Speakers


Keynotes

Stefan Bringezu | Keynote
Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR)

Stefan Bringezu is professor of sustainable resource management and Director of the Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR) at University of Kassel where he heads the Sustainable Resource Futures (SURF) group. He is a senior advisor at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in Germany,, and a member of the International Resource Panel. His main research interests are the multi-scale analysis of the socio-industrial metabolism and related land use, the indicators of sustainability, and the implementation of the SDGs.


Nicola Fohrer | Keynote
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Institute for Natural Resource Conservation

Nicola Fohrer is professor of hydrology and water resources management at Kiel University since 2003. In her work she focuses on ecohydrology, water quality, and water management in rural areas. She has a long standing expertise on particularly on these topics in China, India, and Russia. She is President of the German Hydrological Society (DHG) and area coordinator for water at the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT Madras. She serves as member and spokesperson in the DFG review board for water science since and was chair of the scientific board of the German National Committee of IHP/HWRP of the UNESCO from 2008 to 2014.


Luca Montanarella | Keynote
European Commission - Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability

Luca Montanarella has worked as scientific project manager in the European Commission since 1992. He leads the Soil Data and Information Systems activities of the Joint Research Centre in support to the European Union Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. This work also supports numerous other soil related policies, like the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the UNCCD, UNFCCC, CBD, and so on.

Dr Montanarella is responsible for the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), the European Soil Information System (EUSIS) and the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN).Recently, he took charge of supporting the establishment of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) at UN FAO.

Currently, he also chairs the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) and the IPBES thematic assessment on land degradation and restoration (LDR) as EC Senior Expert in Land Resource Management. Dr Montanarella has produced more than 300 publications, books and reports. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and memberships.

More details at http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/user/11


Jerome Delli Priscoli | Keynote
Global Water Partnership

Jerome Delli Priscoli is a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies) in Washington, D.C. and retired senior advisor for the US Army Corps of Engineers (Institute for Water Resources). For 30 years he has designed and run social assessment, public participation, and conflict resolution.

He has been a water policy advisor to many organisations around the world (United Nations, International Finance Institutions, and Water Ministries) and is Editor-in-Chief of Water Policy.

Priscoli has helped found several world associations including the Global Water Partnership, where he serves as the Chair of its Technical Committee.


Stefan Uhlenbrook | Keynote
United Nations World Water Assessment Programme

Stefan Uhlenbrook is Director of the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) hosted by UNESCO. Before joining WWAP, he was professor for hydrology at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, where he held the position of vice-rector from 2013 on. Uhlenbrook was with the university of Freiburg Germany from 1996 to 2004 as assistant and associate professor. His main interests are the impacts of global changes on water as well as issues related to capacity building, with particular emphasis on developing countries and countries in transition.


Eugénie L. Birch | Keynote
Penn Institute for Urban Research

Eugénie L. Birch FAICP, RTPI (hon), holds the Nussdorf Professorship for Urban Research at the School of Design, University of Pennsylvania where she chairs the Graduate Group in City and Regional Planning. Founding co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, she is also co-editor of Penn Press’s The City in the 21st Century series and co-editor of the SSRN Urban ejournal. Dr Birch’s most recent publications include Slums: How the Informal Real Estate Markets Work (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) and “A Midterm Report: Will Habitat III Make a Difference to the World’s Urban Development?” Journal of the American Planning Association (82:4 2016 398-411). In her home city, Prof. Birch has served as a member of the New York City Planning Commission, and is on the jury to select the designers for the World Trade Center site. She has also served as Chair of the UN-HABITAT’s World Urban Campaign, President of the General Assembly of Partners, and was a member of the US delegation to Habitat III. Dr Birch, who lives in New York City, holds a PhD and Master degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University.


Expert Commenters & Moderators

Reza Ardakanian | Moderator
UNU-FLORES

Reza Ardakanian of Iran, Co-chair of the Steering Committee, was appointed as the Founding Director of UNU-FLORES. He has served as Director of the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development hosted by UNU since 2007 and as Vice-Rector of UNU in Europe, ad interim (2009–2011). He sat on the Boards of various international programs/organizations such as UNESCO-IHP, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the International Hydropower Association and UNU-EHS. Prof. Dr. Ardakanian holds a PhD in Water Resources Management from McMaster University (Canada) and is a faculty member of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. He formerly held a number of national offices in Iran, including Deputy Minister for Water Affairs (2001–2005), Senior Vice-Minister (1998–2001) and Deputy Minister for Planning & Economic Affairs (1989–1991) with the Ministry of Energy, and Deputy Minister for Urban Development and Municipalities with the Ministry of Interior (1987–1989).


