September 8, 2022 (Thursday 6:00-7:00 PM JST)
About the Webinar
Long periods of drought can create water supply crises, affecting citizens’ lives extensively. Traditional water supply solutions based on centralized single-source water systems have been proven ineffective in a country like Brazil, where the problem has recurrently impacted more than 48% of its municipalities. Thus, current public supply systems must be restructured by accommodating various modern concepts of water source diversification. In this presentation, we will first summarize the reasons for the water crises identified by a profound reflection conducted by the SACRE+SPRINT Projects (São Paulo Research Foundation’s five-year-grant proc. 2022/00652-7) that involve the participation of multiple universities in Japan, Canada, and Brazil. Then, we propose a hybrid hydro-economic approach as a solution to reduce water vulnerability, based on (i) water resource allocation and conjunctive surface and groundwater use, (ii) low-cost groundwater treatment (reactive barriers and phytoremediation), (iii) managed aquifer recharge (MAR), (iv) riverbank filtration systems, as well as (v) socio-economic analysis on the water resources management policies, including the payment for water services of the various components of the hydrological cycle.
About the Speakers
Guest Speaker: Prof. Ricardo Hirata is a Full Professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), Director at CEPAS|USP (Groundwater Research Center) in Brazil, visiting Professor at Chang’an University (China), and International Water Association (IWA) Groundwater Group member. He is a Geologist with an MSc and DSc (USP) and a Post Doctorate (University of Waterloo, Canada) in hydrogeology and water resource management. Hirata also was a member of the Groundwater Management Advisory Team of The World Bank (GW-MATE), adviser for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and UNESCO, and visiting professor at the universities of Costa Rica and Calgary (Canada). He also served as a hydrogeologist for World/Pan American Health Organization and has more than 39-year experience working intensively in more than 30 countries in groundwater contamination and development and water resource protection management and governance.
Discussant: Prof. Shin-Ichi Onodera is a Professor at Hiroshima University.
Moderator: Dr. Ayyoob Sharifi is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. He also has a cross-appointment at the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering of Hiroshima University, and is a research fellow at the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS). Additionally, he serves as a visiting scholar at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan. His research is mainly at the interface of urbanism and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Ayyoob actively contributes to global change research programs such as the Future Earth and is currently serving as a lead author for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Before joining Hiroshima University, he was the Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project (GCP)-a Future Earth core project.
About the NERPS Webinar Series
The Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS) at Hiroshima University in Japan is hosting a series of webinars on the relationship between peace and sustainability in the context of environmental, socio-political, economic, and technological transformations. This series is situated within the urgent need to deal with the implications of global change, including the COVID-19 pandemic, for peace and sustainability. The webinar sessions serve as a platform for rethinking and updating the current discourse on peace and sustainability amidst these global challenges and transformations. Leading experts will discuss the role of resources, digital technologies, migration, governance, and education in peacebuilding, conflict mitigation, humanitarian aid, and capacity-building, among other components that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainability Development Goals, particularly that of Goal 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Check out our previous webinars here.