International
Network on Water, Environment and Health
www.inweh.unu.edu
For release Monday, December 1, 2003
Contact: Terry Collins, 416-538-8712 or
905-525-9140, ext. 24517
Unique UN Virtual ‘Academy’
Aims to Improve Water Management Worldwide
Unprecedented
Academic Diploma from UN University Offered to Graduates;
Course Assembled from Over 60 International Government, Academic
Sources
UNU-INWEH Director Ralph Daley and Assistant
Director Colin Mayfield are available for interviews. Please call 416-538-8712 or 905-525-9140,
ext. 24517, to schedule a time. The WVLC
will be available online at http://wvlc.uwaterloo.ca
In an
effort to help raise the availability of safe water worldwide, the United
Nations has created a unique new virtual ‘academy’ to teach the fundamentals of
water management on a global level.
Created
with materials from over 60 international sources, the 10-subject, 250-hour
program course offers graduates an unprecedented academic diploma from the
United Nations, the first ever authorized by the Tokyo-based United Nations
University.
A
Canadian-based programme of UN University (the International Network on Water,
Environment and Health -- INWEH) developed the course over three years with US
$1.6 million from the UN Development Account.
The program will be offered through affiliated institutions in Africa, Asia and the
South Pacific, eventually expanding worldwide.
The heart of this capacity-building
program: the fundamentals of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM),
involving such diverse water topics as: science, management, regulatory
processes, quantity and quality assessment, treatment, institutional governance
and socio-economics.
The curriculum is
designed as an undergraduate course for adult professionals, usually with
undergraduate degrees but with little or no training in IWRM. It will be of greatest immediate benefit to
engineers, district managers, government administrators and others responsible
for water management at the national and regional level who wish to upgrade
their knowledge of modern water management concepts and principles. Other individuals may take the course as part
of a self-directed learning experience.
It will also be customized to meet
regional training needs and interests such as desalination, diminishing
glaciers, and the water management problems of small island states. Planning is underway
for delivery to additional centers in South
America and the Middle
East.
”Spin-off” courses
will be created both for non-water professionals (political decision makers and others who need to understand the
basics of water management) and for advanced water specialists.
2003 International Year of Freshwater
Announced Dec. 1 at the UN
University annual Governing Council meeting in Tokyo as a way to mark the end of the
2003 International Year of Freshwater, the course has been developed by a
prestigious group of water experts over three years at a cost of US$1.6 million
from the UN Development Account. UNU will also showcase the Water Virtual Learning
Centre at the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva, Dec.
10-12.
UNU-INWEH, the Canadian-based water
“academy” of the United Nations University, hosted at McMaster University in Hamilton, served as principal architect of
the course, drawing on information throughout the UN system and other leading
global institutions. The work was guided
by an international advisory committee comprised of experts from UNESCO,
France; the Wood’s Hole Institute, USA; Kyoto University, Japan; the University
of Waterloo, Canada; and eminent professors in Uganda and Brazil.
“Educational programming like that
offered through the UN Water Virtual Learning Center is unique not just within
UN University, but the UN system as a whole,” said Prof. Hans van Ginkel, UN
Under Secretary-General and Rector of UNU.
“I can think of no international issue more fundamentally important than
water management to serve as the subject for the first-ever UN University
Diploma Program.”
The course
complements UNU’s Global Virtual University, an online environmental
educational initiative based in Norway, and represents a very concrete
follow-up to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg,
which placed water management squarely at the top of international development
priorities.
“In 2000, world leaders established
the Millennium Development Goal of halving by 2015 the number of people without
safe water or sanitation facilities,” said Dr. Ralph Daley, Director of
UNU-INWEH. “It is clear that to meet
such an ambitious goal the world needs to train an enormous number of water
managers, scientists, engineers and technologists. This initiative exploits the unprecedented
opportunities available through modern technologies to greatly expand global
educational opportunities and the availability of authoritative materials,
customized to recognize local needs and conditions.”
“Opinion surveys in Canada and elsewhere have repeatedly
shown that the public supports the export of water management know-how and
technology far more than the export of water itself. That is what this course will do,” said Dr.
Colin Mayfield of the University of Waterloo, Assistant Director of UNU-INWEH
and a driving force behind the project.
“It is estimated that half of all illnesses in developing countries at
any given time are water related. We
have an obligation to do whatever we can to make water accessible and safe for
people in less fortunate countries.”
