Shafiqul Islam – Page 2 – Water Diplomacy Network Blog

Thumbnail Image - Blue Nile Countries on a Map (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia)

Coping with Uncertainty and Feedback in the Nile Basin

Posted October 6, 2015 · Add Comment

This article is the second installment of the series Water Diplomacy: Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory — Water disputes are difficult to resolve because they are complex. These disputes occur in open and changing systems with numerous stakeholders, interactions, and interdependencies that make it difficult to anticipate or manage complex systems. One aspect of complexity has to do with uncertainty in how the networks and systems involved are likely to respond to stresses, such as

Shafiqul Islam

Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory (an annotated and evolving bibliography)

Posted September 1, 2015 · Add Comment

Water access, demand, usage and management become complex due to the crossing of multiple boundaries: political, social and jurisdictional, as well as physical, ecological and biogeochemical. The complexity of many water issues lie in the interconnections and feedbacks among variables, processes, actors and institutions operating in the knowledge and political communities. Consequently, many water management […]

Shafiqul Islam

Exploring the Interconnections and Interdependencies at Play in California’s Water Problem

Posted September 1, 2015 · 1 Comment

This article is the first installment of the series Water Diplomacy: Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory — Farmers in California’s Central Valley prominently display signs along the highway reading “Congress created this dustbowl,” while, in Los Angeles, the water conservation mascot “Lawn Dude”, prominently displayed on billboards in and around the city, reminds residents to stick within regulated limits for watering their lawns. Though the drought itself is not record-breaking, a combination of severe groundwater depletion, water shortages along the Colorado River, and rising heat (and thus evaporation) have created a critical water supply problem for the state

Shafiqul Islam

Water Diplomacy: Issues of Complexity Science and Negotiation Theory

Posted August 27, 2015 · Add Comment

Water access, demand, usage and management become complex due to the crossing of multiple boundaries: political, social and jurisdictional, as well as physical, ecological and biogeochemical. The complexity of many water issues lie in the interconnections and feedbacks among variables, processes, actors and institutions operating in the knowledge and political communities. Consequently, many water management […]

Shafiqul Islam

Understanding Climate Change from Data: What can data scientists and domain experts do to develop actionable insight?

Posted August 10, 2015 · Add Comment

I have just returned after a two-day engaging interdisciplinary conversation with more than 70 scientists, practitioners, faculty, and students from data science, machine learning, climate science, water science, agricultural sciences, and remote sensing representing both the academic and practice community at the 5th Annual Expeditions in Computing Workshop on “Understanding Climate Change from Data”. Vipin Kumar – a […]

Shafiqul Islam

A new future for the Himalayan rivers

Posted June 18, 2015 · Add Comment

The question of whether and how to harness rivers for irrigation, hydropower generation, urban development and sustainability of ecosystems continues to be an issue of great concern, conflict, and cooperation for this region. While pessimistic speculation on the endemic nature of water stress within and between countries in South Asia occurs commonly, there is a […]

Shafiqul Islam

Our Reflections on WDW 2014

Posted July 28, 2014 · Add Comment

We recently completed our 4th Water Diplomacy Workshop (WDW) with 32 participants from 16 countries. We were fortunate to have a wonderful and diverse group of people eager to listen, learn and share. We originally designed this 5-day experience to provide a practical approach to synthesizing the theory and practice of water to create actionable knowledge. We know this workshop experience is intense. Each morning, we start…

Shafiqul Islam

Urban Water Challenges Workshop – Reflections and Next Steps

Posted June 1, 2014 · Add Comment

Earlier this spring, Harvard University’s South Asia Institute hosted its annual symposium, a two-day program focused on South Asia Regionalism: Shared Challenges and the Way Forward. I was privileged to lead the the Urban Water Challenges panel and workshop held during the symposium with Peter Rogers, Afreen Siddiqi, Farhana Sultana and Jim Wescoat. Some major […]

Shafiqul Islam

Mis-measurment, Water Scarcity, and Access to Water: Why Merely Meeting the Millennium Development Goal of Access to Safe Drinking Water Doesn’t Add Up

Posted April 22, 2014 · 1 Comment

In 2010, the United Nations proclaimed that the world met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water, five years ahead of schedule. They estimated that, as of 2011, 768 million people did not have improved sources for drinking water. With this metric, we had a […]

Shafiqul Islam

Hydropolitics of the Nile, the 18th Camel and Water Diplomacy

Posted February 7, 2014 · 4 Comments

(From the Cairo Airport Lounge) Returning to Boston from Nazareth, Ethiopia after leading an intensive two-day workshop organized by ENTRO/ENSAP. The theme was Water Diplomacy Framework : from theory to practice with a focus on transboundary water issues. Over sixty water professionals, decision makers, diplomats, and non-governmental actors from the four Eastern Nile countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South […]

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