Around the world, signs of water trouble abound. Rivers are running dry, lakes are shrinking, and groundwater is being depleted. Climate crisis is altering the global water cycle, leading to more intense droughts and floods. The question arises: how can we meet the food, energy, health, safety and drinking water needs of the growing population, while at the same time sustaining the ecosystems that support our economies and the web of life on the planet? How can we maintain regional peace and stability as water supplies run short? Will water scarcity drive human migrations? Through lectures, discussion, case studies, and break-out groups, we will explore the ways in which the finite nature of water will require a transformation in how we use, manage, and value freshwater.
After the Seminar Week, this seminar will turn into an Alpbach Learning Mission (ALM).
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Mathias CZAIKA
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Professor; Head, Department for Migration and Globalization, Danube University Krems | | | |
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Wolfgang SCHÖNER
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Professor Geography, Institute of Geography and Space Science, University of Graz | | | |
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Martin KAINZ
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Research Scientist for Aquatic Ecology, WasserCluster Lunz, Danube University Krems, Lunz | |
Chair | |
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Sandra POSTEL
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Founding Director, Global Water Policy Project, USA; Former Freshwater Fellow, National Geographic Society; Author of Four Books on Global Freshwater Issues | |
Chair | |
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Professor; Head, Department for Migration and Globalization, Danube University Krems
| | Mathias Czaika is a Professor in Migration and Integration and Head of the Department for Migration and Globalization at Danube University Krems, Austria. He is also Research Associate at the Department for International Development and former Director of the International Migration Institute, both at University of Oxford. He has a PhD in Political Economy from the University of Freiburg. His research interests include; drivers and dynamics of international migration processes; globalization, development, inequality, and conflict; heuristics and decision-making; migration policy formation and policy impact; migration of high-skilled workers, asylum seekers and refugees. He has published widely in journals such as Demography, Population Development Review, International Migration Review, or the Journal of Peace Research. |
Professor Geography, Institute of Geography and Space Science, University of Graz
Research Scientist for Aquatic Ecology, WasserCluster Lunz, Danube University Krems, Lunz
| 2002 | PhD, Sciences de l’environnement, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada |
| 2002-2005 | Post-doctoral fellow, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada |
| 2006 | Post-doctoral fellow, National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada |
| | Since 2006 Research Scientist, Inter-university Centre for Aquatic Ecosystem Research, WasserCluster Lunz, Austria |
| | Since 2008 Affiliate Assistant Professor, University of Washington, Environmental Engineering, Seattle, USA |
| 2010 | Guest Professor, Laboratoire Microorganismes: génome et environnement, réseaux trophiques aquatiques. Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France |
| Venia docendi (Aquatic ecology), University of Vienna |
| 2007-2012 | Secretary of the Austrian Limnological Society |
| | Since 2012 President of the Austrian Limnological Society |
| 2018 | Vice-president, International Society of Limnology |
Founding Director, Global Water Policy Project, USA; Former Freshwater Fellow, National Geographic Society; Author of Four Books on Global Freshwater Issues
| | Sandra Postel is founding director of the Global Water Policy Project and author of Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity. From 2009-2015, she served as Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She is co-creator of Change the Course, the water stewardship initiative awarded the 2017 US Water Prize for restoration of depleted rivers and wetlands. Sandra works to bridge science, policy and practice to build a more water-secure world for people and nature. She has authored four books and numerous articles for scholarly and popular publications, including Science, Natural History, and Scientific American. She has appeared in the BBC’s Planet Earth, Leonardo DiCaprio’s The 11th Hour, and the National Geographic Channel’s Breakthrough series. Sandra has taught at Mt. Holyoke College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Previously she served as vice president for research at the Worldwatch Institute. The recipient of several honorary degrees, Sandra has been named a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment and one of the Scientific American 50, an award recognizing contributions to science and technology. |
