IAN and WWF name their partnership "Healthy Rivers for All"
IAN and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) held a two-day retreat May 24-25 at Horn Point Lab. One of the most exciting things on the agenda was creating a new tagline for the partnership, which previously was the "Basin Report Card Initiative." The WWF creative team worked closely with partnership staff to create the new tagline "Healthy Rivers for All," which reflects the imperative to work for healthy rivers for the benefit of people and ecosystems everywhere. We also discussed several new report card projects in Asia, the Americas, and Africa, and explored ways to incorporate climate change and scenario building into the report card process. As always, it was a very productive meeting!
IAN and WWF release "Using indicators for improved water resources management: Guide for basin managers and practitioners"
IAN co-authored the recently released "Using indicators for improved water resources management: Guide for basin managers and practitioners". Simon Costanzo, Heath Kelsey and Jane Hawkey collaborated with the UN Environment-DHI Centre on Water and Environment, World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Global Environment Facility and the Luc Hoffman Institute in writing, designing and laying out this guide which was developed to help basin managers, decision makers and other water resource management practitioners navigate this increasingly complex 'jungle of indicators'. It provides scientific, technical and communication guidance on use of indicators for better basin resource planning and management.
IAN starts a project on the Tuul River in Mongolia
Simon Costanzo and Bill Dennison from IAN went to Mongolia with Michele Thieme from WWF to work with WWF Mongolia colleagues as part of the Healthy Rivers for All partnership. Field trips to the Mongolian steppe and workshops in the capitol, Ulaanbaatar, were conducted in collaboration with staff from the WWF Mongolia and the Tuul River Basin Authority on July 2017. A Tuul River report card will ultimately be produced and this initial workshop provided the training and tools for the Mongolian team to lead this effort. A series of blogs was posted to chronicle this initial visit.
Practitioner's Guide to Developing Basin Report Cards
IAN, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has released a "Practitioner's Guide to Developing Basin Report Cards". The Guide is a free reference and resource for government or non-profit employees, development officials, basin managers, private sector representatives, community organizers, academics, journalists, and any and all interested in the health and future of freshwater resources. The Guide provides an overview of basin report cards and their use, the mechanics of report cards, and how to leverage the process and results to drive change.
8th World Water Forum
Bill Dennison traveled to Brasilia with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) colleagues to represent the Healthy Rivers for All partnership. WWF shared a booth at the exposition part of the conference, where various presentations were made about report cards. In addition, a session of the 'Get the Grade!' game was run during the conference. We also met some members of the International Advisory Committee who attended the conference. Bill was able to also meet with Brazilian colleagues from the Guanabara Bay report card project to work on their joint paper. The World Water Forum was massive, very international and a great opportunity to showcase Healthy Rivers for All.
Kafue River Basin Report Card begun in Zambia
On 26 February-1 March 2018, IAN and WWF kicked off the Lower Kafue River Basin Report Card project in Lusaka, Zambia with a report card training workshop. Staff and researchers from WWF Zambia, Zambia University, and the Zambia Water Resource Management Agency (WARMA) were in attendance. The training enabled local facilitation of the first report card stakeholder workshop, which was held in Monze from 5-7 March 2018. This project is the first Healthy Rivers for All report card project in Africa, and represents a significant milestone for the partnership. Both meetings were excellent, with active participation from all participants.
Report Cards promoted at the GEF International Waters Conference, Marrakech, Morocco
Heath Kelsey was invited to The Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters Conference (IWC9) to talk about how ecosystem health report cards could support transboundary water assessments. Together with Sarah Davidson (WWF), Maija Bertule (DHI), and Chris Cox (UNEP), we conducted a "clinic" on how report cards can support the GEF's Transboundary Diagnostic Assessments and Strategic Action Programmes, where water issues span national boundaries. We hosted a role-playing session, where the participants were diverse stakeholders in a fictitious river basin. Stakeholders then suggested indicators that relate to their interests. The game highlighted the benefits of a transdisciplinary process for these types of assessments, and the relationship between report cards and the GEF assessments.
Report card course
The 2019 Healthy Rivers for All course is underway! 22 students from Africa, Mexico, and the Philippines are learning how to create ecosystem health report cards through a virtual, flipped-classroom approach. Bill, Heath, and Vanessa meet with students on line each week to review recorded lectures and engage through instructive activities.