Water Scarcity - Missed Opportunity? (Mike Young, University of Adelaide)

Presentation: Water Scarcity - Missed Opportunity?
Speaker: Mike Young, Research Chair in Water and Environmental Policy, University of Adelaide, Australia
Date/Time: Friday, April 11 (3:30 - 4:30 p.m.)
Location: TBD

Drawing from global experience in water allocation and management, what constitutes a state of the art water entitlement and allocation regime?  Would Arizona be better off under such a regime?  Is there a politically acceptable way to get there?

Prof. Mike Young holds the Australia Chair at Harvard University and played a key role in the development of water sharing and trading arrangements in Australia. A recent advisor on water reform options to the OECD and the UK, Dutch and Alberta governments, Mike observes that water rights and allocation systems in the U.S. are working to the simultaneous detriment of the economy, the environment and communities. There is a win-win opportunity for change.

While at Harvard, he is

·      writing a book on the design of water entitlement and allocation regimes and

·      teaching a course on the design of transformational environmental policies.

In Australia, he holds a Research Chair in Water and Environmental Policy at the University of Adelaide; was Founding Executive Director of its Environment Institute; and is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. 

In 2006, Mike Young was awarded Australia’s premiere water research prize – the Land and Water Australia Eureka Award for Water Research.