Rudolph Cleveringa | Commenter
Global Water Partnership

Rudolph Cleveringa, Dutch origin, has a degree in agricultural engineering from Wageningen University in The Netherlands and over 35 years of global experience and engagement in various aspects of development – ranging from operational land, water and rural infrastructure projects to programme and policy advisory work. He has broad experience of working in collaborative partnerships and has managed both larger units and smaller project teams across diverse cultures and disciplines.

Before joining GWP on 1 September 2014 as the Deputy Executive Secretary, Mr. Cleveringa had the position of Senior Technical Advisor for Rural Development, Water and Rural Infrastructure with IFAD. As of 1 January 2016 Mr. Cleveringa holds the position as Executive Secretary of GWP.


Ruth Erlbeck | Commenter
Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit

Ruth Erlbeck is Project Director at GIZ of the regional project “Integrated Resource Management in Asian Cities: The Urban Nexus Project” in Bangkok, Thailand. Ms Erlbeck has managed a number of international development assistance projects for the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), and German Development Service (DED) in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Before taking on her current project, she has managed a number of projects at the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), including “Integrated Urban Development, Program” in Mongolia.


Ania Grobicki | Commenter
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance

Ania Grobicki has degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and in Economics from the University of South Africa, together with a PhD in Biotechnology from Imperial College, London. She worked in the oil industry for Shell South Africa, then later became an academic and a consultant, leading projects on the restoration of urban wetlands and urban catchment management, in and around Cape Town. She has also worked on national policy issues in South Africa relating to science and technology policy, research funding and management, as well as national water policy. Her experience and knowledge of water issues includes work on the water needs of cities, industry, agriculture and energy, and policy development and practice related to water supply and reuse; water quality; water and health; effluent treatment technologies; and river basin management. She contributed the chapters on “Water and Industry” and “Water and Energy” to the 2nd World Water Development Report, as lead author, and has written widely on the water-food-energy nexus, and integrated water resources management.

From 2002, Ania led the CGIAR Challenge Programme on Water and Food as its first Co-ordinator, based at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Sri Lanka. Thereafter she was based at WHO in Switzerland (2006-2009) as Head of Secretariat for organizing the 2008 Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health, a multi-year process with regional meetings at ministerial level, culminating in a global conference which resulted in the WHO Strategy on Research for Health.

As Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership (2009-2015) she managed the world-wide multi-stakeholder network and its global secretariat, based in Sweden. At GWP, Ania developed global action programmes on water and climate change adaptation, integrated drought management, and integrated urban water management. She was deeply involved in the stakeholder consultations and negotiations prior to establishing the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular the global water goal and its targets. In March 2015 Ania took up the position of Deputy Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, where she advised on global policy, developmental, technical and scientific issues, and oversaw the regional implementation of the Convention.


Fritz Holzwarth | Moderator
UNESCO Institute for Water Education

Fritz Holzwarth is Rector a.i. of UNESCO Institute for Water Education. He was appointed Deputy Director General for Water-Management in the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in 1991. His professional responsibilities, are inter alia Head of the German Delegation, Baltic Marine Environment Commission (HELCOM), Head of the German Delegation for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR), Head of the German Delegation for International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), President in 2003 and President of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) (2004-2007), President of the International Commission for the Protection of the River Elbe (2008-2010). He is a Member of the Board of Advice of the European Water Partnership, of the External Advisory Group of WATCH (Water and Global Change), of the Board of Advice of the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, Cologne University of Applied Sciences, of the Supervisory Board of the Helmholtz-Center Geesthacht, (Member of the Helmholtz Association), Member of the Kuratorium of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology. Member of the International Steering Committee of Great Rivers Partnership (GRP).

Mr. Holzwarth has been actively involved in transboundary cooperation in international river basins. In his position as German Water Director he has been actively involved in developing EU-Directives such as the Water Framework Directives, the Marine Strategy Directive and other water related regulations. Furthermore he jointly initiated with EU-Commission and the Joint Research Centre the discussion process on Climate Change and the European Water Dimension. Fritz Holzwarth studied Economics, Law and Political Science at the University of Freiburg/Breisgau and holds a Diploma (1977) and Ph. D. (1984) in Economics and a Diploma in Business Administration (1973) from the College of Economics, Pforzheim.


Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi | Moderator
Director at the Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary

In 2015 Ambassador Kőrösi joined the Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary as head of Directorate for Environmental Sustainability. He is also the chief advisor (Sherpa) to the President, a member of the High Level Panel on Water. From 2010 through 2014 he has served as Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations in New York, and was Vice President of the 66th General Assembly. He has co-chaired the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. Since 1983 when he joined the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he served in multiple positions, including Deputy State Secretary for Multilateral Diplomacy and Ambassador to Greece.


Rat­tan Lal | Commenter
The Ohio State University

Rat­tan Lal is a Dis­tin­guished Uni­ver­sity Pro­fes­sor of Soil Sci­ence and Di­rec­tor of the Car­bon Management and Se­ques­tra­tion Cen­ter at Ohio State Uni­ver­sity, Colum­bus. He held po­si­tions at the Rock­e­feller Foun­da­tion, New Delhi, India; the Uni­ver­sity of Syd­ney, Aus­tralia; the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nige­ria and Adjunct Pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­sity of Ice­land, Reyk­javik. Lal is also a sci­en­tific ad­vi­sor to Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Pots­dam, Ger­man;, mem­ber of the Fed­eral Ad­vi­sory Com­mit­tee on Cli­mate As­sess­ment; and of the Sci­en­tific Ad­vi­sory Board of DOD. He served in var­i­ous in­ter­na­tional or­ga­ni­za­tions such as the In­ter­na­tional Com­mit­tee on Trop­i­cal De­for­esta­tion and Land Man­age­ment, Nige­ria (Chair); the World As­so­ci­a­tion of Soil and Water Con­ser­va­tion (Pres­i­dent); In­ter­na­tional Soil Tillage Re­search Or­ga­ni­za­tion (Pres­i­dent); and the Soil Sci­ence So­ci­ety of Amer­ica (Pres­i­dent). Lal was lead au­thor of the UN Mil­len­nium Ecosys­tem As­sess­ment and Lead Au­thor in IPCC re­ports.


Roula Majdalani | Moderator
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Roula Majdalani is the Director of the Sustainable Development Policies Division at UN-ESCWA. The division promotes cooperation among Arab countries on sustainable management of natural resources with a focus on water, energy, food security and green production. Ms. Majdalani joined ESCWA in 1989 and has served as a Human Settlements Officer, First Economic Affairs Officer on water resources, and Chief of the Technical Cooperation Section. She holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Syracuse University and previously worked with Dar Al-Handasah Consultants (London). She has publications on green economy and integrated management of water resources, housing development and sustainable cities. She lectured on these topics in scientific, regional and international forums.


Michal V. Marek | Moderator
CzechGlobe

Michal V. Marek is professor at Slovak Technical University (Bratislava, Slovakia), and visiting professor at the University of Science (HoCiMinh City, Vietman), the University of Energy and Natural Resources (Sunyani, Ghan), and the Agriculture University (Krakow, Poland). He has led the establishment of the new institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences: CzechGlobe –Institute of Global Change Research. His research focuses on ecophysiology of photosynthesis, global change, the carbon cycle, and ecosystems energy budget. He has played a critical role in the establishment of ecophysiological research of plants under artificial and field conditions. Marek also researches the carbon cycle in conditions in the Czech Republic.


Wim van Vierssen | Moderator
KWR Watercycle Research Institute

Wim van Vierssen is CEO of KWR Watercycle Research Institute, the research institute of the Dutch Drinking Water Utilities. He is Rathenau Professor at Delft University of Technology on Science System Assessment of Water-Related Research. Currently, he is a member of the High-Level Steering Group of the European Innovation Partnership on Water of the European Union. He also serves on several high-level boards nationally. He recently was appointed chair of the Sector Actors Group of the Water Futures and Solutions Initiative, an initiative of the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, proceedings and the popular press. Previously, van Vierssen also served as Rector of UNESCO-IHE and Director General of the Environmental Sciences Group at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Van Vierssen obtained his PhD from the former Catholic University in Nijmegen (renamed Radboud University Nijmegen) in 1982.


