News
JustWATER introduced to Imago Mundi Lab researchers and professors, University of Bergamo.
21 November 2023.
November 21st 2023 Dr Greco presented the project at the Department of Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, at the IMAGO MUNDI LAB room. The presentation served as a first introduction of the main goals and funding sources of JustWATER to colleagues at the department.
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World Water Day celebration : La Repubblica Newspaper.
22 March 2024.
In the occation of the Celebration of World Water Day , whose main title this year is : Water for Prosperity and Peace, La Repubblica, the most famous Italian National Newspaper, dedicated some space to Dr Francesca Greco and prof. Filippo Menga, from University of Bergamo , to talk about the links between Water, Peace, Water Conflicts and War Direct link to the original article: LaRepubblica You can download the English version of the article here below
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Slow Food Celebrates the World Water Day 2024 with a Talk on "water in food" with Francesca Greco.
23 March 2024.
Slow Food Treviso with the patronage of the Municipality of Preganziol is excited to announce the conference ‘Food and Water: a complex relationship’. which will take place on Saturday 23 March at 17:00 at the Council Chamber of the Preganziol Town Hall. Guests Barbara Nappini, President of Slow Food Italy, and Francesca Greco, Marie Curie Researcher at the University of Bergamo and Visiting Researcher at King's College London. They will share their knowledge, experiences and perspectives on how our approach to food directly affects water management and environmental balance. During the event, we will explore current challenges related to water availability and sustainability in the food sector and discuss practical strategies to promote responsible water use. You can watch the full event video here video
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Hydropolitics in Italy: Why georeferenced information on virtual water exports could be an asset in water-informed decision making.
31 January 2024.
Wednesday 31 January, 2024 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM Online A preliminary disclosure of methodology from the Marie Curie Post Doctoral Fellowship "JustWATER", University of Bergamo. Part of the Hazard, Risk and Disaster (HRD) Research Lecture Series 2023-24. Maintaining a balance between water supply and demand is a worldwide concern. Over the last 30 years, increased surface and groundwater usage has caused significant water depletion in key aquifers, jeopardising global river ecosystems. Water usage has increased, mostly due to agricultural irrigation. Virtual water is the water incorporated in agriculture and other goods, representing all necessary water throughout production process. Some water and virtual water "trade" are more fragile than others. Some water sources are renewable, while others are not. Localised water shortages, pollution, and over-pumping affect specific irrigation districts. Consequently, specific virtual water flows are sustainable, while others are not. Local populations, in exporting nations, may have various negative socio-economic repercussions, particularly in export-led, labor-intensive, contract agricultural industry. The presence of these negative components will make the case for "bad virtual water". Italy will be the first case of a complete nationwide geo-referenced map of "bad virtual water" . About the speaker Dr Francesca Greco is a international expert in water and food policy. Currently a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Bergamo, she served as Programme Officer at UNESCO from 2011 to 2017 and as UN Volunteer for UNESCO Ghana from 2004 to 2005. As a member of the London Water Research Group since 2003, she has been conducting research on virtual water, water footprint, water policy, groundwater aquifers and food exports in the Middle East and Africa since 2002. She counts on 20 years’ experience at the UN and as a consultant for various environmental NGOs. Link to the event : Bath University Event Link Yu can download the full presentation here below
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“Leveraging (non conventional) water for peace” to celebrate World Water Day 2024.
21 March 2024.
Within the framework of the AG-WaMED project, the Water Harvesting Lab of the University of Florence is hosting the webinar “Leveraging (non conventional) water for peace” to celebrate World Water Day 2024 in collaboration with the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance (IRHA). The webinar takes place on Thursday 21st March, 13:00 - 14:30 CET Water can be a driver of peace or conflict. When water resources become scarce, polluted or are unequally distributed, tensions can rise between individuals, communities, and countries. World Water Day (WWD) 2024 emphasizes the role water can play in creating synergies, promoting prosperity, and building cooperation with positive spill-over effects beyond water security itself. The project “Advancing non conventional water management for innovative climate-resilient water governance in the Mediterranean Area” (AG-WaMED) aims at providing innovative, evidence-based participatory management solutions to water scarcity governance that can be scaled at the Mediterranean level. In particular, the project will tackle the problem of water scarcity by including Non Conventional Waters (NCW) (wastewater, runoff water harvesting, desalination) among the available resources to be included in water governance policies. Through this webinar we delve into the theme of the WWD 2024 by providing an international reflection on the role of water for leveraging peace, and by showcasing how NCW helps reduce tensions among water uses and users by tackling water scarcity conditions. Attached the agenda of the webinar, which include keynotes by: Francesca Greco, PhD - Marie Curie Research Fellow, Università di Bergamo Chloé Nicolas-Artero, PhD - Politecnico di Milano Margarita Pacheco, PhD - International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance Prof. Elena Bresci - Università di Firenze Original Website of the event: agwamed.eu Download the original presentation here below
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RADIO POPOLARE interviews Francesca Greco.
