• Freshwater ecosystems
• Aquatic ecosystem function
• Water management impacts on aquatic ecosystems
• Water management under climate change
• Multi-objective decision making
• Decision making under uncertainty

• Bachelor's degree in natural resources management, ecology, hydrology, biology, or a related field
• Exceptional research skills
• Experience with report writing
• Ability to work independently as well as part of a team
• Organizational skills
• Ability to convey complex scientific topics to a wide audience.

The Summer Lake Wildlife Area is a wildlife refuge in south-central Oregon. Photo by Susan Haig, U.S. Geological Survey. CC BY-SA 2.0

CORVALLIS, Oregon, USA. – New research shows that recent climate change is having profound effects on wetlands across the American West – affecting birds that use these wetlands for breeding, migration and wintering.

According to a study published today in the journal Scientific Reports, long-term trends towards higher temperatures and less precipitation have altered environmental water quality and reduced waterbird habitat, creating clear winners and losers in bird species and potentially threatening the integrity of the Pacific migratory flyway for many species. The study, which began in the mid-1990s, is the result of a research collaboration between scientists at Oregon State University, U.S. Geological Survey, University of California, Merced; and the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation.

Study co-author John H. Matthews, Executive Director of the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, said, “Migrating, breeding, developing and post-breeding birds need water, but they also need good quality water. This is one of the first studies globally to show that climate change is altering water quality. If shifts in climate can alter water quality for birds, then climate change can alter our water quality too. These bird populations are the canary in the coal mine for all of us.”

The researchers examined more than a century’s worth of temperature and precipitation data across the Great Basin, which spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Oregon and Utah, and portions of California, Idaho and Wyoming. They compared the data with more than 50 years of results from the U.S. Geological Survey Breeding Bird Surveys, which began in 1968.

The research focused on waterbirds, which are species that include shorebirds, ducks, geese, swans, herons and rails. The Great Basin is a major part of the Pacific Flyway, a major north-south route for migratory birds in North America. During spring migration, more than 2 million waterfowl pass through the southern Oregon-northeastern California region of the Pacific Flyway.

• Building a Resilient Future Through Water. An Open Letter to the United Nations Member States and the General Assembly
• Water Management Key to Tackling Climate Change. Recommendations to enhance the objectives set out to implement the Paris Agreement
• Mastering Disaster in a Changing Climate: Adaptive Water Management For Disaster Risk Reduction. Outlining water management's role in improving resilience and reducing risks
• How Landscapes and Water Mitigate Climate Change. Recommendations for sustainable forest and land management to achieve the Paris Agreement and meet major water challenges
• The Blue Trinity: Freshwater, Oceans, and Climate Change. Examining source-to-sea management for development and environmental challenges
• Key Messages for COP24. A series of key messages prepared for COP24

1. Go to AGWA’s page on Facebook
2. Click “Follow” or “Following”
3. Select “See First”

• Scale up collaboration between Climate and Water communities in preparation of the COP24 and beyond by contributing to the Global Climate Action Marrakech Partnership and the overall UNFCCC process, showcasing how wise water management can support the delivery of the Paris Agreement, the 2030 Agenda and the Sendai Framework targets.
• Through the water-focused basin networks, continue efforts to expand and improve adaptive water management projects and increase the capacity of basin communities to address climate adaptation and mitigation.
• Improve and increase water-sound climate financing by working with a broad spectrum of finance institutions to ensure mechanisms are in place for water-intensive climate investments to adopt resilient water resource management, in order to better respond to uncertain climate impacts.

• Ep. 1 - Climate Adaptation Crash Course
• Ep. 2 - COP23 Water & Climate Policy Primer (featuring AGWA's Co-Chair Maggie White)
• Ep. 3 - Decision Making Under Uncertainty
• Ep. 4 - Climate Change & Community-based Adaptation in the Himalayas

• Water connects sectors – from energy and forests to agriculture and tourism, water has a critical role to play in both mitigation and adaptation.
• Climate change impacts water resources first and foremost.
• Women's lives are the most impacted when facing the adverse effects of climate change, but they are also crucial agents of change.
• Food security, improved nutrition and health will only be achievable if there is water security.
• Sustainable urban water management enables climate resilience in cities.
• Water-wise climate financing is a good investment for all.