Opening & Closing

Reza Ardakanian
UNU-FLORES

Reza Ardakanian of Iran, Co-chair of the Steering Committee, was appointed as the Founding Director of UNU-FLORES. He has served as Director of the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development hosted by UNU since 2007 and as Vice-Rector of UNU in Europe, ad interim (2009–2011). He sat on the Boards of various international programs/organizations such as UNESCO-IHP, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the International Hydropower Association and UNU-EHS. Prof. Dr. Ardakanian holds a PhD in Water Resources Management from McMaster University (Canada) and is a faculty member of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. He formerly held a number of national offices in Iran, including Deputy Minister for Water Affairs (2001–2005), Senior Vice-Minister (1998–2001) and Deputy Minister for Planning & Economic Affairs (1989–1991) with the Ministry of Energy, and Deputy Minister for Urban Development and Municipalities with the Ministry of Interior (1987–1989).


Karl-Heinz Feger
Technische Universität Dresden

Karl-Heinz Feger, Co-chair of the Steering Committee, serves as Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of the TU Dresden. He is director of the Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology. He studied hydrology in Freiburg/Br. (Germany) and Zurich (ETH, Switzerland). After his PhD and habilitation in forest soils and hydrology/biogeochemistry in Freiburg he worked at Hohenheim University (Faculty of Agricultural Sciences) before in 2000 he became full professor at TUD. Research topics are soil-water-plant relations at various spatial scales. Karl-Heinz Feger is Editor-in-Chief of “Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science” (German Soil Science Society DBG, Wiley-Blackwell) since 2003.


Uwe Gaul
Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts

Uwe Gaul is State Secretary in the Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts (SMWK) since November 2014. He studied at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg, the Westfälischen-Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, and the University of Hamburg. In 1989 he completed his studies with a diploma in educational science. From 1989 to 2002 Uwe Gaul held various positions, such as Deputy Director of the Adult Education Centre (Volkshochschule) of the administrative District of Cloppenburg and as Director of the Volkshochschule of the City of Flensburg.

In 2002 he became Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Youth, Education and Sports in the city of Flensburg. Among the most important tasks were the cooperation with the Danish minority, the cooperation between the two Universities of Flensburg, and the cooperation with the University of Sønderborg on the Danish side of the border. In February 2009 he moved to Hamburg and became Head of Section in the education authority, where he was in charge of the overall implementation of all-day schooling in Hamburg.

Uwe Gaul helped to develop and establish further education for teachers on the level of higher education by founding an associated institute. He strengthened academic continuing education in Schleswig-Holstein and promoted technological transfer in Flensburg. Last but not least, he was responsible for the deepening of cooperation between institutions of higher education and of research on one side and the local economy on the other.


Hans Georg Krauthäuser
Technische Universität Dresden

Hans Georg Krauthäuser is Vice-Rector for Academic and International Affairs of Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden), Germany since August 2015. He is a Full University Professor at TU Dresden for Electromagnetic Theory and Compatibility. Krauthäuser served TU Dresden as Dean of Study for Electrical Engineering, as Chairman of Examination Board for Renewable Energy Systems, and as Member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty for Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Krauthäuser is consultant of the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat) for the evaluation of engineering study programs.


Frithjof A. Maennel
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Frithjof A. Maennel, Ministerialdirigent, studied Law at the Universities of Bonn and Munich. In 1992 he joined the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology, today’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research, where he held various positions. From 1996 to 2005 he worked in the “Internal Market” and the “Information Society” Directorates-General at the European Commission in Brussels and was involved in particular in shaping the legal framework for the information society. He left Brussels to become Head of the “Patent Policy, Inventor Promotion” Division at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and was subsequently appointed Head of the “Strategy” Division at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2007, remaining in this position until March 2015. He was appointed Head of the Directorate for International Cooperation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in April 2015.


Bernhard Müller
Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development

Bernhard Müller is the Director of the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), and holds the Chair for Spatial Development at the Technische Universität Dresden. He is also currently the Speaker of the Management Board of the Dresden Leibniz Graduate School. He holds a honoris causa doctoral degree from the Slovak University of Technology. Professor Müller’s research interests and expertise are in sustainable urban and regional development and integrated planning. He is a member of the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (ARL), of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), a Member of the Saxonian Academy of Sciences, and an International Member of the Serbian Academy for Engineering Sciences. He is also a member of Habitat III Policy Unit No. 6.