22 March 2024.
Listen to the original audio file of the interview granted to Francesca Greco by the News bulletin of Radio Popolare In the occasion of World Water Day , Radio Popolare interviews Francesca Greco Original link here RadioPopolareEsteri https://www.radiopopolare.it/puntata/?ep=popolare-esteri/esteri_22_03_2024_19_00
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La Svolta hosts Francesca Greco for an interview in the occasion of World Water Day 2024.
22 March 2024.
Like every year, today, 22 March, we celebrate World Water Day, established in 1992 by the United Nations as a reminder of the importance of blue gold and the objectives related to this precious resource, set out in Agenda 21, one of the decision-making pillars of the Rio de Janeiro Earth Conference. The theme chosen for this year is Water for Peace, a slogan that sounds like a desperate plea at a time when, according to Unicef, in the heart of the Mediterranean 70% of the people living in Gaza drink salty or contaminated water on a daily basis, where refugee children in the south of the Strip have access to about 1.5-2 litres of water a day (well below the 3 litres estimated as the minimum quantity to survive) and where at least half of the infrastructures connected to water resources have been destroyed. But there is more. Stressing in La Svolta the urgency to act and the seriousness of the problem is Dr Francesca Greco (an expert in Water and Food Policy thanks to a master's degree and a doctorate, as well as the winner of a Marie Curie scholarship at the University of Bergamo; she is also a visiting research fellow at King's College London): her career, but also a good part of her personal life, is driven by passion, curiosity and the desire to change the common perception of what is now called 'the blue gold'. ‘When I was 20, I found myself working on a water dispute between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, over an underground aquifer in the middle of the desert. The various colleagues were fascinated by the conflicts revolving around the great rivers: the Nile, the Jordan... While I slowly discovered the importance and fascination of underground aquifers, of water that is there but cannot be seen. Suffice it to say that 99% of water resources in the liquid state are found underground. Or of virtual water, the water we use, for example, to produce food. According to the FAO, 92% of global water resources are consumed in agriculture, and to give one person the ability to drink a single cup of coffee, as much as 140 litres of water are needed'. Numbers that make one think and which, reading the new UN report (Water for Prosperity and Peace, published today) leave no doubt as to the urgency of treating the topic as a planetary crisis to which it is important to respond all year round and not only on 22 March. Dr Greco, what is the status of water resources at planetary level? According to the new UN report, ‘2.2 billion people lacked access to adequate water resources and safely managed drinking water in 2022. Of these, 4 out of 5 lived in rural areas. The situation with regard to safely managed sanitation remains serious: 3.5 billion people do not have access to it and cities and towns have been unable to keep pace with accelerating urban population growth'. Yet access to clean water is one of the goals enshrined in the 2030 Agenda, a document we have elected as a guiding light for the future of humanity. According to the previous official UN report on the monitoring of indicator 6, the one dedicated precisely to water and called the Blueprint for Acceleration: Sustainable Development Goal 6, in 2023 the situation was already negative for all the targets set and, in 2024, the situation has not changed. In fact, according to the new report, about half of the world's population now lives in severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. A quarter of the world's population faces already extremely high levels of water stress. But if the right to water is not yet a basic human right, how can we expect to achieve all the other goals of the 2030 Agenda and move towards a more equitable and just world where 'no one is left behind'? The human right to water is only 14 years old. It is still very young and poorly established, although popular protests and demonstrations on the issue have resulted in deaths and countless injuries among protesters in various parts of the world, from Latin America to India. Despite being recognised as an essential right, there is currently no binding legal obligation to regulate access to water and, this, continues to fall under what is called soft law. Every state, globally, is obliged to do its best to guarantee the right to water, but there are problems related to the economic capacities of the various countries, the political and social situation within them, as well as transnational relations and various conflicts of interest that can increase serious phenomena such as land grabbing,literally the acquisition of agricultural land on a global scale by transnational corporations or governments, which often results in water grabbing. In the new UN report, there is an entire chapter devoted to this issue in which the differences between rural and urban enjoyment of the right to water are highlighted. Water crisis and climate crisis: two sides of the same coin? What should we expect from the next 10 years? First of all, we must remember that the impacts on water resources are determined by us human beings, just like the climate crisis. According to the recently released UN report, 'climate change will intensify the global water cycle, further increasing the frequency and severity of droughts and floods. This dynamic will worsen in some contexts, such as cities, where there will be increasing water shortages: mobilising more and more water in less and less space will be more difficult every year. Secondly, we are constantly growing and this means that we will use more and more water because our eating habits are changing towards more and more water-drinking food (dairy and meat) as opposed to a plant-based diet that has a much smaller water footprint. Let us not forget, then, that mankind is the only living organism that pollutes water: micro/nano plastics, Pfas, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, chemical compounds... These are all substances that we release into the environment and that degrade the world's water resources, ultimately damaging our health as well. And then there is the impact on the water cycle and what we might call a real 'sickness'. As global warming increases, water becomes a cyclone, turns into floods, disappears for years resulting in devastating droughts. And this, just to give a few examples