I speak frequently in public. After a year and a half in this job, I estimate I’ve given something like seventy talks, whether as a formal presentations, running workshops, or sitting on panels. I am fortunate in that I do not get easily nervous, especially since I seem to have experienced everything from hecklers to total equipment failure in mid-speech — mic, projector, support staff. But the occasional fit of anxiety does hit, and then I comfort myself: this talk is not that important. Nothing really critical depends on the outcomes of my delivery. But this rationalization has its limits.
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Tags: ramsar, asia, korea, climate adaptation, policy

World Water Forum must be one of the largest conferences on the planet. Occurring every three years, the venue shifts through the developing world. Two weeks ago, the fifth Forum occurred in Istanbul, Turkey, couched between Europe, Africa, and Asia. I heard estimates of between 20,000 and 30,000 attendees for the week. Though we were all there nominally in the name of “water,” I’m not sure how unified or clear the focus the meeting is or even can be. Our conservation booth was located near the massive and predictably colorful “Italy” booth but also near a cluster of dam builders. On one adaptation panel, I sat between the representative of professional organization for water engineering and policy consultants and a labor union representative for water supply and sanitation workers. The conference had the coherence of a river that has reached its floodplain, spreading out and slowing down. Nonetheless, there were some interesting trends in water with climate change and climate adaptation. Read More...

Tags: turkey, asia, europe, climate adaptation, policy, conservation, finance, Dams

I’ve been accused of having a glamorous job several times, but twice in the past six months I’ve felt what must be the worst fear of a traveler: news of the serious illness or injury of someone close when you are far from home. Last October, I was in Delhi. I was on a six-week jaunt across east and south Asia, no longer than a few days in any one place, traveling alone, focused on specific goals for each place, managing emails despite intermittent internet access, and keeping my next flight prominently in mind. On such trips, “time off” is usually little more than laying in bed in the few minutes before sleep with a book, but I had never been to Old Delhi despite three trips to the new city in the past year; I had scheduled a rare free day.
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Tags: travel

In August of 2008, WWF released two freshwater climate adaptation pieces, one of which has been revised. Adapting Water Management is a white paper on how to think about climate change impacts on freshwater ecosystems and management from a policy perspective. Read More...

Tags: climate adaptation