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Student Voices from Montpellier: Reflections on the INITIATE 2025 Workshop.
Abby Varghese, Leverhulme Doctoral Scholar in Regenerative Innovation. Spending a week in Montpellier for the INITIATE 2025 Workshop was an experience that went far beyond academic learning; it was a journey of co-creation, collaboration, and discovery. The event brought together…
Water Literacies in Scotland: Valuing Water Across Culture, Environment, and the Economy
Honorary Professor Neil Coles, UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science. NColes001@dundee.ac.uk Water is a vital element of Scotland’s economy, environment and culture. It is a key resource for industries such as food and drink, leisure, and tourism, and…
COP30 Brief: Water at the Forefront — Yet Still Not a “Water COP”
Dr Nandan Mukherjee, Binks Institute for Sustainability and the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science. School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law. nmukherjee001@dundee.ac.uk Returning from COP30 in Belém, one is immediately struck by the extent to which water…
UNESCO Centre For Water Law, Policy and Science blog
Promoting development through good water governance
Doctoral Research by Aidan Wrethman
Doctoral Research by Aidan Wrethman
Integrated Environmental Authorisations in Scotland – Farewell to the CAR
Professor Sarah Hendry, Dundee Law School and the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee s.m.hendry@dundee.ac.uk My thanks to colleagues, in Law and in Geography, who commented on this in draft. Introduction On 1…
The Cunliffe Report – some highlights from a Scottish perspective
The UK Government’s Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, has issued its Final Report on reform of the water sector in England and Wales. In a relatively short time frame the Commission has produced an extensive analysis, covering…
Research stay of Karolina Wierzbicka MA at UNESCO Centre of Water Law, Policy and Science
Post by Karolina Wierzbicka From 13 October to 15 November 2024, Karolina Wierzbicka, a fourth-year doctoral student at the Doctoral School in Social Sciences at the University of Łódź (Poland) and a practicing Polish barrister, completed a month-long research internship…
Earth Day: Planet vs Plastic in the Age of Disposable Vapes
Post by Laura Young Every year, April 22nd – Earth Day serves as a reminder of the fragility of our planet and the urgent need for environmental action. This year, the theme “Planet vs Plastic” reminds us that although the…
Beans on Toast
Post by Jean Duncan, Artist in Residence at the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science As the new Artist in Residence with the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee, I thought…
World Food Day – Water, barley yields, Natural Capital and climate change in Scotland
Post by Mike Rivington and Mohamed Jabloun, The James Hutton Institute Climate change in Scotland will alter the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall, whilst warming temperatures will result in more water evaporated from crops and soil. These changes will…
Water Services – a Scottish Model?
Post by Prof Sarah Hendry Water services is the issue of the day! Having seen so much coverage of the sewerage and surface water issues in the last year, the last few days has expanded that to widespread critique of…
World Migratory Bird Day
Post by Prof Chris Spray May 13th is World Migratory Bird Day (WBMD), or at least it is in the northern hemisphere; the southern celebrating it on 14th October, reflecting the cyclical nature of bird migration with opposite migration periods…
Nature based integrated water management solution to address climate change loss and damage
World Water Day series – post by Dr Nandan Mukherjee More than 40% of people on earth reside in coastal regions that are less than 100 kilometres from the ocean, where they are subject to climate challenges like rising sea…
Accelerating Change – Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
World Water Day Series – Dr Emmanuel Akpabio The 2023 World Water Day comes with the theme ‘accelerating change’. Accelerating progress towards universal access to water has never become more urgent considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the possibility of future…
World Water Day 2023: A Hydrometric Perspective
World Water Day series – Post by Dr Andrew Black “Accelerating change” is the theme for World Water Day 2023. Quoting the WWD organisers, “billions of people and countless schools, businesses, healthcare centres, farms and factories are being held back…
Risks of Extreme Events for Rainfed Agroforestry
World Water Day Series – Post by Dr Alexandra Morel Ghana is one of the largest producers of cocoa (Figure 1b), a perennial tree crop, that is primarily grown by smallholder farmers. Theobroma cacao is native to Central America but…
Global glacier recession and water security
World Water Day series – post by Dr Simon Cook Glacier ice covers about 10 % of the Earth’s land surface, and therefore represents a major store of fresh water. Indeed, it is estimated that almost 2 billion people are…
Accelerating Change in Water and Sanitation – where are we now and what should we do next?
World Water Day series – Post by Professor Sarah Hendry It is now half way through the implementation period for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a major UN Water Conference imminent. But there is much to be done, and…
Santiago Network on Loss and Damage: Old wine in a new bottle?
