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The Water Justice Podcast

The Water Crisis Is The Climate Crisis: With Professor David Hannah

On today’s episode of Riverside Chats, Quentin Grafton speaks with David Hannah, who is a Professor of Hydrology at the University of Birmingham. Professor Hannah is also the Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action and he holds a UNESCO chair in water science. David’s work aims to understand how the water cycle works, how it’s evolving as a result of a changing climate and then using that knowledge to drive meaningful change. David describes how global warming speeds up the global water cycle, which leads to more extreme floods and droughts. He also discusses his fascinating field work in the Himalayas, blending local knowledge and new technologies to help local populations adapt to their evolving natural environment.


This podcast was edited by Michael Migali and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode's hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian. Music by Serge Pavkin.

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  • Remote Indigenous Communities, Water and Mental Health: With Professor Pamela Katic

    32:59|
    In this episode of Riverside Chats, Quentin catches up with a former colleague of his, Dr Pamela Katic. Pamela is the Associate Professor in Economics at the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich. Pamela has travelled extensively, conducting field research in remote locations within the Amazon and in Yukon, Canada. In their chat by the river Thames in London, Pamela discussed the complex water security issues facing remote Indigenous communities, as well as their unique perspectives on the connection between the natural environment and mental health. Pamela also discusses some of the pitfalls of current irrigation technologies and practices and how they can become more effective if we better understand the broader ecosystems that they’re operating within.This podcast was edited by Michael Migali and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode's hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian. Music by Serge Pavkin.
  • Conflicting Mandates, Self Interest and Dogma - The Problem with Global Institutions: With Asit Biswas and Cecilia Tortajada

    52:52|
    Quentin Grafton is in Glasgow, Scotland, catching up with two prominent academics within the water space, Professor Cecilia Tortajada and Professor Asit Biswas. Professor Tortajada is from the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Glasgow, she is a member of the OECD Initiative on Water Governance and has twice received the Research Excellence Award from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Professor Biswas, a ‘Distinguished Visiting Professor,’ also from the University of Glasgow, has served as a senior public official in Canada, where he received the “Person of the Year” award from the Canadian Prime Minister. Cecilia and Asit discuss the challenges of international and domestic institutions and why inefficient practices still prevail despite not delivering results. They highlight the importance of pragmatism over dogma, separating clashing mandates within institutions to create a system of checks and balances, creating models to fit reality rather than fitting reality into the ‘model’ and for policy makers in offices to experience the reality of the field for themselves.This podcast was edited by Michael Migali and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode's hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian. Music by Serge Pavkin.
  • Everything is Connected: With Professor Robert Costanza and Associate Professor Ida Kubiszewski

    41:14|
    On today’s episode of Riverside Chats, Host Quentin Grafton is in London, meeting with Professor Robert Costanza, an ecological economist from the University College London, and Ida Kubiszewski, Associate Professor for Global Prosperity, also from University College London. Their work aims to understand how our economic social systems interact with the global water cycle and how such an interdependent relationship can be best managed. They discuss the connectivity of water and ecosystems and the centrality of water to climate change. They also delve into the health of the Thames, the unique ways in which it’s used by the population, as well as what makes it such a remarkable river.This podcast was edited by Michael Migali and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode's hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian. Music by Serge Pavkin.
  • Towards A Common Understanding of Water Justice - With Professor Joyeeta Gupta

    40:04|
    Safa and Quentin are very pleased to be joined with Joyeeta Gupta, Professor of Environment and Development in the Global South at the University of Amsterdam and Professor of Law and Policy in Water Resources and Environment at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. Professor Gupta is also co-chair of the Earth Commission and she is the latest winner of the the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award within the Netherlands. Professor Gupta offers her perspective on the relationship between water security and justice, while discussing the broader structural barriers to progress and why the topic of food should be central to such conversations.
  • From Mar del Plata to New York City: The UN 2023 Water Conference

    42:56|
    The Water Justice Hub's Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian attended the UN Water Conference in New York in March 2023. This second UN water conference sought to unite the world around the water crisis and accelerate action towards water and sanitation for all. Three guests share their reflections about the conference.Guests:Professor Robert Hope, Professor of Water Policy, University of OxfordDr. Nate Matthews, CEO of the Global Resilience PartnershipJacqui Remond is the lead on integral ecology at the Australian Catholic University and a co-founder of the Laudato Si movementThis podcast was edited by Michael Migali and executive produced by Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub at the Australian National University. This episode's hosts are Quentin Grafton and Safa Fanaian.Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/
  • The Story of Australia's 2022 Floods

    34:36|
    This episode of the Water Justice Podcast is a collection of stories, recounting events from around regional Australia which received flooding throughout the Murray Darling Basin across 2022 and into 2023. New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia experienced severe flooding in the late spring months in a La Nina event. Recorded at the end of the 2023-2023 Australian summer, five people from different areas along the flooded regions provide their stories from this tragedy. These stories cover how floods have impacted them and their communities as well as their thoughts on how we can learn from these events. Australia's flooding can be a contentious topic and these experiences don't necessarily reflect the thoughts of the Water Justice Hub, but they do account for how people are left feeling in the wake of a disaster like this.GuestsPrue Milgate: Agri-industry advocate, Grain and Livestock Farmer in Serpentine, who received flooding downstream from the Loddon RiverSimone Bailey: Mayor of the Mid Murray council, an area that received flooding from the Murray RiverDallas Tout: Mayor of Wagga Wagga, which received flooding from the Murrumbidgee RiverBill Twigg: Regenerative Agricultural Sheep Farmer who received flooding from the Loddon RiverPaul Haw: First Nations Cultural Heritage Museum caretaker and Local to Boort, a lakeside town that received flooding from the Loddon RiverThis Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub, UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/
  • 4. Australian Groundwater Conference 2022 - Science, Resilience, and Adaption

    28:33||Season 2, Ep. 4
    Kat Taylor attended the International Association of Hydrogeologists' Australian Groundwater Conference 2022 in November of 2022. At the conference which was themed "Science, Resilience, and Adaption", Kat caught up with several experts in the field of groundwater to ask some questions and get to the crux of what mattered at this year's conference.You can follow our guests' work (in order of appearance):Dr Rick Evans on Hydrogeological MisadventuresDr Brad Opdyke on Lake GeorgeAssoc. Professor Brad Moggridge on Indigenous GroundwaterDr Sarah Bourke on chairing IAH Western AustraliaThe Indigenous Groundwater DeclarationThis Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub, UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/
  • 3. Food Energy Water - Nexus thinking and Nexus doing with Sarah Torhan & Dr Pamela Katic

    29:22||Season 2, Ep. 3
    Growing food takes water and energy, among other resources, while diminishing natural water resources through hydro-energy dams can restrict food sources like fish. When our needs for food, energy, and water are all growing, how do our actions in one area impact the other? If you start to solve our modern environmental problems by considering the relationship between these needs, or the "Food-Energy-Water Nexus", water justice can be expansive. Kat speaks to experts in 'nexus thinking' and 'nexus doing' to understand this kind of systems thinking, and how it can be utilised as we fight for water justice for all. Dr Pamela Katic has been working on nexus thinking and doing before the term arose, you can follow this journey here. Sarah Torhan's work is extremely fascinating, you can follow some of it here. This Podcast is hosted by Kat Taylor and Produced by Tim Whiffen of Whimsy Productions for Quentin Grafton, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub,  UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.Donate to the Water Justice Hub: https://www.waterjusticehub.org/the-water-justice-and-security-endowment-fund/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.