that should no longer give rise to doubt: we are in the midst of a climate crisis that we ourselves have generated and that, as the Ipcc (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed.) reminds us, does not affect populations equally. There are the privileged and those who do not have the means to protect themselves or find the information that could save their lives in time. In the next 10 years, if we fail to stop the rise in temperatures, it will go on in its extreme manifestations and our economies, our societies, our lives will change forever. According to today's data and time series, the change has already happened. Where in the world is the situation most severe and where is it expected to get worse? International water policy scholars have spent the last 40 years constructing maps of the world's water disputes and that they do not only concern water but broader issues. Water resources per se have never been the 'trigger' that started the conflicts. The famous 'water wars' have never been fought in these terms. The blue gold is one of the issues crossed by a thousand other vetoes in regions that have 'other' geopolitical tensions and that use water as a further field of challenge, ultimately making it one of the victims of conflicts, of military attacks, of violent actions that have seen dams bombed, domestic water networks destroyed... All for purely warlike purposes. That said, the most serious situation is the one that no one sees. As we said, 92% of water is consumed by agriculture, which withdraws as much as 70% worldwide from water bodies such as rivers, lakes and aquifers, and which also actively consumes the rainwater that falls from the sky. Let us remember that where there is a crop of any kind, this prevents, to a certain percentage, the rainwater from falling completely back into the water table, percolating. In practice, it retains it in the body of the plants, allows it to evaporate and become vapour again. It is in that 92% that the greatest danger lies. Agriculture. And, unfortunately, we continue to be unwilling to face reality. We continue to point the finger at domestic and industrial consumption, which, it is true, are growing exponentially but do not reach the water withdrawal or consumption rates of agriculture in absolute terms. Can Europe be considered safe? In Europe 'current events have highlighted the devastating consequences of armed conflicts on natural resources, livelihoods, water infrastructure and security'. However, it should be pointed out that, in the old continent, cross-border river management (guaranteed by operational agreements covering 90% of cross-border basins) seems to be working and represents an element of hope at a time when various geopolitical situations would only suggest the worst. There remains, however, a serious problem of pollution and climate crisis-related events throughout the Mediterranean basin. Let us remember that Barcelona is in water rationing and all of southern Spain has announced a drought emergency. What can you tell us about Italy instead? Italy is part of a so-called 'climatic hot spot', as demonstrated by a series of consecutive years characterised by drought in several regions and extreme events such as floods and landslides that have caused a huge number of victims and EUR 11 billion in damages in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany alone. But beyond the fear that these figures can unleash, the 'day zero' in which no more water will come out of our taps is a bogeyman that must be kept at bay with concrete actions shared by everyone, from the citizens who should take to the streets to demand urgent action, to the politicians who should give concrete answers. Instead, everything is silent. I believe it is necessary to start fighting for what is ours by universal human right. Original website of the article : LaSvolta Download the translation of the article in English here below
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JustWATER presented at World Water Forum 10th, Bali, Indonesia.
20th May 2024.
From 18 to 25 May, the 10th World Water Forum will be held in Bali, Indonesia. The theme of this edition is Water for Shared Prosperity. The World Water Forum brings together political and civil society representatives, public authorities, academics and the private sector to address global challenges related to the management and sustainability of water resources. The programme of the Forum is organised into six different sub-themes: water for humans and nature, water security and prosperity, disaster risk reduction and management, cooperation and hydro-diplomacy, water innovative finance, knowledge, and innovation. JustWATER will be presented in the framework of the UNESCO panel at the ASIAN water pavillion. Tomorrow , 21st of May 2024, at 10.00 am local time in Bali, Indonesia
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Presentation at the SSG Società di Studi Geografici.
28 June 2024.
Dr Greco presented the analysis of the case of virtual water "trade" from the agricultural district of Pachino tomatoes in Sicily.
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presentation at the KING'S COLLEGE LONDON TONY ALLAN SOCIETY.
14th June 2024.
King’s College London Bush House (South-East entrance) 1.02 DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY Friday 14th of June 2024 Objective Even amongst the sea of present troubles, water is rising up the agenda with a damaging wet winter in Northern Europe but the Mediterranean, once again, hit by severe water shortages that have fed through to food supplies and, hence, prices of winter vegetables and fruits, grains, and vegetable oils. Food bowls in South and North America and Asia are equally affected by the impacts of climate change and water scarcity. The planet is heating. Water resources are an immediate victim and water management faces increasing competition, disintegration and wickedness. Our Tony Allan memorial workshop on Friday 14th June will discuss the ongoing water challenges and crises, and our response to them. As well as a geographic split, we will discuss different ways of drawing up solutions. We will reflect on whether and how the transportability, funder-facing and language of universal global themes (e.g. the circular economy, nature-based themes, the WEF nexus) inform (or fail to inform) local bespoke solutions and actions. The morning session will scrutinise England’s water crisis and the alarming extent of water conflict worldwide. In the afternoon, we will discuss potential remedies, shedding light on food-water management and ways to plug the estimated gap of $US182-664 billion investment gap in the water sector.
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