Friday, May 18, 2012

Future water scenarios




William J. Cosgrove is Senior Adviser to the UN World Water Assessment Program for the 4th edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report and the Manager of the World Water Scenarios Project. Mr. Cosgrove is a former vice president of the World Bank, past-president of the World Water Council, and served as chairman of the International Steering Committee of the Cooperative Program on Water and Climate. He was one of the panelists in the UNESCO Future Forum on Global Water Futures 2050+ held on 12 April 2012.

Water Expert Appointed to National Commission

Commission member Rich Meganck on the Upper Deschutes River in Central Oregon 

Newly appointed to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO is Richard Meganck.
 
After a 34 year career in international development, including a 6.5 year stint as Rector for the UNESCO Institute for Water Education in Delft, the Netherland, Rich has resettled in Oregon with his spouse Janet and their three Pacific Northwest based daughters.
 
Besides his new appointment to the Commission, Rich serves as a member of the U.S. Committee for the International Hydrological Program and is a part-time Fellow at the Institute for Wather and Watersheds at Oregon State University with the support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers institute for Water Resources (IWR) in association with its International Center for Integrated Water Resource Management UNESCO Category II Center (ICIWaRM). Rich is also consulting with the Brazilian Government to develop a new UNESCO Category II Center in the State of Minas Gerais.

Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME)



Next week our Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion will be attending a meeting about SESAME, the Middle East's first major multi-country scientific research center, which is being developed under the auspices of UNESCO. You can read more here. 

UNESCO Engineering Fellows Visit the USA

Left to right: Mike Sanio (ASCE), Jamil Khalid, Hadi Rakin, Eric Woodard,
Dalia Akbarmir and from the State Dept: Eric Bone, Doug Walker, and Andy Reynolds


Two highly respected professionals from Afghanistan's Engineering community, Jamil Khalid and Dalia Akbarmir, are currenty visiting the U.S.A. through a UNESCO Fellowship program launched several years ago due to the efforts of many associated with our UNESCO Commission.
 
Jamil Khalid and Dalia Akbarmir had a chance to visit our Commission office last week and met with State Department officials to discuss their efforts to organize Engineering Civil Society in Afghanistan. Thanks for visiting Jamil and Dalia!