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Dr Kevin Grecksch as new WSPM MSc Course Director

It is with pleasure that we celebrate that Dr Kevin Grecksch is the new WSPM MSc Course Director. Kevin is excited to take on the course directorship and to meet the students and new colleagues. He is keen to share his interdisciplinary research and teaching experience and to strengthen the bridges between disciplines.

Kevin holds a doctorate in (Ecological) Economics and an M.A. in Political Science, English Literature and Communication Science. He is a social scientist who specialises in governance, particularly water and climate change adaptation. His research interests include (multi-level) environmental governance, water governance, climate change adaptation, governance of societal transformation processes, property rights and the governance of natural resources, and sustainability. Before joining SoGe, he was British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford. His project dealt with sustainable underground space governance in the UK. Other work at the CSLS included the multi-disciplinary ENDOWS (ENgaging diverse stakeholders and publics with outputs from the UK DrOught and Water Scarcity programme) and the MaRIUS (Managing the Risks, Impacts and Uncertainties of drought and water Scarcity) projects. Kevin recently published a monograph with Palgrave Macmillan on ‘Drought and Water Scarcity in the UK. Social Science Perspectives on Governance, Knowledge and Outreach’.

Kevin is passionate about public engagement with his research and research impact. For example, he has organised drought walks. He recently contributed to the widely reported British Academy evidence review ‘The COVID decade: Understanding the long-term societal impacts of COVID-19’ and the accompanying policy analysis ‘Shaping the COVID decade’.

Water governance is a ‘glocal’ issue and in his role, Kevin will be keen to provide WSPM students with a holistic and integrative perspective on water governance. His previous positions and experience have given Kevin a unique perspective on water issues ranging from political science, ecological economics to socio-legal, a perspective he is eager to pass on to students thereby equipping them with methods and approaches to make a difference in their future professional roles and beyond.

 

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WaterSciencePolicy relaunches

A cohort of WSPM students and alums created Water Science Policy (WSP) as a digital platform last May during lockdown, and this week they have relaunched it as an independent magazine to deliver original and multilingual content around water to a global audience. The platform offers a broad range of views about the most fundamental element of life at the intersection of the economy, climate, health, nature, and society’s issues. You can read the WSP manifesto here. This relaunch contains some important features for a global audience including articles in languages other than English and a greater variety of formats, including policy briefs, podcasts, and photostories. They have expanded the team contributing to WSP to include an impressive cohort of young water professionals from around the world.

So far this impressive initiative is 100% volunteering with no source funding, but it has a big vision and thus has many opportunities for support and engagement. If you would like to become involved with WSP, you are encouraged to do so by donating, translating, contributing with written/visual content to the platform either as an author or as a photographer, or by becoming one of WSP’s regional ambassadors. You can also follow Water Science Policy on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

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Can the Poor Pay for Drinking Water?

Rob Hope discusses whether or not there is the funding to reach SDG 6. ‘With over two billion people without safely-managed water and 663 million without basic water the costs to meet the target by 2030 runs to US$114 billion per year.’

Read more here.

 

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Global leaders call for increased action and investment in water security

A number of global leaders have backed a Policy Statement committing to policies that contribute to water security, based on research led by Oxford University.

Water-policy-statement-2015-23.10The Statement underlines the importance of water security for sustainable economic development, social equity and environmental sustainability. It calls for countries to finance initiatives that ensure water availability and quality, and protect society from water risks, especially droughts, floods, and pollution.

A High-Level Panel prepared the Statement at the 7th World Water Forum in Korea, 13 April 2015, as part of the Global Dialogue for Water Security and Sustainable Growth, an initiative of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Statement sets out a number of Policy Recommendations, including the need to integrate investments into long-term planning and sequence investments along a coherent pathway. Countries are urged to adopt risk management strategies, based on preventative action rather than reactive responses.

The Policy Recommendations are based on evidence from a Task Force on Water Security and Sustainable Growth, co-chaired by Professors David Grey and Jim Hall at the Oxford University.

