We are pleased to announce the Memorial Lecture will this year be given by Professor Sir Gordon Conway KCMG FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for International Development.

Coffee and tea will be served after the AGM and prior to the Memorial Lecture which will begin at 3.30 p.m. 

Gordon Conway was appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for International Development at the beginning of 2005. He also holds the title of Professor of International Development at Imperial College, London.

Prior to that he was President of The Rockefeller Foundation from 1998 to 2004 and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex and Chair of the Institute for Development Studies from 1992-1998.

His discipline is agricultural ecology. In the early 1960s, working in Sabah, North Borneo, he became one of the pioneers of sustainable agriculture. From 1970 to 1986, he was Professor of Environmental Technology at Imperial College, London. During this period he lived and worked in many countries in Asia and the Middle East. He then directed the sustainable agriculture program of the International Institute for Environment and Development in London before becoming Representative of the Ford Foundation in New Delhi from 1988 to 1992.

Sir Gordon was elected President of the RGS-IBG in June 2006, a post he will hold for three years.

He has authored Unwelcome Harvest: agriculture and pollution (Earthscan, Island Press), The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for all in the 21st century (Penguin and University Press, Cornell); and Islamophobia: a challenge for us all (The Runnymede Trust).

With increasing growth of cities, increasing water use per household, increasing water consumption by industry and agriculture, there is an inexorable pressure on our water resources. This applies not just within the context of the UK but also in many parts of the world. Climate change will add to this pressure, and our attempts to mitigate against climate change might also add extra pressure.

The purpose of this meeting is to bring together various sectors that are responding to the problem and to provide a platform where the different viewpoints can be shared. The first key point is a consideration of how much water resources are available and how we utilise it. The Environment Agency are evaluating the results of their recent consultation exercise entitled “Water for people and the environment”. Secondly researchers have been investigating the introduction of bio-energy crops and the water use characteristics of some of the more novel crops such as willow that might be introduced. Thirdly, farmers may wish to support the move towards bio-fuels for energy needs. Although there may be sufficient land resources to enable expansion of bio-fuel crops such as wheat and oil-seed rape, would there be sufficient water resources?

 ICID anticipates considerable interest in this very informative event, and that there will be a useful exchange of information both between presenters and participants, and between the different sectors represented. Please inform us of your intention to attend so we can ensure sufficient seating. 

As an emerging field of theory and practice, water governance is a term that holds different meanings to different individuals.  To some it addresses corruption, while for others it covers connections between knowledge, political economy, laws and institutions that frame water management responses and outcomes.  While many agree that governance is more than management, few might definitively distinguish the two.  In this workshop we will use a number of presentations by leading researchers and policy advisers to initiate round-table discussions on governance.  The seminar is guided by the ‘theory and practice’ of water governance; it is purposively inclusive and looks at a range of concepts regarding the concept.

Presenters were:

Tom Franks & Frances Cleaver, University of Bradford, : ‘A framework for water governance: from analysis to diagnosis

Patrick Moriarty, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre: ‘EMPOWERS: stakeholder dialogue and participatory planning for improved local water governance in the middle-east

Laurence Smith, Imperial College: ‘Governance for Catchment Management and Protection of Water Resources: Drawing on International Experience

Mark Zeitoun, London School of Economics and Political Science: ‘Hydro-Hegemony: obstacle or catalyst for international transboundary water governance’

Stephen Hodgson, Independent Environmental Lawyer: ‘Water rights: a pre-requisite for effective water governance?

Felicity Chancellor Independent consultant

List of delegates

Programme summary