditions of water stress.

2012 World Water Week (Event)

The World Water Week in Stockholm is hosted and organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). The Professional Conference Organizer (PCO) is Congrex Sweden AB. Registration is required for all participants in the World Water Week. The online registration will be available here soon. Please note that registration for the various field visits and social events will be confirmed upon payment on a "first come - first served" basis.

Water Pollution 2012 (Event)

On the 10th to the 12th of July, an event titled "Water Pollution 2012" will be held in Wessex, UK. This is the 11th International Conference in the series on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Water Pollution. The meeting, which started in 1991, has always been very successful and provides a forum for the discussion and exchange of information between scientists, managers and academics from different areas of water contamination. The conference creates an international venue for interdisciplinary discussion and dissemination of work related to water quality and environmental problems caused by the increase of pollutant loads and the inappropriate management of water resources.

Building the Water Agenda 2012 (Event)

On the 9th to the 10th of July an event will take place at Chatham House in London, UK titled Building the Water Agenda. The opening session will outline the challenges associated with water and its links to other global policy agendas: climate change, economic growth, agriculture, environment, human needs and foreign policy. It will also address the challenges of addressing water security at policy levels and the concrete and tangible pathways for policy and action that are needed.

Christiana Figueres on UNCCD World Day to Combat Desertification and Rio+20

Desertification (Video)

Five Water Related Events (June and July 2012)

Managing Scarce Water Resources in London: On the 21st of June a conference on managing water resources will be held at the CIWEM in London. This event will explore the pressures on water resources over the next 40 years, and will examine the issues faced and the actions required by those who plan, manage, regulate and legislate. For more information or to register click here.

Ocean Energy 2012 in Brussels On June 26th and 27th Ocean Energy 2012 will be held in Brussels, Belgium. This conference offers an unparalleled opportunity to network with the leading policy makers, industrial players, supply chain partners, technology developers, utilities and investors. For more information or to register click here.

Surface Water Management 2012 in London: On June 28 and 29 a conference will be held on surface water management. It will take place at the CIWEM in London. This conference will set out a vision but also be rooted in demonstrating the practical delivery of projects from a wide variety of perspectives. For more information or to register click here.  

Building the Water Agenda: On the 9th and 10th of July a conference will be held on water policy will take place in London. The key issues to be addressed include the challenges facing water issues at policy level nationally and internationally. For more information or to register click here.  

Water Pollution 2012 - International Conference on Modeling, Monitoring and Management: On July 10 through 12 a conference called Water Pollution 2012 will be taking place at the Wessex Institute of Technology in New Forest, UK. This is the 11th International Conference on modeling, monitoring and management of water pollution. For more information or to register click here.

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World Oceans Day in America

On World Oceans Day, people around the globe come together to celebrate our ocean and take action to protect it. The ocean not only makes our world livable, it provides us with food, water, commerce, recreation, and medicine. The ocean has suffered some serious blows lately: 90% of the big fish in the sea are gone, the gyres are filled with more plastic than previously estimated, the Deepwater Horizon disaster dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and coastal dead zones from agricultural runoff are worse than ever.The ocean has definitely seen rough times lately, and World Oceans Day is a good opportunity to rally and start turning things around.

World Oceans Day 2012 Events

Every year, more people take action to celebrate and protect our planet’s ocean, which connects us all. Thanks to people like you approximately 400 events were held in 70 countries to celebrate World Oceans Day in 2011. This year will be even better with more great events taking place around the world and more people acting to protect our oceans.  Be a part of this global celebration by participating in one of many events to raise awareness and the ocean.