Quentin Grafton is in Glasgow, Scotland, catching up with two prominent academics within the water space, Professor Cecilia Tortajada and Professor Asit Biswas. Professor Tortajada is from the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Glasgow, she is a member of the OECD Initiative on Water Governance and has twice received the Research Excellence Award from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Professor Biswas, a ‘Distinguished Visiting Professor,’ also from the University of Glasgow, has served as a senior public official in Canada, where he received the “Person of the Year” award from the Canadian Prime Minister. Cecilia and Asit discuss the challenges of international and domestic institutions and why inefficient practices still prevail despite not delivering results. They highlight the importance of pragmatism over dogma, separating clashing mandates within institutions to create a system of checks and balances, creating models to fit reality rather than fitting reality into the ‘model’ and for policy makers in offices to experience the reality of the field for themselves.

This podcast was edited by Michael Migali and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode’s hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian. Music by Serge Pavkin.

On today’s episode of Riverside Chats, Quentin Grafton speaks with David Hannah, who is a Professor of Hydrology at the University of Birmingham. Professor Hannah is also the Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action and he holds a UNESCO chair in water science. David’s work aims to understand how the water cycle works, how it’s evolving as a result of a changing climate and then using that knowledge to drive meaningful change. David describes how global warming speeds up the global water cycle, which leads to more extreme floods and droughts. He also discusses his fascinating field work in the Himalayas, blending local knowledge and new technologies to help local populations adapt to their evolving natural environment.

This podcast was edited by Michael Migali and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode’s hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian. Music by Serge Pavkin.

Safa Fanaian and Quentin Grafton are very pleased to be joined with Joyeeta Gupta, Professor of Environment and Development in the Global South at the University of Amsterdam and Professor of Law and Policy in Water Resources and Environment at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. Professor Gupta is also co-chair of the Earth Commission and she is the latest winner of the the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award within the Netherlands. Professor Gupta offers her perspective on the relationship between water security and justice, while discussing the broader structural barriers to progress and why the topic of food should be central to such conversations.

This podcast was edited by Hannah Scott and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode’s hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian.

This episode of the Water Justice Podcast is a collection of stories, recounting events from around regional Australia which received flooding throughout the Murray Darling Basin across 2022 and into 2023. New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia experienced severe flooding in the late spring months in a La Nina event. Recorded at the end of the 2022-2023 Australian summer, five people from different areas along the flooded regions provide their stories from this tragedy. These stories cover how floods have impacted them and their communities as well as their thoughts on how we can learn from these events. Australia’s flooding can be a contentious topic and these experiences don’t necessarily reflect the thoughts of the Water Justice Hub, but they do account for how people are left feeling in the wake of a disaster like this.

Guests

Prue Milgate: Agri-industry advocate, Grain and Livestock Farmer in Serpentine, who received flooding downstream from the Loddon River

Simone Bailey: Mayor of the Mid Murray council, an area that received flooding from the Murray River

Dallas Tout: Mayor of Wagga Wagga, which received flooding from the Murrumbidgee River

Bill Twigg: Regenerative Agricultural Sheep Farmer who received flooding from the Loddon River

Paul Haw: First Nations Cultural Heritage Museum caretaker and Local to Boort, a lakeside town that received flooding from the Loddon River

This Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub, UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.

Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/

Kat Taylor attended the International Association of Hydrogeologists’ Australian Groundwater Conference 2022 in November of 2022. At the conference which was themed “Science, Resilience, and Adaption”, Kat caught up with several experts in the field of groundwater to ask some questions and get to the crux of what mattered at this year’s conference.

You can follow our guests’ work (in order of appearance):

Dr Rick Evans on Hydrogeological Misadventures

Dr Brad Opdyke on Lake George

Assoc. Professor Brad Moggridge on Indigenous Groundwater

Dr Sarah Bourke on chairing IAH Western Australia

The Indigenous Groundwater Declaration

This Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub, UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.

Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/

Growing food takes water and energy, among other resources, while diminishing natural water resources through hydro-energy dams can restrict food sources like fish. When our needs for food, energy, and water are all growing, how do our actions in one area impact the other? If you start to solve our modern environmental problems by considering the relationship between these needs, or the “Food-Energy-Water Nexus”, water justice can be expansive. Kat speaks to experts in ‘nexus thinking’ and ‘nexus doing’ to understand this kind of systems thinking, and how it can be utilised as we fight for water justice for all.

Dr Pamela Katic has been working on nexus thinking and doing before the term arose, you can follow this journey here. Sarah Torhan’s work is extremely fascinating, you can follow some of it here.

This Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub,  UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.

Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Floods are a threat to many people across the world, and they are getting more frequent as our weather becomes more extreme due to climate change. The destructive power of water bares an interesting contrast to the devastation of drought, yet some places are experiencing both in a short period of time. How do the complexities of climate change paired with the threat of natural disasters appear to children who live through these experiences? Are children normalised to the situations they grow up in? Or do they yearn for a different reality, one where people are more prepared for extreme weather and also attempting to change those risks? Ayse Yildiz is a lecturer in Disaster and Emergency Management at Coventry University, UK, specialising in disaster risk perception and preparedness. She has worked predominantly with children and young people in disaster risk reduction in Turkey and Nepal where extreme weather has dominated the living memory of young people.

Ayse Yildiz’s work is extremely fascinating, you can follow some of it here. If you’re looking to understand Ayse’s research mentioned in this episode, you can read this publication.

This Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub,  UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.

Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Groundwater makes up a significant portion of the water resources equation. Yet, like an iceberg, because it is not seen, any danger lurking below the surface is not appreciated. Securing our water resources is as much an important consideration for humanity as climate change, so why isn’t it talked about? Jay Famiglietti, Executive Director of Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan joins the Water Justice Podcast to introduce this subject and explain the complexity of water security.

Jay Famiglietti’s work is extremely fascinating, you can follow some of it here. If you’re looking to follow this story further, subscribe to Jay’s What About Water Podcast.

This Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub,  UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.

Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Description