Water for All

3900 children die every day because they do not have access to clean water. The lives of more than one billion people around the world are placed at risk because safe water is not available. 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. And the problem is getting worse.

20 years from now one-third of the world's population will live in regions of absolute water scarcity. About four billion people will be under stress conditions. And more children will die every day because safe, clean water is not available.

In November 2005 the United Nations launched the world's first UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science to find new ways of effectively integrating law, policy and science to address the "global water challenge".

The first of its kind in the UK and one of only 12 UNESCO Centres in the world, the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science is based at the University of Dundee. Their mission is simple: Water for all.

Climate change, natural disasters, growing populations and continued regional insecurity exacerbate the demand for water around the world, with the most disadvantaged and voiceless often paying the highest price. The former United Nations head, Kofi Annan, has described the problem as "an urgent matter of human development and human dignity", and cited the "frightening lack of leadership" in the field.

The task for the Dundee UNESCO Centre is complex - creating "a new generation of local water leaders" for the future and seeking to bridge the gap between science, law and policy - but the Centre is achieving these goals and is recognised as the leading authority on water law in the world. The Centre has become a focal point for international cooperation over water - last year ministers from eight Central Asian nations from Azerbaijan to Tajikistan met at Dundee to discuss transboundary water cooperation. The world's largest water company Suez recently announced their first research fellowship - to be based at the UNESCO Centre in Dundee.

Director of the Centre, Professor Patricia Wouters said, "The availability of fresh water is the difference between poverty and prosperity, life and death. We need to find a way to support the weakest - enforceable and responsive legal regimes go a long way to meet this objective. However, the most important impact we can have is through empowering local users - people willl make the real difference in tackling this challenge. Dundee's innovative "Water Law, Water Leaders" programme was created to address this."

One of the problems faced by policy makers is how to fairly allocate and re-allocate water resources. More than one-half of the world's population depends on water resources that are shared by sovereign nations, requiring neighbouring states to cooperate when devising their international entitlements.

But this is not always straightforward. The Nile is shared by 10 very diverse transboundary watercourse states; the Mekong crosses through some of the poorest nations of the world, each with vastly different development goals. The Indus and the Uruguay each have been subject to international disputes. The Aral Sea is shared by six Central Asian states, with new demands from Afghanistan. In unstable regions such as Israel-Palestine, communication and cooperation must first be achieved before agreeable legal frameworks for the sharing of water resources can be put in place.

Water leaders
Professor Wouters sees water law as a catalyst for peace. Dundee offers a neutral space where nation states, the public and private sectors can meet and discuss water resrouces management issues. There are tough questions that need to be asked and examined rigorously. Business as usual will not get the job done.

Dundee has been able to attract world leaders in water research to the university. "We have an international network of first-class experts who are committed to the Centre's mission and who actively participate in our programme. This offers unique opportunities to our graduate degree students. The goal is to develop a global community of local water leaders - this will be a strong way forward."

The Centre offers the world's only postgraduate programme in international and comparative water law and policy and has alumni all over the world from Mozambique to China to Canada who are making a difference.

The Centre's graduates work around the world - Sylvester Matemu in Tanzania, Falko Sellner in Jordan, Bakhtiyor Mukhammadiev in Uzbekistan, Patricia Jones heading an international environmental charity from Boston; Dale Campbell works in Geneva developing stakeholder participation models; and Sarah Hendry is a world-class expert on comparative national water law. Graduate Chad McMurray is now based in Afghanistan where he reports to the Minister of Urban Development in a project to incorporate a new water utility for the country. Palestinian graduate Fadia Daibes-Murad, who won the Edberg Prize for peace (for her PhD publication) is reviewing water projects to facilitate peace in the Middle East,while Melvin Woodhouse LLM is a consultant who has recently worked for governments of South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique and UNICEF and Puntland Somalia. Two of the Centre's graduates - Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke and Andrew Allan lead the water law graduate programme in Dundee, working around the world on water problems.

Bridging the gap between science and policy
As well as creating local water leaders, the Centre is focused on forming a bridge between science and policy makers - in line with the UNESCO HELP (Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy). On a global scale there is a poor connection between hydrological research and the development of legal tools to enforce new discoveries in science, and vice versa.

"Poor communication between scientists, water law and policy experts results in barriers to the uptake and implementation of good science and the development of effective laws - Dundee is well placed to pioneer new ways forward," Professor Wouters said.

The Dundee Centre provides legal input for the 67 HELP basins around the world and acts also at the Regional Coordinating Unit for the 21 European HELP basins. "We would like to move forward with the HELP agenda" says Professor Wouters and will make key appointments to ensure this happens. " The £1.7 M we will receive from the SRDG, coupled with our research projects provide a solid foundation to build the Centre. Dundee is ready to make its contribution."

Graduate Saleh M.K. Saleh is from Sudan came to Dundee to complete his LLM at the UNESCO Centre where he examined how international water law could contribute towards fostering developmental cooperation between the 10 states of the Nile Basin.

"The population of the Nile Basin is expected to reach half a billion by the year 2020. The challenges of malnutrition, illiteracy, energy-poverty, security and ultimately development are common to the 10 states that make up the Nile Basin," Saleh said.

"At the UNESCO Centre I was able to conduct world-class research on the pivotal role of International Water Law in the future of the Nile Basin states. Being Sudanese the Nile is part of my heritage, it is part of my country's development and it is the promise of future generations."

Water law is not an issue confined to the developing world. A recent WWF report found that climate change and poor resource management is leading to water shortages in Europe, Australia, Japan and the US.

Closer to home, flood risk in Scotland is becoming a growing problem, expected to worsen over the next decade. Flooding is an important research focus for the Centre. Dr Rieu-Clarke and Andrew Allan published the first international legal report on the global issues relating to flood management, in collaboration with the UN WHO.

Future pilot projects based on their "Rapid Legal Assessment Tool" are planned for India and Serbia. Dr Tom Ball is an academic fellow in sustainable flood management at the Centre. With a PhD in Plant Sciences from the University of Cambridge, Dr Ball is also a qualified lawyer. He, UNESCO Centre Research Director Professor Alan Werrity and colleagues in Geography, have authored a report on the social aspects of flood risk and flooding in Scotland, which is soon to be published by the Scottish Executive. He also recently completed a survey of international best practice in flood management for the flood issues advisory committee at the Scottish Executive.

He also recently completed a survey of international best practice in flood management for the flood issues advisory committee at the Scottish Executive.

Tom said, "Flood management is an area in which Scotland appears to be forging ahead. Promotion of sustainable flood management is now a legislative requirement, but it needs to be based on sound science and best practice. The Centre is well placed both to research and disseminate the developments in this field."

The UNESCO Centre is led by a small team in Dundee including Professor Wouters, Professor Werrity, International Water Law expert Dr Alistair Rieu-Clarke and National and Transnational Water Law expert Mr Andrew Allan. Alistair and Andrew have been successful in attracting close to 1M euros on important EU projects - working in basins around the world (Kazakhstan, China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Portugal, Spain, Norway).

Dundee hosted an EU launch of the Centre in Brussels in November, attracting important European players in the sector. A jointly convened symposium focussing on "water security" is planned to be held in Brussels in May 2008.

Although small, the Centre is making a big splash and on their way to achieving their vision of fair access to safe water for all.