30 September 2010
Dundee expert to address New Zealand conference
A water law expert from the University of Dundee will tomorrow deliver the keynote speech at a major international conference taking place in New Zealand.
Professor Pat Wouters from the University’s Water Law Centre, which operates under the auspices of UNESCO, will speak to an audience of politicians, academics and other stakeholders at the New Zealand Resource Management Law Association's (RMLA's) 18th annual conference in Christchurch.
Professor Wouters will address delegates at the conference on Friday, October 1st. The RMLA is a national body promoting the development and implementation of resource management law in New Zealand. This year’s conference theme is Sustainable Water Management - a topic which currently dominates New Zealand's national environmental agenda as the country investigates possible reforms.
Professor Wouters has been invited to deliver a global discussion of the challenges and best practice associated with management of freshwater resources. She said this once again showed that Dundee was taking a leadership role in helping nation states with water law reform to help deliver regional peace and security whilst alleviating poverty and disease.
'New Zealand can be proud of its vanguard role in global water and the environment more generally. It is a founding signatory of the Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development agreed upon at the United Nations 1992 'Earth Summit', and the Agenda 21 programme of action to help implement this vision. However, there is yet more that this country can do to promote the secure and equitable use of water.'
New Zealand is an interesting case not least because of its position within the growing trade in bulk water, including the shipping of water in tankers across the ocean, a trade that often draws criticism. For example, one New Zealand-based company is proposing to utilize its long term resource consents to export South Island water to the countries of the Persian Gulf.
New Zealand has a history of taking the lead on environmental issues, for example being the only major Southern Hemisphere country to undertake legally binding obligations under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol agreement on greenhouse gas emissions.
Building on this proven commitment to working for the common good in international relations, Professor Wouters will discuss how New Zealand could contribute to achieving the ideals found in the UN Charter - the promotion of regional peace and security and the fundamental freedoms of all - through, in part, its expertise in the management of freshwater.
Professor Wouters will join a conference panel of Ministers, members of the judiciary and academics to find solutions to the sustainable management of water in New Zealand.
The Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at Dundee operates under the auspices of UNESCO and forms part of Postgraduate School of Management and Policy. It is the world’s only UNESCO Centre combining water law, policy and science, and this multidisciplinary approach ensures that it is able to draw upon the full range of academic and practical expertise needed to effect real benefits for real rivers.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