• From a symbolic point of view, the withdrawal from the agreement of the world’s second biggest producer of greenhouse gases gives out a very negative signal. Since Donald Trump’s election, the United States had already announced multiple measures that go against sustainable development and a low-carbon economy (e.g. drastic cuts in environmental credits, re-examination of the Clean Power Act, etc.). Now, however, the US President clearly intends to let the world know that he no longer wants to contribute to a joint effort that is nevertheless indispensible to respect international targets.
• By undoing the efforts made by Barack Obama’s administration to limit the USA’s production of greenhouse gases, the federal state is extinguishing the last hope of remaining under the 2°C threshold. As a reminder, the sum of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) submitted by nations for the Paris agreement currently corresponds to an estimated average temperature rise of between 2.7°C and 3.5°C by 2100. A significant revision and stepping up of nations’ ambitions is therefore crucial, rather than the opposite. In its latest note, the Comité 21 (network for all French actors working for sustainability) states “The impacts of this decision will really be felt after 2020 with a rise in emissions from coal, and a slow-down in the production of renewable energy due to a lack of incentives from the EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency)”.
• The issue of funding is also crucial. Climate funds (adaptation funds, green funds, etc.) are vital tools to help countries initiate processes for energy transition and adapt to climate change. Although the USA’s promise to contribute 3 billion dollars to the Green Climate Fund may not seem like much, the withdrawal of this financing would have the effect of weakening a financial tool that already struggles to find resources. In addition to multilateral funding, we can also apprehend a drop in development aid from the United States, bearing in mind that numerous funded development projects also play a part in combating climate change and reducing vulnerabilities.

• IISD Coverage of Side Event (article)
• YouTube Broadcast Recording (full-length video)

• The AGWA Policy Group just had a meeting, and Sofia Widforss of SIWI will be representing the team at the Bonn intercessional meetings in May. #ClimateIsWater has also been active, organizing a session on 18 May in Bonn (details below). We always welcome new members to both groups! Please reach out to Danielle Gaillard-Picher for #CIW activities.
• Ana Maria Quintero with The Nature Conservancy organized a well-attended session in Montreal, Canada, in April on bottom-up climate adaptation strategies, which included Ad Jeuken (Deltares) and Guillermo Mendoza (USACE) as well as myself (details here).
• The World Bank and the Casey Brown lab at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst have recently been host training workshops on bottom-up adaptation methodologies in Amherst, and will soon host another workshop in Korea for adaptation professionals based in Asia.
• This week, WWF, the Inter-American Development Bank, Mexico’s National Water Commission as well as other water management, environmental, and climate change agencies, and AGWA convened a workshop on guidelines for using water reserves as a tool for climate adaptation across Mexico. AGWA has been providing technical support using an approach we developed through the network to integrate ecological and engineering approaches to freshwater resilience. Ninel Escobar with WWF will be presenting some of this work at the Bonn intercessional meeting on 15 May in a Nairobi Work Program event on ecosystem-based adaptation. The International Water Resources Association conference (IWRA) will host a followup event at the end of May in Cancun, Mexico.
• Not least, AGWA’s task force had a good meeting about how to continue to adapt AGWA itself to adjust to new challenges and better serve the network as a whole in a more responsive, robust way. We are grateful for this service!

• Environmental Politics and Policy
• Social Aspects of Sustainable Natural Resources
• Sustainability Assessment
• Water Conflict Management and Transformation

• Resilient and Robust Resource Management

• You are an advanced graduate student;
• Your field of study complements research at IIASA;
• You are interested in pursuing interdisciplinary research;
• Your research and career would benefit from working alongside 50 or so young scientists as well as senior scientists from around the world;
• You would like to explore the policy implications of your work.

• Video 1: Overview of Climate Adaptation
• Video 2: Dealing with Uncertainty
• Video 3: Rare in Colombia

• Those of you willing to participate are invited to fill-in the online Checklist by 2 November 2016 with a specific case of flood risk governance in mind;
• Alternatively, you can also complete the Checklist in Word version accessible here and return it by email to the OECD Secretariat.