Jakob Rhyner
United Nations University

Jakob Rhyner is Vice-Rector in Europe of the United Nations University (UNU) and Director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). His research focuses on envi-ronmental risks, including environmentally-induced migration, education, and capacity building. He is also a professor in the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Bonn and co-chair of the Governing Council of the Future Earth decade initiative. Rhyner has served on many boards of a number of professional organisations, including the Board of the German Committee for Disaster Prevention (until November 2016) and other.

Before joining UNU, Rhyner was Division Leader for Avalanche Warning and Risk Management and Head of the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), Davos, Switzerland., since 2006 head of SLF. He holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich.


Tania Rödiger-Vorwerk
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Tania Rödiger-Vorwerk is currently the Deputy Director General at Directorate 31 – Environment and Infrastructure – in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). She studied Law and Northern Languages at the University of Freiburg and LMU Munich, going on to earn a degree in law from the LMU Munich, and her PhD in European Environmental Law.

Formerly, she was the Head of the Policy Planning Staff at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Head of the Department of General Personnel Matters and Personnel Development, and Deputy Head of the South Asia Department at the BMZ. Prior to her work at the BMZ, she was Deputy Head of the Department of International Affairs and Protocol of the City of Bonn as well as a senior consultant at the international management consultancy Kienbaum. She is a research fellow at the Faculty of Law in the University of Bonn, and a UNESCO staff member for its Global Educational Program in Munich and Seoul.

Case Study Presenters

Arch. Ngo Trung Hai | Case Study Presenter
Vietnam Institute for Urban and Rural Planning

Ngo Trung Hai is General Director of the Vietnam Institute for Urban and Rural Planning at the Ministry of Construction in Vietnam. Since 1980, he has been dedicated to architectural and urban research, and has also achieved top rankings in several national architectural competitions in Vietnam. He served as national consultant in projects with international donors such as Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and UNDP. He took on leading roles in the establishment of several national and regional master plans on conservation and urban development. One highlight was the planning for the Hanoi capital region in 2004–2005.


Olfa Mahjoub | Case Study Presenter
National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry (INRGREF)

Olfa Mahjoub is Associate Professor and since 2001 a researcher serving the National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry (INRGREF). Her fields of expertise cover wastewater use in agriculture and water quality, as well as emerging pollutants in water resources. Cross-cutting aspects related to water policy such as social and regulatory aspects related to reuse of water are among her fields of interest. She has chaired and co-chaired several international projects funded by DAAD, USAID, UNESCO-Sida, among others. She is a member of various international networks (including OWSD, MENA NWC, Blue Circle Society, AETDEW, and IWA). She holds a PhD in Water Sciences from University of Montpellier 1 in France.


John M. Gathenya | Case Study Presenter
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

John Gathenya holds a BSc and MSc in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Nairobi in Kenya and PhD in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany. Since attaining his PhD in 1999, Prof. Gathenya has taught for 17 years at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. He has also supervised over 20 postgraduate students. He has worked for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and for the University of Reading in the UK as a Research Fellow in a Climate Change Project. His research interests are in hydrological modelling, watershed management, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, and climate information services.


Christian Korndörfer | Case Study Presenter
City of Dresden

Christian Korndörfer is Head of the Environmental Office of the City of Dresden in Germany since 1991. His work focuses on brownfield remediation, landscape planning, flood protection and prevention, energy and water supply, and climate mitigation, as well as adaptation to climate change. Considering the town as an anthropogeneous ecosystem he is developing strategies for sustainable long-term development of settlements. The results of this approach is, among others, the remediation of the site of a former uranium mill in a suburb of Dresden and its transformation into a modern business park, the development of a comprehensive system of flood protection, and recently the leading ideas for the adaptation of the City of Dresden to a future with shorter resources and altered climate outlined in the landscape plan and energy concept. Dr Korndörfer is a physicist, with a PhD in the field of plasma physics. He is also a member of the Environmental Commission of the German Cities Association.


David Vačkář | Case Study Presenter
Global Change Research Institute (CzechGlobe)

David Vačkář is Head of the Department of Human Dimensions of Global Change at the Global Change Research Institute (CzechGlobe) at the Czech Academy of Sciences. Vačkář holds a PhD in Environmental Studies from Charles University in Prague. His research focuses on multiple aspects of human-environment interactions, especially ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, drivers of ecosystem transformation, and environmental security. Vačkář has been coordinating several research projects focusing on the integrated assessment of ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, and urban-related issues such as ecological footprint and resilience. He is a member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, steering committee member of Ecosystem Services Partnership, and member of the National Footprint Accounts committee of Global Footprint Network. He is also a research fellow at the Charles University Environment Centre, where he teaches about indicators of environmental sustainability and ecosystem services.


