Back to Winter 2012 Newsletter
March 22 Is World Water Day
An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.
Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwatern and the theme for 2012 is water and food security. Alexander Müller, Assistant Director General, Natural Resources Management and Environment, FAO, Rome, Italy explained the water component in food security at a seminar Water and food security: Feeding the world in a sustainable way, at the Stockholm World Water Week 2011.
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” and water is one of the fundamental input factors to food production.
International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March to focus attention on the importance of freshwater and advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
Arid-lands Conference Draws Speakers from across Nation
Some 200 professionals from arid regions across the United States will gather in Tucson in March to focus their diverse expertise on a challenge of growing national significance: using nature’s “green infrastructure” to make cities more healthy, sustainable, and livable.
Tucson-based nonprofit Watershed Management Group and several partners, including the WRRC, will host the third annual Arid Low Impact Development Conference (AridLID) March 27-29, 2012. The innovative conference will feature a workshop organized in collaboration with the WRRC to set a research agenda for green infrastructure in the arid Southwest. Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will take part in the agenda setting sessions.
Green infrastructure and low impact development are closely related terms that describe use of natural systems like plants, soils, and rainfall to provide services like cleaning air and water, creating wildlife habitat, and calming traffic. Water harvesting is a major component of Low Impact Development practices. From Philadelphia to Los Angeles, cities across the United States are tapping into strategies like rain gardens and other “green streets” features that capture and utilize rainwater in vegetated areas close to where it falls, instead of sending it downstream where it can contribute to flooding and pollution.
The conference, which was held in Albuquerque its first two years, has a theme this year of “Integrated Approaches to Green Infrastructure,” in recognition of the need for collaboration among many disciplines in order to successfully implement projects.
Keynote speakers include City of Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild; Andy Lipkis, Founder and President of Los Angeles-based TreePeople; and Benjamin Grumbles, President of the Clean Water America Alliance. Additional presentations will be made by Tucson-based world-renowned rainwater harvesting expert Brad Lancaster, celebrated Phoenix-based landscape architect Christine Ten Eyck, Hal Sprague from the innovative national group Center for Neighborhood Technology, and many other experts from across the Southwest.
More information and conference registration can be found at www.aridlid.org
UA Hosting Wildfire Meeting
The University of Arizona is hosting the 2012 Southwest Wildfire Hydrology and Hazards Workshop this coming April 2 - 5, 2012. Land management and other government agencies are involved in the planning for this conference, making it a good opportunity for agencies and academics to share results and prepare for research and early-warning response to the upcoming fire season in the Southwestern U.S. Organizers are particularly interested in increasing the dialogue among academic researchers (including students!) and the various government agencies that are tasked with responding to wildfires. As many post-fire researchers are aware, this coordination is often difficult in the short time available after landscape-altering fires. It is hoped that the workshop will foster new connections among the various research entities.
More information about the workshop can be found at: http://register.b2science.org.