A growing number of governments back the Statement, including Ministers from China, Denmark, Hungary, Indonesia, The Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Korea, Spain and Belgium.

Related links

Read the Global Dialogue on Water Security and Sustainable Growth Policy Statement

Read the report Securing Water, Sustaining Growth

The report Securing Water, Sustaining Growth will be presented and discussed at the Water Security 2015 conference in Oxford, 9-11 December www.watersecurity2015.org

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Sustainable finance for universal rural water services

Achieving the global goal of universal water services in rural Africa requires new and sustainable financial models. Oxford University and partners convened a special session at World Water Week 2015 in Stockholm, to present new evidence and debate emerging approaches being tested across rural Africa.

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Operation and maintenance costs for waterpoints in rural Africa are estimated at around USD 1 billion per year, according to new cross-country evidence (Foster). Mobile money platforms provide a promising but largely untested approach to improve rural water cost recovery (Nique). Public and private sector initiatives in rural Rwanda and Kenya illustrate emerging impacts and wider implications for Africa (Sano, Mikkelsen, Hope) with UNICEF supporting many initiatives across the region.

The session on 25 August saw Oxford University collaborating with partners from UNICEF (East and Southern Africa Regional Office), the Government of Kenya Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB), Rwanda’s national Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), Grundfos and GSMA (mobile industry).

The following conclusions were drawn:

  1. Water service regulation and financial support in Africa largely focusses on urban piped services with insufficient attention and support to promoting sustainable models in rural areas.
  2. The legacy of uncoordinated investments in rural areas has wasted significant resources with competing infrastructure cannabilising sources.
  3. The non-functionality rate of millions of rural handpumps is twice as high without revenue collection.
  4. Communities struggle with low probability, high cost repair costs often leading to use of more distant, dirty and often expensive water sources.
  5. There are affordability concerns for vulnerable groups. Interventions must leave no one behind through a universal service delivery approach.

Next steps identified include:

  1. Institutional investments to promote coordination and regulation of existing and future infrastructure assets and financial models.
  2. Information systems that provide timely and reliable operational and financial data to inform more robust institutional design and performance.
  3. Understand the potential of private sector engagement in testing new models at scale in partnership with government and civil society.
  4. Generate evidence of novel financial instruments that optimise rural water sustainability blending user payments (tariffs), donor contributions (transfers) and government (taxes).

 

Presentations

Why financial sustainability matters – evidence from Africa
Tim Foster, Oxford University
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Mobile water payment systems
Michael Nique, GSMA
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Financial sustainability of rural water wupply
James Sano, Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), Rwanda
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Public private partnerships for sustainable rural water supply
Rasoul Mikkelsen, Grundfos Ltd.
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Financial sustainability for universal rural water services
Rob Hope, Oxford University
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The Oxford Water Network at World Water Week

Oxford University will be active at this year’s World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden on 23-28 August 2015, with several presentations and an Oxford Water Network booth.

water and development

The annual World Water Week is widely considered ‘the’ place to be for researchers, business, decision-makers and practitioners interested in global water issues. This year’s theme is Water for Development and the event takes place just weeks before world leaders adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the successors of the Millennium Development Goals.

The theme is timely for us, given the recent launch of our global seven-year programme REACH which addresses water security risks in Africa and South Asia, specifically targeting the poor.

We will also be sharing insights from our Smart Water Systems research which designs and tests new mobile technologies and institutional models to transform water resource management and water service delivery in Africa.

The Stockholm International Water Institute’s report Water for Development – Charting a Water Wise Path frames the challenge. It argues that getting water management right is a prerequisite for sustainable development. Experts reflect on wide-ranging topics, such as the dedicated water SDG, reducing the risk of disasters, and the role of Information Communications Technology (ICT) for water and development.

Dr Rob Hope, Director of the Water Programme at the Smith School for Enterprise, will be leading a session on sustainable finance for universal rural water services, alongside UNICEF, the mobile operators network GSMA, the world’s largest pump manufacturer Grundfos Ltd and a water supply company in Rwanda.

