FIRST ASIA PACIFIC WATER STEWARDSHIP FORUM

The Forum, that will be held in Brisbane Convention Center on 23rd September, will be an opportunity to hear from people and organisations implementing and promoting a water stewardship approach to problems of water scarcity, poor water quality, degradation of important water-related sites and poor water governance.

For early adopters already participating in water stewardship projects it will be a unique opportunity to share experiences and accelerate learning about inclusive, collaborative multi-stakeholder approaches to water management.

Session 1 (10.30 – 12.30 in P11)

Developing The International Water Stewardship System

Dr Jamie Pittock, Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU and Chair Water Stewardship Australia will welcome participants and discuss the drivers for good water stewardship in Australia and internationally.

Michael Spencer, Chair, Alliance for Water Stewardship, will talk about recent progress in developing the international water stewardship system and current priorities for both Water Stewardship Australia and the Alliance for Water Stewardship.

Dr Zhu Donglin, Assistant Chief Engineer, Jiangsu Engineering Consulting Centre. Dr. Zhu has been leading the research and planning for more than ten basin level pollution control projects in the past 8 years.  He participated in development and revision of the National level master plan for Tai Hu Lake Basin Pollution Control, and led the performance evaluation for various projects in the basin.  Recently, Dr. Zhu started the Tai Hu Lake Basin Management 2.0 Campaign to integrate water stewardship, natural capital, big data and SMART city into the new Tai Hu management strategy.  

Declan Hearne, Project Officer, International Water Centre, will discuss water stewardship as a tool for bringing together government, civil society and corporate efforts in catchment governance.

Michele Akeroyd, Director, Goyder Institute for Water Research will discuss the relationship between science and technology, water stewardship and good water management outcomes.

Dr Tang Dengyong, Associate Professor, Nanjing University of Information, Science and Technology, member of WWF China water stewardship expert group and a national cleaner production auditor.  He is engaged in water pollution control engineering, enterprise water stewardship and cleaner production.  He undertook two projects in Shengze Textile Park, Suzhou funded by WWF; a textile enterprise water stewardship assessment and demonstration of the application of the AWS Standard.  He has provided cleaner production advisory services for 42 enterprises in the textile, chemical and other industries.  Dr Tang is the author of 16 research papers and 12 patents in recent years. 

Session 2 (2.00 – 3.40 in P11)

Application of water stewardship to case studies involving agriculture.

Facilitator Zhenzhen Xu, Asia Pacific Regional Manager, Water Stewardship Australia and the Alliance for Water Stewardship

Tyler Farrow, International Program Officer, Water Witness International (UK/Africa) will outline his work with multi-national commodities producer Olam International, applying the AWS International Water Stewardship Standard to the development of new coffee plantation in Tanzania.

Elizabeth Soal, Policy Manager, Waitaki Irrigation Collective (NZ) will discuss the adoption of water stewardship as a strategic framework for an irrigation collective.

Lance Lloyd, Water Stewardship Program Officer, Westernport Biosphere will discuss Building a Water Stewardship Community in the Western Port Biosphere.  The Watson Creek Catchment is the initial focus for our project to build a Water Stewardship Community in the Western Port Biosphere Reserve. We will achieve this by developing Site Water Stewardship Plans across the catchment in horticulture farms, plant nurseries, chicken and livestock producers, an egg producer, a hardware store, schools and golf courses. We are targeting landholders who use water, or could improve the management of water resources, running through their properties.

Megan McLeod, Project Officer, Water Stewardship Australia will discuss her recent work comparing the requirements of the AWS water stewardship standard with the Australian cotton industry best management practices (BMPs) and how existing normative systems can be incorporated into a water stewardship assessment to lower compliance costs.

Caren Martin, President, South Australian Murray Irrigators (SAMI), will join the panel for a discussion after the presentations.  SAMI will partner WSA in a pilot application of water stewardship with the Renmark Irrigation Trust.

Session 3 (4.10 – 5.10 in P11)

Application of water stewardship to two case studies involving processing industries

Facilitator, Richard Robertson, International Technical Manager, Alliance for Water Stewardship (UK/Canada).

Thorsten Kaschubs, Corporate Account Manager, Nalco, an Ecolab company, will talk about Ecolab’s pioneering work with water stewardship in China and the United States and elate this work to his extensive Australian customer base.

Hudson Cameron, AWTP Manager, Inghams Enterprises Pty Ltd. Inghams was one of the first adopters of a water approach piloting the first Australian Water Stewardship Standard in 2009.  It is currently preparing for assessment against the AWS Standard.