Griffith university staff and students will rub shoulders with global water experts at next month’s Water Future Conferencein Bangalore India.
The conference, organised by the Griffith University-based Sustainable Water Future Programme and the Indian Institute of Science, will see the Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute and the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science’sthe Water Storycome together with global water leaders from Future Earth, UNESCO and UN Environment Program (UNEP)
Sustainable Water Future Programme Director A/Prof Anik Bhaduri said it was important to see Griffith university water experts and communicators leading the charge in tackling the global water crisis at an international forum.
“Griffith University is not only playing a central role bringing global water experts into one place to share knowledge and find innovative solutions to the global water crisis, we are also training the next generation of communicators on how to produce science-based journalism,” he said.
A/Prof Bhaduri said the world was in the midst of an unprecedented global water crisis, that not only threatened global water security but could also have catastrophic effects on human health, food security and biodiversity.
“Science has played an outstanding role in scoping and understanding such risks for decades, but now we need to do more to observe and respond to these crises in near real time which will enable us to analyse, automate, correct, predict and minimise water risks,” he said.
Australian Rivers Institute Director Prof Stuart Bunn said the conference provides an important opportunity to identify the priority science needs to underpin sustainable water management.
“There is nowhere else in the world with a greater need for solutions to these pressing environmental challenges than the Indo-Pacific region” Prof Bunn said.
School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science lecturer and the Water StoryDirector Dr Kasun Ubayasiri said the conference provided an unprecedented opportunity for Griffith Communications students to meet and learn from the world’s leading water experts.
He said 10 Griffith University journalism and communications, photo-journalism and documentary film students will travel to Bangalore under the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade funded New Colombo Plan to report on the water crisis in India.
“Not only will our students gain crucial environmental communications skills they will partner with three Indian communications schools in Bangalore and hopefully make lifelong friendships with India’s next generation of communicators,” he said.
“This is second time the Water Storywill travel to India to report on the water crisis, and we are now looking at extending our footprint to other countries in South Asia, Africa and Europe.”
A/Prof Bhaduri said the Bangalore Water Future Conference will bring more than a 1000 water experts together across about 90 sessions to deliver cutting edge water solutions.
“It is a gathering of global heavyweights including United Nations Water agencies and other international organisations, along with the Griffith University-based Sustainable Water Future Programme, he said.