Oceania Water Research Consortium
Enhancing Oceania's resilience to the increasing water stress issues related to climate change, population increase and rapid urbanisation.
The objective of the Oceania Water Research Consortium (OWRC) is to establish a network of experts and key stakeholders in Oceania to identify the most critical water security, equity, and sustainability issues facing New Zealand and the rest of Oceania, as well as developing solutions to tackle these challenges. This network is based at the University of Auckland.
Motivation
To enhance Oceania's resilience to ever increasing water stress issues related to climate change and limited water resources due to increasing population and rapid urbanisation.
Approach
Almost total reliance on rain-fed water across South Pacific means economies and livelihoods are at increased risk in this region due to climate change, increasing population, and more urbanisation. Almost 10% of deaths of children under five in the region are attributable to water related causes; 90% of these deaths can be traced to poor sanitation treatment systems. There is a need to establish a network of experts, policy makers, and key stakeholders around these issues to find solutions to these complex challenges over the long-term. This is what the proposed consortium has set out to achieve.
To initiate this process, a project team based at the University of Auckland, with the help of collaborators, is engaged with some of the key personnel in New Zealand and the South Pacific, including a number of academic partners in the South Pacific. The majority of the research and projects will be undertaken in these countries, with help from the University of Auckland plus potential academic and industry partners in New Zealand. If required, initial research training for these researchers will be undertaken in New Zealand to advance their research capacity. A formal process will be established so that South Pacific researchers can visit research laboratories in New Zealand for the purposes of research training.
People
- Dr Lokesh Padhye, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Professor David Williams, Chemical Sciences
- Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic, Chemical Sciences
- Professor Wei Gao, Chemical and Materials Engineering
- Associate Professor Ajit Sarmah, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Dr Wei-Qin Zhuang, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Dr Alisyn Nedoma, Chemical and Materials Engineering
- Dr Filicia Wicaksana, Chemical and Materials Engineering
- Associate Professor Anita Lacey, Politics and International Relations
- Dr Thomas Gregory, Politics and International Relations
- Dr Manuel Vallee, Sociology
Collaborators in the South Pacific
- Professor Surendra Prasad, USP Fiji
- Dr Francis Mani, USP Fiji
- Dr Krishna Kumar Kotra, USP Vanuatu
- Dr Sunil Singh, USP Samoa
- Dr Luke Mani, USP Solomon Islands