It's getting so that you cannot have a conference these days without issuing a "declaration", listing the key findings, a call for action, etc. Everyone seems to be doing it.
Sometimes these things can get a little touchy. I went to a water conference in a Middle Eastern country a number of years ago. The declaration got hung up because some wanted an item in it about encouraging and empowering women vis-a-vis water management decisions. The declaration at the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, was watered down (pardon the pun) by the government representatives.
A couple of years ago we had the Alicante (Spain) Declaration on the Global Importance of Ground Water:
Download alicante_declaration.pdf
Now we have the Brisbane Declaration, which claims that Environmental Flows are Essential for Freshwater Ecosystem Health and Human Well-Being. The declaration presents summary findings and a global action agenda that address the urgent need to protect rivers globally as proclaimed at the 10th International Riversymposium and Environmental Flows Conference held in Brisbane, Australia, on 3-6 September 2007. Key findings ranged from stating that water flowing to the sea is not wasted to flow alteration imperils freshwater and estuarine ecosystems.
Download brisbane_declaration.pdf
One of their action items is impractical: Estimate environmental flow needs everywhere immediately.
That's nice, but not very realistic; sounds more like a goal than an action item. It's the hydrologic equivalent of Eliminate all poverty now. Nice, but no way it's going to happen.
In December 2008 we have been forewarned that we will have the Irvine Declaration, named after the metroplis of Irvine, CA, or perhaps the University of California-Irvine, where the International Conference on Water Scarcity, Global Changes, and Groundwater Management Response will be held 1-6 December 2008.
Download SCARCE-WATER-BROCHURE-Final.pdf
The Irvine Conference, not to be outdone by the others, will also have a separate Irvine Agenda. I suspect we have not seen the last of this one-upmanship. Maybe there should be an Irvine Program and an Irvine Registration Form. Speaking of which....
I'm co-chairing an international conference of my own in October 2008, the International Conference on Non-Renewable Ground Water Resources in Portland, OR.
Is my conference going to have its own declaration? What do you think?
Pretentious? Moi?
"A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done." -- Fred Allen
Thanks for all the pdf files, they helped out with a lot of questions I was having. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Bank Irvine CA | Sunday, 08 February 2009 at 08:46 PM