Swedish research network on Livelihoods and Natural Resources
In collaboration with School of Global Studies, Unversity of Gothenburg:
Invitation to a workshop on
Time: 11:00 – 17:00
Place: School of Global Studies, Gothenburg, Sweden
Water has increasingly become a critical issue in local and global governance discourses. While the MDGs and other national goals have spurred an intensive activity in extending people’s access to safe water, there is an emerging consensus on the need to improve management of water (including conservation, use practices and perception), build appropriate institutional frames that facilitate and manage stakeholder interactions at landscape levels, and build capacity of stakeholders (including local beneficiaries, administrative bodies, etc). The Millennium Development targets to halve by 2015 the proportion of people who lack access to safe water. With only 5 years remaining, efforts in the sector are scaled up to attain the goal and the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management, IWRM, dominate the global as well as local water agendas. Furthermore, sub-Saharan Africa face particular challenges both in terms of extending access and conserving and guaranteeing a sustainable management of resources, not least considering the unpredictability of climate change effects.
This workshop deals particularly with the provision of water services for household consumption both in rural and urban contexts. Global discourse on water management shape policy implementation nationally and locally through development cooperation and national commitments to IWRM. The processes and outcomes of policy formulation and implementation are highly uncertain and involve relations of power. Addressing these power relations, and their effects on the performance of institutions in the water sector and on the water users is the focus of this workshop.
The workshop theme focuses on themes such as; global and local discourses, institutional reform (including decentralization, privatization and monetization), stakeholder participation, CBOs, environmental sustainability and consumption, technology and tariffs in water service delivery.
For further information, please, contact: Atakilte Beyene, Network Coordinator, Tel: 0737 078522, Atakilte.beyene@sei.se or Sofie Hellberg, PhD student, sofie.hellberg@globalstudies.gu.se
Seminar and panel discussion in Stockholm 19 May
The Perils of Peak Phosphorous: Geopolitics, Food Security, Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights: Implications for Western Sahara
Human Rights and Relevant Legal Aspects in Western Sahara (pdf). Cecilia Asklöf, The Swedish Parliament.
International Law and the Exploitation of Natural Resources in Western Sahara. Powerpoint presentation from the seminar (ppt).
The seminar was organized jointly by Stockholm Environment Institute, Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative, the Nordic Africa Institute, Riksdagens tvärpolitiska nätverk för Västsahara, International Commission of Jurists and VästsaharaAktionen.
Seminar announcement (pdf).
Seminar summary
Seminar held on March 18, 2010
By: Yeraswork Admassie, PhD
The Department of Sociology, Addis Ababa University , Ethiopia
The seminar was a collaboration between the Swedish Interdisciplinary Research Newtwork and
Biofuel and Africa – some important issues and knowledge gaps
The recent and dramatic global economic crisis coupled with the drop in oil prices may reduce the pressure on Africa as provider of alternative biofuel energy for rich countries. Read an analysis of the African biofuel challenge by NAI Senior Researcher Kjell Havnevik.
Seminar on May 20 shed new light on SEKAB’s* plans for large scale biofuel production in Rufiji district
In light of recent biofuels development in Sub-Saharan Africa a seminar was organised on May 20 to discuss aspects of SEKAB’s plans for large scale biofuel production in Rufiji District, Tanzania, and the conditions for development and poverty reduction. New information was presented on the location of SEKAB’s plantation that provided for a more realistic and concrete discussion about sustainability, land and poverty issues. The seminar was organized by the Nordic Africa Institute, Stockholm University, World Wide Fund for Nature in Sweden and the Swedish interdisciplinary research network on livelihoods and natural resource governance in Africa (funded by Sida/Sarec). Participants were mainly from universities and civil society whereas important stakeholders such as Sida, Swedish Foreign Ministry and other ministry representatives, politicians, SEKAB did not attend.
The biofuel issue in Tanzania has also been raised by a member of the Swedish Parliament, Bodil Ceballos (MP) whose question to parliament related to SEKABs activities and plans in the country was answered by the Minister for Development Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson, on May 25.
The links provide access to the presentations to the seminar by Kjell Havnevik, NAI, Peter Roberntz, WWF, Sweden, and Tobias Edman, Metria, Karin Holmgren and Mats Widgren, Stockholm University and Lars Johansson, independent film maker, and a comprehensive report from the discussion of the seminar prepared by Maria Widengård.
Notes (pdf)
Slides (pdf)
*The SEKAB Group is one of Europe’s leading ethanol producers.
network coordinators
Kjell Havnevik, The Nordic Africa Institute, and Atakilte Beyene, Stockholm Environment Institute.
Contact details.