‘Boston Water’ Meets at BU Pardee School
The Boston Water group, a scholarly community of academics and practitioners in and around Boston with an interest in global water issues, met at the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies on Nov. 5. Boston Water is a consortium of scholars and policy practitioners from various Boston area universities, including academics from MIT, Harvard, Tufts, Suffolk University, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts, BU and a number of government and consulting agencies.
The meeting was lead by Prof. Adil Najam, the Dean of the Pardee School, and Prof. Shafiqul Islam of Tufts University. This meeting featured opening remarks by guest participant Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, CEO of LEAD-Pakistan and Asia Director of the Climate & Development Knowledge Network, who talked about the nature of water policy challenges in developing countries. This was followed by a wide-ranging discussion on how knowledge networks can contribute to responding to these challenges.
In particular, the meeting also focused on the links between water and climate change. This discussion was framed by opening remarks by Pardee School Dean Adil Najam who introduced the following proposition for the future: “In this age of adaptation, water is to adaptation what carbon was to mitigation.”
Boston Water has been meeting over the last two years, with meetings rotating between different universities. It brings together experts with a shared interest around water and provides an interdisciplinary forum to bring together the Boston-area individuals and institutions – over 80 water professionals and 15 institutions are represented – who work within academia, private or public sectors. This invitation-only group meets once a month at one of the host institutions for dinner and a problem-solving discussion.
A number of Boston University faculty members attended the meeting. The Pardee School had also hosted a Boston Water meeting in September 2014.