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Global Water Network Calendar
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008 |
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Event Title: China Environment Forum: Water Scarcity in China
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
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The first meeting on April 8th focuses on Water Scarcity in China, with an eye on international initiatives to improve water rights and create trading schemes.
We will be webcasting all of the meetings, so out-of-town folks can go to our Events link at www.wilsoncenter.org/cef <http://www.wilsoncenter.org/cef> Full meeting information is below and please note that all three meetings will be held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. A valid photo ID is required to enter the Ronald Reagan Building. Directions are available here: www.wilsoncenter.org/directions <http://www.wilsoncenter.org/directions>. Please RSVP to Jennifer Turner at cef@wilsoncenter.org <cef@wilsoncenter.org>" Target="_blank">cef@wilsoncenter.org> or call 202-691-4233.
APRIL 8: Speakers: Bryan Lohmar, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service; and Wang Rong, China University of Political Science & Law and the China Center for Law and Sustainable Development Research Date and Time: April 8 2008 (Tuesday); 9:00-11:00
Location: 5th Floor Conference Room, Woodrow Wilson Center
RSVP: cef@wilsoncenter.org <cef@wilsoncenter.org>" Target="_blank">cef@wilsoncenter.org>
While serious air pollution, growing solid waste, and rapid biodiversity loss are quite severe in China, the country's water problems are perhaps its greatest environmental and human health threat. In terms of water supply, China's statistics portray a grim picture: Per capita water availability in China is only one-quarter of the world average; and the rate is lower in northern China where in the Hai, Huai, and Huang river basins the per capita water availability is around 500 m3/year, well below 1,000 m3/year, which is internationally considered the standard for water stress. Over the past twenty years as water scarcity problems have grown in the north, the policy response has often been to build water transfer projects and for the central government to limit water allocations to provinces, rather than to promote conservation through market mechanisms.
Conservation measures have been difficult due to considerable weaknesses in China's system of water rights and low water prices. The Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) created a water use permit system under the 1988 National Water Law and although regulation of these permits was strengthened the 2002 Water Law amendments, these permits have done little to curb waste and they do not allow for the trading of water. Beginning in 2006, the Chinese MWR has been cooperating with the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) to form a research team to design an overall framework for water rights and trading in China. At this April 8th Meeting, Wang Rong--the only Chinese legal expert on this MWR/DAFF research team--will draw on some case studies to introduce the challenges and opportunities of building systems of water rights and trading in China. Over the past five years, our other speaker Bryan Lohmar, has been working with the Chinese MWR, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and the University of California, Davis on a variety of studies examining water scarcity, water conservation policies, and agricultural production in China. He will provide an overview of the findings of these water studies and discuss the implications for future agricultural production and trade.
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008 (8 15 22 25 29)
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Event Title: Water Down Under 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
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Water Down Under 2008
15-18 April 2008
Venue: Adelaide, Australia
Organizers: Engineers Australia; International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management (ICE WaRM); with the support of the Centre for Groundwater Studies, Australia; the International Commission on Water Resources Systems (ICWRS), International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research (IAHR), International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP)
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008 (8 15 22 25 29)
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
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Walk, Bike, Row to a major Earth Day event around the world.
Together, we will solve Climate Change.
Ok people, this is it. Earth Day 2008 is about you! The first Earth Day in 1970 brought more than 20 million people out into the streets to protest against environmental destruction and we changed history! Our environmental problems in 1970 were big, but climate change is bigger, and we, the people, need to take matters into our own hands immediately.
Do something! - Create an event
Tell us what you did! - Register an event
Check out what's going on in your community! - Find an event
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Friday, April 25, 2008 (8 15 22 25 29)
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Event Title: The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage
Friday, April 25, 2008
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The second meeting is a discussion of the new book The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage, an exposé of how China's factory economy competes for Western business in ways that take a toll on the Chinese economy, its workers and the environment.
We will be webcasting all of the meetings, so out-of-town folks can go to our Events link at www.wilsoncenter.org/cef <http://www.wilsoncenter.org/cef> Full meeting information is below and please note that all three meetings will be held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. A valid photo ID is required to enter the Ronald Reagan Building. Directions are available here: www.wilsoncenter.org/directions <http://www.wilsoncenter.org/directions>. Please RSVP to Jennifer Turner at cef@wilsoncenter.org <cef@wilsoncenter.org>" Target="_blank">cef@wilsoncenter.org> or call 202-691-4233.
