The 'Safe and Sustainable Water Conference', an informative and engaging meeting of Indian NGOs working to solve water access issues, will be held on March 19, 2008 at the Nehru Science Centre in Mumbai, India. Morning sessions will be dedicated to presentations and lectures and afternoon sessions will focus on dynamic and interactive workshops.

Applications forms are now available. NGOs in need of financial assistance for travel and/or lodging may download a separate travel scholarship application and must be sent on or before Feb 15, 2008.

The 1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit (1st APWS) will be held in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, Japan on Dec. 3 and 4 with the theme, "Water Security: Leadership and Commitment". Around 300 participants from 49 countries are expected to attend.

Convened by the Steering Committee for the 1st Asia-Pacific Water Summit and the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), the summit is under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, in collaboration with the APWF's Governing Council, chaired by Prof. Tommy Koh, ambassador-at-large of Singapore. The summit will bring together top-level leaders from various sectors, and institutions and stakeholders involved in water and sanitation issues such as the Asian Development Bank, the World Conservation Union, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, UNESCO, Singapore PUB, Streams of Knowledge, UN-Habitat, UNESCAP, Japan Water Forum, among others.

Journalists interested in understanding the complex issues of covering water quality may enroll, at no cost, in a self-guided course currently being given by News University, an online site for journalists.

The competition is open to journalists in developing countries who publish or broadcast original investigative reports on issues relating to water supply, sanitation or hygiene (WASH) in their countries. Journalists can submit up to two pieces of work.

The Water Environment Partnership in Asia WEPA), an initiative of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, is now calling for papers for the 2nd International WEPA Forum set Dec 3 to 4 in Beppu, Oita, Japan. The forum aims to promote water environment governance by encouraging dialogue among various stakeholders in East and South-east Asia.

This year's themes focus on policy and implementation, actions conducted by NGOs and CBOs, and technologies for promoting water environment in East and South-east Asia.

In commemoration of the 2007 World Water Week on Aug 12-18, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) will conduct a series of seminars and other activities in Stockholm. The events will be held at the Stockholm City Conference Centre in Barnhusgatan 12-14, Stockholm, Sweden.

SEI York Centre's Stacey Noel leads the seminar on "Poverty, Wealth and Water: Prioritising Water Investments" on Aug 12 with a literature review on water linkages with growth and poverty reduction, while Dr. Jennie Barron, also of SEI York Centre, will present research on rainfall variability and GDP growth in Africa.

On Aug 13, the Green Blue Water Initiative aims to promote the integration of land and water management and governance across scales.

The Water and Climate Day on Aug 15 will present sessions on "Mainstreaming Climate into Integrated Water Resources Management  (IWRM) and Millennium Development Goals (MGDs)" and on "Risks and Adaptation for Cities and Utilities".

The first session will discuss the vulnerability of developing countries to the impacts of climate change and how to improve the ability to adapt to these changes and increase resilience.  SEI executive director Johan Rockström will present a report on building water resilience in tropical agriculture.

SEI Stockholm research fellow Holger Stoff will introduce the second session, which will discuss the urgency for mainstreaming climate adaptation into infrastructure and other planning for urban environment.

EcoSanRes, SEI's international environment and development programme on ecological sanitation, will also make its presence felt in such events as "Sanitation 21 — Let's Do Planning and Design Better" and "The Killing Fields of Sanitation — Political Neglect".

The World Water Week in Stockholm aims to annually present and exchange views and experiences between members of scientific, business, policy and civil society communities in order to advance efforts related to water, the environment, livelihoods and poverty reduction.

A new global TV series, released recently for free worldwide distribution, looks at how researchers, farmers and local communities in different parts of the world are trying to grow more food with less water.

Produced by TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP), the Living Labs series showcases efforts currently underway in Africa, Asia and Latin America to meet one of the biggest challenges in international development. Released in time for World Water Day last March 22, the series' theme this year is 'Coping with Water Scarcity'.

State policies in the context of the state/ national/ and international development goals.

In particular reference to water, however, the draft state water policies (1995 and 2005) continue to alienate communities’ traditional rights on water use and management including the traditional wisdom and knowledge. Rajasthan Government needs to spare a thought about UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to which Govt. of India is committed to attain by 2105. In the context of the MDGs, goal no 7 “ Ensure environmental sustainability” aiming at integrating the principles of sustainable development, reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and achieving significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020 remains a far cry. India is not on track achieving the MDGs by 2015 including the goal 7. Moreover, State Development Goals or 6 priorities as envisioned in Vision document of the Rajasthan Government (as given below) do not explicitly make a mention or seek to address the UN MDGs, in particular, goal 7 related to water.

Do you have good, creative story ideas on water?

Please write us at coordinator@asiawaterwire.net with your ideas,  listing the angle you wish to cover and why it is important. We're  looking for good angles for feature pieces that look in-depth at a  particular issue of the water debate, and include a mix of sources to  show varied viewpoints and voices in a story.