BENNINGTON — The director of Bennington College’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA), Susan Sgorbati will present at an event at the 2023 United Nations (UN) Water Conference.
Joining her will be Asim Zia, director of the Institute for Environmental Diplomacy and Security, professor of Public Policy & Computer Science, Department of Community Development and Applied Economics & Department of Computer Science at the University of Vermont; and Oluowo Freeman of the African Centre for Climate Actions and Rural Development Initiative (ACCARD); as well as others.
“I am delighted for this opportunity to partner with Asim, Freeman and others to promote environmental protection and sustainability of water resources worldwide,” Sgorbati said in a release. “We each bring a different body of experience to the project, and it is exciting to see the impact we are able to make together.”
The talk, titled “Integrative Highland to Ocean (H2O) Action for Disappearing Deltas: Towards a UN Convention on Conserving River Deltas,” will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, at United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
Bennington College’s involvement began with international climate outreach more than five years ago. Leaders from the Indus River Basin along with the Jordan River Basin interested in water conservation efforts met in Montreal and spurred the creation of the Transboundary Water In Cooperation Network (TWIN). This “network of networks” is now working with 35 community organizations on six continents. The group’s mission is to strengthen and mobilize existing organizational networks that work locally, nationally, and globally towards equitable sharing of clean water resources across borders.
River deltas provide water filtration and climate regulation. They also host high ecological productivity and biodiversity. They are important for the livelihoods of their populations and for conservation. TWIN is now working within the communities of the Amazon, Congo River, Indus River Basin, Jordan River, Mekong River, and the Niger River.
Additional information about ACCARD is available at https://www.facebook.com/ACCARDInitiative.