Speaker: Alexandra Harney, Former Reporter and Editor at the Financial Times Date and Time: April 25, 2008 (Friday), 10:00-12:00.
Location: 6th Floor Moynihan Board Room, Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC
RSVP: cef@wilsoncenter.org <cef@wilsoncenter.org>" Target="_blank">cef@wilsoncenter.org>
With the recent scandals involving tainted food and toys from China, and mounting concern over the ever-growing pollution produced by Chinese industry, it is clear that what happens in China does not stay in China: It has a tangible, and at times devastating, global effect. With The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage veteran foreign correspondent Alexandra Harney has written a landmark exposé of how China's factory economy competes for Western business by selling out its workers and its environment.
In an amazingly inhospitable environment, Harney was able to extract beautifully rendered human stories that put a face to China's rapid economic growth. Among the book's many eye-opening revelations is Harney's reporting on the little known, but vitally significant, parallel system of factories that operate in China today - the "five star" facilities that get inspected and audited by foreign buyers, and the "black" unlicensed, un-inspected factories that make some of the products that end up on our shelves. However, everybody in this system demands it: The workers want more hours so they can send back more money to their homes; the foreign buyers want the "China Price"-so low sometimes, and so unrealistic in terms of production capacity, that the only way to deliver it is through subterfuge-and many plant owners want the system to continue because they, like every entrepreneur, are looking to get rich, now.
The China Price notably documents the towering costs of the "China Price" to the world's largest manufacturing workforce-the Chinese themselves: Horrendous health problems (the worst in the world per capita); the lack of safety inspectors; and the scandal of coal production in China. The consequences of this system are clear: Americans get cheap goods, but at a price, to ourselves, and to China. Harney warns that all of this cannot last. The era of ultra-cheap prices for Chinese consumer goods is ending. The cost of labor, raw materials, and land is rising, driving factories deeper into the Chinese heartland and pushing up the price of Chinese exports. Disgruntled workers are standing up for their rights and challenging factory bosses, forcing the government to introduce the most sweeping overhaul of China's labor laws in more than a decade.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008 (8 15 22 25 29)
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Event Title: China Environment Forum: Environmental Cooperation Between Hong Kong and Guangdong
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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The third meeting of the month brings in two Hong Kong colleagues to discuss Environmental Cooperation Between Hong Kong and Guangdong, emphasizing joint initiatives to address water pollution and unsustainable infrastructure development.
We will be webcasting all of the meetings, so out-of-town folks can go to our Events link at www.wilsoncenter.org/cef <http://www.wilsoncenter.org/cef> Full meeting information is below and please note that all three meetings will be held at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. A valid photo ID is required to enter the Ronald Reagan Building. Directions are available here: www.wilsoncenter.org/directions <http://www.wilsoncenter.org/directions>. Please RSVP to Jennifer Turner at cef@wilsoncenter.org <cef@wilsoncenter.org> or call 202-691-4233.
Guangdong's industrialization and urbanization-driven largely by Hong Kong capital-has had a significant impact on the environment of the whole Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. Besides choking air pollution in the PRD, other major environmental problems are emerging around water quality of shared rivers and the growing number of cross-border infrastructure projects. Hong Kong and Guangdong have undertaken joint air quality studies and monitoring since 2002 and discussions on setting up a regional SO2 emissions trading scheme are underway, but collaboration on broader environmental issues are not as developed. At this CEF meeting, Yok-Shiu Lee and Carlos Wing-Hung Lo will be discussing Hong Kong's emerging efforts to address cross-border environmental protection issues, highlighting proactive steps the Hong Kong government could take in formulating a region-wide policy regime to help manage regional infrastructure projects and drinking water resources under the rubric of sustainable development. Regional cooperation between Hong Kong and Guangdong notably represents a potential model for environmental collaboration in other regions of China.
Over the past year China Environment Forum meetings, publications, and other activities have been supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, Waters Corporation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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