WRRC Water Webinar: Women and Water – Networking and Leading Across the Globe

Elizabeth A. Koch serves as the Senior Manager for International Programs at the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and leads the Women in Water Diplomacy Network’s Process Support Team. Koch has over 15 years of experience supporting water diplomacy engagements in conflict-sensitive and water-insecure regions and basins on behalf of ELI, SIWI, the UNESCO Category II International Centre for Water Cooperation, and EcoPeace Middle East. She holds an MA in Government, Diplomacy and Strategy and a BA in International Relations.

Emma Robbins (Diné) is an artist, activist, and community organizer. She is the founder and Executive Director of The Chapter House, an Indigenous community arts organization based in Los Angeles. She is also Managing Director of Planet Women, an organization collaborating with femme-led conservation, policy, and human rights groups. Robbins completed her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and studied Modern Latin American Art History in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has exhibited both in the US and internationally. Through her artwork, Robbins strives to educate viewers about issues like broken treaties and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis.

Darnella Melancon is an enrolled member of the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, located within the borders of California and Arizona along the Colorado River’s Lower Basin, and served two terms as a Quechan Tribal Councilwoman, during which she was moved to take a more active stance in promoting water sustainability. Growing up on the reservation, Melancon experienced firsthand what the Colorado River was like when she was a child— when the river moved swiftly with shoulder-deep waters, and for many, was considered to be an endless resource. She is blessed to serve as a Co-Chair of the Indigenous Women’s Leadership Network. Melancon is a US Army veteran and retired California Law enforcement sergeant—two roles that lend to her warrior spirit.

Meghan Scott is an attorney with the Noble Law Office, where she represents multiple irrigation districts in the Yuma area, as well as the Bard Water District located in California, and handles legislative and government affairs for the Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association. With the Agribusiness and Water Council of Arizona, she helped form the Arizona Association of Women in Water and Agriculture and has continued to coordinate its efforts alongside Stephanie Knight-Dubien. Ms. Scott was born and raised in Yuma, Arizona, and is the daughter of a third-generation Yuma farmer.