Yanhui Wang | Case Study Presenter
Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF)

Yanhui Wang is the Head of the Department of Forest Hydrology and Integrated Water and Soil Management at the Chinese Academy of Forestry. His research focuses on the forest-water interaction and integrated management, particularly in dryland regions. He is also working on soil and water conservation, soil acidification and forest damage, and multifunctional forestry and forest management. In a project together with UNU-FLORES, Prof. Wang concentrates on multifunctional and integrated forest-water management at various scales from stand to watershed within the framework of the Nexus Approach. He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture and Master of Agriculture from the Beijing Forestry University in China, and a PhD in Forestry from Göttingen University in Germany.


Key Listeners

János Bogárdi | Key Listeners
University of Bonn

János Bogárdi is senior fellow of the Center for Development Research of the University Bonn and senior advisor of the Global Water System Project (GWSP). Since 2004 he is professor for water resources management at the University of Bonn, Faculty of Agriculture. He was executive officer of the GWSP (2009-2012). He served till his retirement from the UN as director of the United Nations University (UNU) Institute for Environment and Human Security 2003-2009 and parallel as Vice Rector a. i. in Europe. He was Chief of Section in the Division of Water Science in UNESCO, Paris (1995-2003). He was professor of hydrology, hydraulics and quantitative water resources management at the Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands 1989-1995. He was associate professor for water resources management at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand 1985-1988. Between 1969 and 1985 he had several research and consulting appointments in several countries in Europe and in Africa. He graduated as Dipl.-Ing. (Civil engineering) at the University of Technology Budapest in 1969 He holds a doctorate in water resources engineering (Dr.-Ing.) from Karlsruhe University 1979 and three Dr. honoris causa distinctions from universities in Poland, Hungary and Russia.


Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi | Key Listeners
Director at the Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary

In 2015 Ambassador Kőrösi joined the Office of the President of the Republic of Hungary as head of Directorate for Environmental Sustainability. He is also the chief advisor (Sherpa) to the President, a member of the High Level Panel on Water. From 2010 through 2014 he has served as Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations in New York, and was Vice President of the 66th General Assembly. He has co-chaired the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. Since 1983 when he joined the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he served in multiple positions, including Deputy State Secretary for Multilateral Diplomacy and Ambassador to Greece.


Birguy Lamizana-Diallo | Key Listeners
UN Environment

Birguy Lamizana-Diallo is a Programme Officer for the Global Programme of Action for the protection of the marine environment from land-based Activities (GPA) within DEPI/UNEP. She also coordinated UNEP’s Flagship project on the restoration of Lake Faguibine ecosystems in Mali. Prior to joining UNEP she served as the coordinator of the IUCN West Africa regional wetlands and water resources programme. Dr. Lamizana has worked with the Global Water Partnership (GWP) as the regional coordinator for Africa Water Development and with the African Development Bank (AfDB) as Technical Advisor for their Water Partnership Programme Trust fund. Dr Lamizana is a broad based development professional with more than 20 years working experience, including extensive knowledge in ecosystem and water resource management and a capacity building skills as a Training of Trainers (ToT) for decision makers on Integrated Water Resource Management. She holds an Engineer degree in water resources management and a Doctorate in Freshwater Ecology in relation to environmental flows requirement.


Kwang Kook Park | Key Listeners
Korea Environment Institute

President Kwang Kook Park of the Korea Environment Institute (KEI) is an environmental philosophy specialist, educator and academic administrator. He was inaugurated as the tenth president of KEI in September 2014. He received his bachelor’s degree in English education and his bachelor’s degree in public administration from Seoul National University. He studied public administration at the University of Georgia and obtained his Ph.D degree in 1990. He was a professor at Yeungnam University and is currently serving as a professor of the Department of Law, Economics and Public Administration at Catholic University of Korea (CUK). As an academic administrator, he has served as the Dean of Academic Affairs at CUK, the president of Korea University Academic Deans Association and the third and fourth chairman of the University Accreditation Agency Deliberation Committee of the Ministry of Education. He was the president of the Korean Association for Public Administration in 2013 and is currently serving as an advisor to the Korean Academy of Environment Science.