Loss and Damage – the residual effects of climate change that could not be avoided or reduced through adaptation and mitigation activities – are already a lived reality for people worldwide, with around a million family members lost and over…
The COP 26 Outcome: A Retrospective for Developing Countries
After three decades of climate negotiations, the next big climate summit, COP 27, is set to open the curtain in Egypt, with the official tagline “together for implementation.” What remained in Glasgow was reviewed at the Bonn Climate Talks in…
How our disaster-resilient homes will help people in coastal regions
The UNESCO Centre Dundee has been probing action research on household-level integrated water management to achieve resilience through water-induced disaster management and efficient use of renewable water resources. In this research, theories of social science theories, e.g., co-design and co-development…
COP26, adaptation and water governance
As COP27 in Egypt gets ever closer, there is increasing focus on the key issues of loss and damage, adaptation and financing, especially after the recent meeting in Bonn. Financing will be the subject of an upcoming blog on this…
Politics and Water: The Great Stink
Post by Elaine Robinson and Andrew Allan This week is World Water Week. To honour this event, today’s post will be looking at an example of the relationship between politics and water challenges, one of the issues being covered at…
A One-Way Street? Examining the Supply of Environmental Information in Managing Flood Risk in Scotland
Post by Sean Whittaker This week sees the sixty-seventh Compliance Committee to the Aarhus Convention. The Aarhus Convention, adopted in 1998, establishes environmental information rights to the public. Today’s post is by Sean Whittaker, one of the research members of…
Celebrating Dr Ignaz Semmelweis
Post by Andrew Allan, Chris Spray, and Elaine Robinson Yesterday was the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, the Hungarian ‘father of infection control’. It was Semmelweis who identified the need for hand washing by surgeons in…
Supporting better decisions across the nexus of water-energy-food challenges
Today we have a guest post from Fortune Gomo, a Hydro Nation scholar at the Centre, about the findings of her PhD thesis, which she successfully defended in March. Post by Fortune F. Gomo Our planet Earth is facing increasing…
How is the academic literature framing public participation in the management of Scotland’s fresh and coastal waters?
Post by Cathy Smith The latter twentieth century saw a global shift towards ‘participatory’ approaches in environmental management. Calls for public participation have had different emphases, from normative arguments that foreground democracy, equity and human rights, to pragmatic arguments that…
Publication trends about Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation 2: Research focus
Post by Cathy Smith In 2015 the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by world leaders. The 17 goals are a call to action for all countries, recognising that many issues, such as ending poverty, protecting ecosystems, tackling…
Publication trends about Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation 1: Geographical focus
Post by Cathy Smith In 2015 the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by world leaders. The 17 goals are a call to action for all countries, recognising that many issues, such as ending poverty, protecting ecosystems, tackling…
Water and Climate 5: Policy and Law
Post by Andrew Allan On Sunday 22nd March it was World Water Day, and this year’s theme was ‘water and climate change’. To honour the event, we are publishing five blog posts exploring different sides of the multifaceted relationship between…
Water and Climate 4: Ice
Post by Simon Cook On Sunday 22nd March it was World Water Day, and this year’s theme was ‘water and climate change’. To honour the event, we are publishing five blog posts exploring different sides of the multifaceted relationship between water…
Water and Climate 3: Energy
Post by Volker Roeben and Rafael Macatangay On Sunday 22nd March it is World Water Day, and this year’s theme is ‘water and climate change’. To honour the event, this week we are publishing five blog posts exploring different sides of…
Water and Climate 2: Water Scarcity and Agriculture
Post by Andrew Allan On Sunday 22nd March it is World Water Day, and this year’s theme is ‘water and climate change’. To honour the event, this week we are publishing five blog posts exploring different sides of the multifaceted…
Water and Climate 1: Flooding
Post written by Andrew Allan, Chris Spray and Cathy Smith On Sunday 22nd March it is World Water Day, and this year’s theme is ‘water and climate change’. To honour the event, this week we are publishing five blog posts…
Rivers for the Future
Post written by Professor Chris Spray One might wonder what the similarities are between Kerala and the Scottish Borders, and so quite why in February I found myself addressing an International Conference on Rivers for the Future in the southern Indian city…
Useful Links
UN water initiatives: United Nations Children’s Fund Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme (UNICEF WASH) United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Water Convention United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO IHP) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Water…
Contact Us
UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science University of Dundee Dundee DD1 4HN +44 (0)1382 384194 water@dundee.ac.uk @DundeeWater
About Us
We are an interdisciplinary centre for research linked to fresh water, with a particular interest in the connections between law, policy and science. We were established in 2008 by agreement between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)…