WELCOME TO THE AGWA ANNUAL MEETING!

Dear AGWA friends,

We are now getting close to the World Water Week in Stockholm. In conjunction with this, the AGWA annual meeting will also take place in Stockholm on 27 August at 1-5 pm CET.

We very much hope to see many of you there. This is an important opportunity to take stock on the progress of AGWA and to discuss next steps and measures.

AGWA has seen some remarkable achievements as well as rapid growth during the past year. For instance, the number of subscribers to our newsletter has grown 70% compared to last year, to over 900 individuals. At the same time, AGWA has seen a rapid differentiation and expansion of its policy activities, the elevation of its policy capacity and the achievement of a number of significant policy goals, the delivery and adoption of a number of major new technical initiatives; the award of several new grants to support AGWA-informed programs and activities; and the publication of many high-profile AGWA documents and press around our activities. Much of this is reflected in our Annual Report. We have a great deal to be proud of but we need to maintain this momentum and reflect on where we take our network in the coming years.

At the same time we have faced severe financial constraints jeopardizing the proper functioning of our Secretariat. While the funding for projects has really taken off this year, it has proven difficult to identify long term sustainable financing options to support the core functioning of the Secretariat and its networking activities – i.e., the glue that keeps us together. It is fair to say that our coordinator John Matthews, his Research Associate, Alex Mauroner, as well as the SIWI office have been pushed very hard to maintain necessary networking service and to keep AGWA going. We are facing immediate budget constraints and in the long run, AGWA will not have the capacity to sustain itself and a solution must be found with urgency.

Therefore the Steering Committee (SC) has discussed alternative models for financing of AGWA core functions. These include setting aside a certain percentage of project income, starting membership fees, and identifying sponsors/donors for core funding. This year’s annual meeting will decide how to pursue this challenge.

Another vital issue for AGWA is the steering committee engagement. The annual meeting will decide on the steering committee for the next period. Please let us know if you would like to suggest a candidate or if you would be interested yourself.

We very much look forward to your participation in the annual meeting. If you are not able to travel to Stockholm but want to put forward your ideas and suggestion – please write an email to John and let us know what you think. Indeed, AGWA is its membership.

AGWA is a fantastic, effective, and promising network. We have already done so much, and what we have accomplished is amazing. But we are now at a crossroads – and what we will decide will be decisive for the development. Join us in Stockholm and help us chart the future.

Karin Lexén, Director, World Water Week and International Policy, SIWI and
Diego Rodriguez, Senior Economist, Latin America and Caribbean Region, the World Bank,
Co-Chairs of AGWA

You can download a copy of this letter here.

• stimulate conversation and innovate approaches to water protection, management and governance,
• bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to generate more comprehensive, holistic approaches,
• provide a sustainable platform for peer-to-peer and interdisciplinary exchanges and knowledge, information and data sharing related to the achievement of water security,
• complement and enrich ongoing research and innovation,
• prepare and publish independent guidance reports aiding stakeholders in achieving water security.

Photo by John Matthews

Just six months after the signing of the Paris Agreement, Morocco and France have kept the promise made at COP21 to highlight water’s critical role when it comes to addressing climate change – including both the reduction of carbon emissions and adapting our societies to the climatic impacts that are now inevitable.

The key role that water plays in both adaptation and mitigation was acknowledged by the majority of countries that signed the Paris Agreement, as evidenced through the content of their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). In fact, 83 percent of the NDCs that have been submitted highlight the importance of adaptation – especially in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Pacific-Asia – and 93 percent of the adaptation content refers to water as fundamental to effective adaptation programmes (1). It is beyond question that water is central to the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement.

It was therefore essential that just before COP22, the COP Presidency chose to support, promote and lead an event on addressing climate change in Africa specifically from a water perspective.

The International Conference on Water and Climate: water security for climatic justice (2) was co-organised on the 11-12th of July by the Government of Morocco, the Government of France, the World Water Council and with the support of the French Water Partnership. The event fell under the high patronage of his majesty the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, and was fully supported by the head of the Moroccan government. With over 600 participants in attendance, and more than 20 African ministerial delegations, the conference was a huge success in terms of building the much-needed political awareness of the role of water in the battle against climate change.