An Oxford Water Network booth (located at G3 on the map) will provide a hub for people to meet and find out more about water research and education at Oxford University. If you are in Stockholm, then do come along and meet our researchers at the booth! A number of themed informal discussions have been scheduled.

Download the programme of presentations by Oxford University researchers.

Download the full schedule of activities at the Oxford University booth.

Follow World Water Week on twitter with the hashtag #wwweek and follow our activities via @oxfordwater and @reach_water

Watch the video One Water – for Sustainable Development

Schedule of presentations

Sunday 23 August

11:00-12:30, Room FH 300
Implementing the SDGs in the post-2015 development agenda
Convenors: GWP, Stockholm International Water Institute, UN-Water
Patrick Thomson presenting Implementing, monitoring and financing the water SDG in rural Africa

14:00-15:30, Room FH 300
Implementing the SDGs in the post-2015 development agenda
Convenors: GWP, Stockholm International Water Institute, UN-Water
Dr Katrina Charles presenting Can shared sanitation in slums be adequate sanitation?

Tuesday 25 August

9:00-10:30, Room FH Little Theatre
Eye on Asia: taking actions for a water secure Asia
Convenors: Asia Pacific Water Forum, Asian Development Bank, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, World Wide Fund for Nature
Dr Katrina Charles presenting Reducing water security risks for the poor

9:00-10:30, Room NL Music Hall / Musiksalen
Sustainable finance for universal rural water services
Convenors: University of Oxford, Grundfos, UNICEF, GSMA
Dr Rob Hope will lead a session providing new evidence of models that advance sustainable finance in Africa.
Tim Foster presenting Mobile water payment systems

11:00-12:30, Room NL 357
Information technologies for a smarter water future
Convenors: @aqua, Akvo Foundation, DHI, Stockholm International Water Institute
Patrick Thomson presenting Distributed monitoring of shallow aquifer level using community handpumps
This presentation will also be part of the interactive poster exhibition in the FH Congress Hall Foyer. Poster presenters will be available for questions during the coffee breaks at 10:30-11:00 and 15:30-16:00

Wednesday 26 August

9:00-10:30, FH Congress Hall B
Water as a driver for sustainable development and poverty eradication
Convenors: Stockholm International Water Institute, The World Bank Group, WaterAid, We Effect
Johanna Koehler presenting Pump-priming payments for sustainable water services in rural Africa.

Thursday 27 August

14:00-15:30, Room FH 307
(Re)thinking governance
Convenors: University of Nebraska, Stockholm International Water Institute, UNDP Water Governance Facility, Water Integrity Network
Johanna Koehler presenting Can decentralisation improve water security and promote equitable post-2015 development?

Schedule of activities at the booth

Monday 24 August

10:30-11:00
Groundwater risk, growth and development
Dr Rob Hope and Patrick Thomson

11:00-14:00
REACH: Improving water security for the poor
Dr Rob Hope and Dr Katrina Charles

14:00-15:30
Smart Handpumps
Patrick Thomson and Johanna Koehler

Tuesday 25 August

15:30-16:00
Meet the DPhils
Johanna Koehler, Tim Foster, Julian Kirchherr

Wednesday 26 August

14:00-17:30
MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management (WSPM) alumni

Thursday 27 August

14:00-16:00
Applying to Oxford University

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UK Government warned to take urgent action on climate change

A new set of reports by the Committee on Climate Change calls for urgent action by the UK Government to avoid the increasing costs and impacts of climate change.

Climate Change ReportProfessor Jim Hall, Director of the ECI, sits on the Adaptation Sub Committee and was involved in the adaptation report, which comprises the first statutory assessment of the UK’s National Adaptation Programme. The assessment revealed a number of risks which need to be addressed by government, including an increase in the number of homes at risk of flooding, despite extensive spending on flood defences; and the threat posed within the next generation from rising temperature on the UK’s farming.

Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, commented on the report saying: “This Government has a unique opportunity to shape climate policy through the 2020s. It must act now to set out how it plans to keep the UK on track. Acting early will help to reduce costs to households, business and the Exchequer. It will improve people’s health and wellbeing and create opportunities for business in manufacturing and in the service sector.”

Read the full set of reports on the Committee on Climate Change website

Article from the Environmental Change Institute website

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Oxford University water research at the 2015 European Geosciences Union General Assembly

There was a great turnout for the School of Geography and the Environment at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, where eight students and staff presented their latest water and climate related research findings.

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Map of a global topographic index developed by Toby Marthews and colleagues.

The annual EGU General Assembly is the largest European geosciences event and took place this year on 12-17 April in Vienna. The meeting covers all fields of science dealing with planet Earth, including volcanology, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate, as well as energy, water and other resources.

Our students and staff were among the 11,000 scientists at the event from 108 countries. Oxford University presence included oral and poster presentations by Associate Professor Simon Dadson, post-doctoral researchers Emily Barbour, Gianbattista Bussi, Benoit Guillod, Rachel James, Toby Marthews and Daniel Mitchell, and doctoral candidate Franziska Gaupp.

Franziska Gaupp presented research on the role of storage capacity in coping with water variability in large river basins. Using a global water balance model, her analysis shows that current storage is able to buffer water variability in most basins. However, hotspots of water insecurity were found in South Asia, Northern China, the West Coast of the United States, Spain, Australia and several basins across Africa.

Emily Barbour’s research examines the complex relationship between water resource management and poverty in the Bangladesh Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta. Her poster shares experience with engaging policymakers and stakeholders to discuss the impacts of climate and socio-economic change on water availability and quality.

The map featured on this page shows a topographic index developed by Toby Marthews and colleagues – a measure of the ‘propensity for soil to become saturated’ – which will be an invaluable resource for use in large-scale hydrological modelling. In a second poster, Toby presented findings from a study which sought to find out if human-induced climate change contributed to the devastating 2014 drought in the Horn of Africa. The modelling results suggest no human influence on the likelihood of low rainfall but clear signals in other drivers of drought.

It’s difficult to study extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, because, by definition, they don’t occur very often. A way to overcome this issue is to use large ensembles of climate model simulations to produce ‘synthetic’ weather events. This was the topic of Benoit Guillod’s talk which he illustrated with an example of synthetic drought events in the UK being generated for the MaRIUS project (Managing the Risks, Impacts and Uncertainties of drought and water Scarcity) in order to better understand and predict droughts. In a second talk Benoit presented results on the impact of soil moisture on rainfall – an important interaction in the climate system.

Taking a more local perspective, Gianbattista Bussi spoke about his research on water quality in the River Thames basin which analyses the dynamics of fine sediments. Another strand of the work models the growth and movement of phytoplankton – microscopic algae which are an important food source for river wildlife, but over-growth can lead to algae bloom, depleted oxygen levels and the death of fish and other species.

It was fantastic to see so many of our researchers in Vienna sharing their insights and knowledge about the Earth’s water and climate systems.

Visit the EGU General Assembly website

Presentation files

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Report shows how water insecurity is a drag on the global economy

A new report shows floods, droughts and a lack of investment in providing good quality, reliable water supplies is dragging down the global economy. The report, published today and entitled ‘Securing Water, Sustaining Growth’, was written by an international Task Force chaired by Claudia Sadoff and co-chaired by Professors Jim Hall and David Grey from the University of Oxford.

cover with borderThe Task Force was established by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report and new scientific analysis examines not only water’s destructive force but also how it contributes to human health and prosperity. It was launched at the start of the Seventh World Water Forum in South Korea, the international summit at which the world’s water challenges are addressed.

The report draws on research led by the University of Oxford and feeds into a policy statement released by GWP and OECD calling on governments to invest in strengthening the world’s institutional capacity to manage water security, with much improved information systems and better water infrastructure. It urges that special attention be paid to social risks, with a focus on vulnerable segments of society.

