ACM Series: Connecting Freshwater Knowledge to Climate Practice
On January 21, 2016, USAID's Adaptation Community held a meeting on connecting freshwater to climate practice with Dr. John Mathews from the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation. Most expressions of climate change are water change, and primarily freshwater change. Freshwater changes, including variations in water flows and seasonal precipitation patterns, are a major way that climate change impacts natural ecosystems and economies. Many aspects of climate change adaptation must focus on resilient water management in order to be effective. However, the long lifetimes of water infrastructure such as dams, and the complexity of water stakeholder interests, are just some of the factors that have led to an under-appreciation of the important cross-sectoral role of water management in effective climate change adaptation. Dr. Matthews will discuss concrete examples of how programming that addresses engineering, financial, and public policy elements of water management can and must lead to shared insights and new paths of action for adaptation to changes in freshwater dynamics resulting from climate change. Bio: Dr. John H. Matthews is the Secretariat Coordinator and co-founder for the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA; http://alliance4water.org), which is chaired by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and the World Bank and includes some 800 technical and policy members globally. An aquatic ecologist by training, his work integrates technical and policy knowledge to support resilient resource management, climate - robust infrastructure operations, and economic development. Matthews has published widely for technical, practitioner, and general audiences, including recent articles in Science and Nature Climate Change and reports for the World Bank and UN agencies. AGWA also maintains a capacity building and learning site at http://agwaguide.org
On January 21, 2016, USAID's Adaptation Community held a meeting on connecting freshwater to climate practice with Dr. John Mathews from the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation. Most expressions of climate change are water change, and primarily freshwater change. Freshwater changes, including variations in water flows and seasonal precipitation patterns, are a major way that climate change impacts natural ecosystems and economies. Many aspects of climate change adaptation must focus on resilient water management in order to be effective. However, the long lifetimes of water infrastructure such as dams, and the complexity of water stakeholder interests, are just some of the factors that have led to an under-appreciation of the important cross-sectoral role of water management in effective climate change adaptation. Dr. Matthews will discuss concrete examples of how programming that addresses engineering, financial, and public policy elements of water management can and must lead to shared insights and new paths of action for adaptation to changes in freshwater dynamics resulting from climate change. Bio: Dr. John H. Matthews is the Secretariat Coordinator and co-founder for the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA; http://alliance4water.org), which is chaired by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and the World Bank and includes some 800 technical and policy members globally. An aquatic ecologist by training, his work integrates technical and policy knowledge to support resilient resource management, climate - robust infrastructure operations, and economic development. Matthews has published widely for technical, practitioner, and general audiences, including recent articles in Science and Nature Climate Change and reports for the World Bank and UN agencies. AGWA also maintains a capacity building and learning site at http://agwaguide.org