Collaboration on curriculum development has involved
over 60 academics and professionals from organizations worldwide, including:
·
Canadian Universities: McMaster, Acadia, Waterloo, UBC, Guelph, Windsor and Okanagan University College
·
Canadian Government Agencies: Environment Canada and its National Water
Research Institute; Fisheries and Oceans, Canada’s Great Lakes Laboratory for
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences; the Ontario Ministry of the Environment
·
US and Overseas Universities and Research
Institutes: Wayne State,
Wisconsin, Kyoto, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wood’s Hole Marine Biological Laboratory
and the International Institute of Ecology, Brazil
·
US Federal Government: Environmental Protection Agency, Fish and Wildlife
Service, Geological Survey. Fisheries Service and US Sea Grant
·
Private and Not-for-Profit Organizations: Cummings-Cockburn, The Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology
Advancement, Canadian Association of Environmental Laboratories and the Grand River Conservation Authority
·
UN and International Organizations: United Nations University, UNESCO, World Health Organization, World
Meteorological Organization, UN Environment Programme, South Pacific Applied
Geoscience Commission and the Canada/US International Joint Commission.
How the course will work
Students will access the course
material via CD-ROM, the Internet or mailed print-outs, depending on their
circumstances and access to technology.
Plans are also in place to offer the material in languages other than
English.
The core content of the 10-course
curriculum will remain the same wherever the course is delivered. Each course includes 25 teaching hours per
course with tutorial and case study material along with independent work
assignments and examinations. Participants will progressively build their own
demonstration example of an integrated water resource management plan from
materials covered in each course and based on data and information from their
local region or watershed.
The curriculum includes:
Course
1: Introduction
A basic introduction to the
fundamental concepts of integrated water resources management, techniques and
knowledge required to understand and manage water resources.
Course 2: Water transfer
Provides a basic understanding
of the hydrologic cycle; processes and measurements; the factors affecting
movement and behaviour in different environments; surface and groundwater
environments; the watershed concept and; the impacts of weather and climate.
Course 3: The terrestrial ecosystem and the impacts of
land use changes
Fundamental ecological
concepts; the role of the natural environment in the hydrologic cycle; the
effects of changes in land use on water processes; the impacts of water on
land; tools of watershed analysis; aspects of land use planning, control and
conservation.
Course 4: The aquatic ecosystem
The basics of the physical,
chemical, biological and ecological aspects of streams, rivers, lakes,
wetlands, estuaries and groundwater systems.
Course 5: Aquatic ecosystem health and impact
assessment
The impacts of human
activities on the aquatic environment and the methods of measuring those
impacts.
Course 6: Water
use
Human water uses and their
impacts; water consumption and aspects of public water supply.
Course 7: Wastewater
The problems resulting from
point and non-point discharges; waste treatment processes; best management
practices, monitoring and assessment approaches and; urban versus rural
environments.
Course 8: Governance and community based approaches
The concepts and practices
of community based water resources management; domestic and international
governance, community involvement and gender issues
Course 9: Organizational infrastructure and management
The issues, concerns and
approaches to finance, budget, infrastructure, management and planning, as well
as public health administration and project management.
Course 10: Applying Integrated Water
Resources Management:
Customized case studies, practical
illustrations of the concepts and procedures of IWRM, and investigative
techniques for students to assess their own IWRM needs, conducted in tutorial
format.
The WVLC collaborating centers
worldwide will create regional case studies and other regional content, mark
individual course tests and proctor a final examination.
Leading water scholars and practitioners vetted the
course materials, which were tested on 28 graduate students from around the
world studying in Canada, with an emphasis on students from South Asia and Africa. Feedback was constructive
and very positive.
Some
specialized courses will involve institutions elsewhere in the UN and UNU
systems -- for example courses on water
leadership and governance, drinking water
contamination, hydrology, and decision support technologies.
Dr. John Okedi, former Executive Director of the
National Environmental Authority in Uganda and an advisor to the project, said the offer of a
Diploma from the United Nations University will be “a tremendous attraction” to
potential students in developing and developed countries alike.
Said Manuel Dengo, Chief of the
Water Resources Management Branch, UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, which championed financing for the development of the program: “Many practicing professionals simply can’t
take time off to pursue a two-year course or even a two-week course. Distance education has become very successful
because it allows people to participate as part of their on-the-job training.
“Designing an education program for
global delivery has been a difficult challenge but the payoff will be improved
water management and, potentially, improved health for many people suffering
from water shortages and poor water quality in developing countries.”
* * * * *
UN University
Established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1973, UNU is an international community of scholars
engaged in research, advanced training and the dissemination of knowledge
related to pressing global problems.
Activities focus mainly on peace and conflict resolution, sustainable
development and the use of science and technology to advance human
welfare. The University operates a
worldwide network of research and post-graduate training centres, with
headquarters in Tokyo.
UNU-INWEH
With core funding from Canada,
UNU-INWEH is an innovative and
effective international freshwater capacity-development service, helping
developing countries address water-management needs – scientific, educational,
institutional and managerial. The Canadian
headquarters unit provides leadership and logistics support; a regional office
in Jordan facilitates local program development; and an extensive “college of
associates” - collaborating experts from different disciplines and countries -
implement UNU-INWEH activities, supported by a network of “cooperating
institutions” worldwide.