According to the report, South Asia has the largest concentration of water-related risks. East and Southeast Asia face rapidly increasing flood risk, although the United States has the greatest exposure to flood risk. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where the risks of inadequate water supply and sanitation are rising. North Africa has the greatest percentage of population at risk of water scarcity.

The international Task Force is comprised of leading academics, researchers and practitioners from around the world.

Claudia Sadoff, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Change Institute, said: ‘Both our empirical and theoretical analyses demonstrate the importance of investment in water security for development and the importance of development for investment in water security.’

‘Effective ways of achieving water security involve combinations of investments in information, institutions and infrastructure’, says Professor Hall, report co-author and Director of the Environmental Change Institute. ‘Not all investments have been beneficial or cost-effective. Investment must be designed to be robust to uncertainties and to support adaptive management as risks, opportunities, and social preferences change. All of this will require refined analytic tools, innovation, and continuous monitoring, assessment, and adaptation.’

Report co-author and Visiting Professor at the School of Geography and the Environment, David Grey said: ‘Our analysis shows that the countries that depend on agriculture for their economies are often the worst affected by floods or water scarcity. Some countries will need to think about how they can diversify from an agriculturally focussed economy to one less dependent on water. They will also focus on how better use can be made of the limited water supplies available to them.’

Read the report
Read the GWP news release
Water insecurity costs global economy billions a year, Bloomberg, 13 April 2015
Water insecurity costing global economy billions, Japan Times, 25 April 2015

 

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Oxford University and UK Government to lead research to improve global water supply

A global research project led by the University of Oxford and backed by the British Government will help millions of people in Africa and South Asia to have reliable access to water.

Photo credit: Rob Hope

Researcher sampling water quality at a water pump in Kenya

Announced by International Development Minister Baroness Northover, the seven year research project will receive a £15 million grant from the Department for International Development.

A changing and variable climate, increasing demand for water, crumbling infrastructure, unaffordable bills and water contamination have caused a chronic lack of safe, reliable and clean water in the developing world.

Baroness Northover said: ‘Access to water is a defining challenge for the 21st century. The UK has already helped 43 million people to access clean water, but there is far more to be done. Research into how water resources can be better managed will help millions of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

‘Oxford University’s expertise will ensure we can generate new ways to give up to 5 million more people secure water resources in some of the world’s poorest countries.’

The programme’s initial focus will be on fragile states which face great water security risks. Some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people live in fragile states, rural hinterlands, floodplains and rapidly growing urban slums where they have very low resilience to water shortages and the least capacity to cope.

The announcement comes ahead of World Water Day on 22 March 2015 and the release of the 2015 United Nations World Water Development Report, which calls for urgent action in managing the earth’s water resources.

The researchers aim to create a risk-based framework for policy-makers, assessing risk at global, national and individual household scales. Researchers will generate data on climate, hydrology, health, poverty and demographic trends to provide an overarching context for governments and international organisations to inform future decision-making to improve water security. Ensuring the research translates into real influence and change leading to improvements for the poorest will be a priority for the programme.

The University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton, said: ‘This research programme is an outstanding example of how the University of Oxford can contribute to the international effort to improve water security globally. Our researchers work to provide innovative solutions to the pressing challenges of climate change, population growth and sustainable development. They are helping to ensure that more people living in poverty can rely on safe water supplies and working to minimise the impact of droughts and floods on lives and livelihoods.’

The Programme Director Dr Rob Hope, from the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment in the School of Geography and the Environment, said: ‘Living in poverty has long been synonymous with the struggle for water security. This programme establishes a global science-practitioner partnership to design, test and replicate more effective policy, methods and technologies to improve water security and reduce poverty.’

The global science-practitioner partnership will work with UNICEF global, regional and country programmes to provide the capacity and expertise in delivering water security for children and communities in the greatest need.

Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene said: ‘Water security will be one of the major challenges in making sure that the poorest and most vulnerable children gain access to drinking water and sanitation. We are excited to be partnering with the University of Oxford to help countries access the best possible evidence for making decisions that will improve the lives of millions of people.’

Media coverage

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