the future of Water, March 2005

Club of Amsterdam

pdf version

Supporter
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Water as a commons, water management as a public cause
As water is vital for life and shapes economic development, water has always been a focus of public concern and public action. However, changing ideas on governance of water, changing pressures on supplies and new debates about the crises linked with water also make this an important time for new public debate.

This presentation will discuss how the perspective of water as a commons is shaping and changing water provision from perspectives of consumers and managers, particularly for the ‘services’ of water supply and irrigation. It will also look at emerging global questions on water management, and the challenges for public agencies and consumers to ensure water provision as planned by the Millennium Development Goals and other international conventions affecting water. The potential synergies, paradoxes and conflicts between these different proposed transformations for the consumer will also be debated. Linden Vincent

Investing in Water Industry
World wide turnover in the water and wastewater sector in 2004 was estimated at US$ 400 bln, with an expected* increase of 50% to US$ 605 bln in 2009. The United Nations** stipulates that per year additional investments of EUR 100 bln are needed to catch up with the growing demand. Apart from these massive investments, the quest for fresh water will result in privatisations of public organizations and the implementation of new breakthrough water technologies worldwide. Daco Enthoven

Engendered or endangered: what is the future of water resources management?
The achievement of the MDGs is setting up the rhythm of the international development agenda. Water as a cross cutting issue of development is an obvious starting point for various interventions around the world. While traditional perspectives of water developers and managers could tend to favour increased coverage, sustainability requires policies and practical interventions that promote efficiency, effectiveness and equity as basis for the transformation.

The presentation will highlight that while water resources are developed and managed by humans for humans, the relationships of power, access, use and control are so different and diverse that often well intended efforts may have negative impacts on the most vulnerable risking the same development goals they are supposed to fulfil. The challenge of moving from theory to practice will also be discussed. Maria Arce

19:30
Welcome by our Moderator Homme Heida, Promedia, Member of the Club of Amsterdam Round Table
19:45
Part I:
Linden Vincent: Water as a commons, water management as a public cause
Daco Enthoven: Investing in Water Industry
Maria Arce: Engendered or endangered: what is the future of water resources management?

20:45
Coffee break

21:15
Part II: Panel with the Speakers

and our Moderator Homme Heida

Linden Vincent
Professor of Irrigation and Water Engineering
Wageningen University and Research Centre

Linden Vincent is Professor of Irrigation and Water Engineering at Wageningen University, previously working in academic and research institutions focused around international development and water management in the United Kingdom. Alongside this, she has worked as a consultant and expert in irrigation, rural water supply provision and water management in a number of southern countries. Her current research includes work on technological and institutional options in resolving water scarcity, groundwater-based irrigation and local water management institutions.
http://www.dow.wur.nl/NR/exeres/195AA5BA-C115-4BF7-B503-8A37F361E60F.htm

Ir Drs Daco J.J. Enthoven
Founder, maxxFountain Water Fund

Mr. Enthoven (50) has a background in technology, marketing and venture capital. After graduating from the Technical University of Delft, he worked as an analist at JDP Consult in the Netherlands and Congo-Brazzaville.

Mr. Enthoven went on to complete his MBA at the University of Rotterdam and worked alongside his studies at Rodamco Fund as an investment executive. In 1985, Mr. Enthoven moved as an account manager to McCann Erickson and later as marketing director to BBDO Netherlands. In the 1990’s he started Maxx Business Development that implemented marketing projects for DSM, Toyota, Mitsubishi, KPN, PinkRoccade and Unisys as well as the Dutch Justice and Economy ministries.

Beginning in 2000, Mr. Enthoven expanded into venture capital. As director of Twinning’s Amsterdam region, he was involved in all aspects of the startup and rollout of 50 IT related companies, including funding, organisation, technical development and commercial activities.

Mr Enthoven has a sharp eye for opportunities in freshwater development. In early 2003, he launched MaxxFountain Water Investments that aims to invest in highly qualified water related companies with innovative technologies and good market potential.

Mr Enthoven speaks fluent French, English, German and Dutch He is a passionate mountaineer and ice skater like the Netherlands’ Elfstedentocht ice skating marathon.
http://www.maxxfountain.com

Maria Arce
Executive Secretary
Gender and Water Alliance

Maria Arce Moreira is the Executive Secretary of the Gender and Water Alliance. Originally from Bolivia and a civil engineer by academic formation, the main areas of her working experience relate to human settlements, urban environmental management, participatory processes and organisational development in various Latin American and African countries.
http://www.irc.nl
http://www.genderandwateralliance.org

Homme Heida
Promedia
Member of the Club of Amsterdam Round Table

Homme Heida is a generalist by heart, who worked as a journalist for several mass media like Algemeen Dagblad, Tros Aktua and publishing group VNU. After ten years he started his own bureau Promedia: company journalism, which slowly changed into business journalism. Now back again with larger media, he is editor-in-chief of Global Dutch, a magazine for Dutch entrepreneurs, who are active in foreign countries.

Homme Heida has a continuing interest in a more philosophical approach of ‘being there’. His views on the future are very much based on new technologies. “Humans change only slowly by evolution. Technology will speed it up”, he argues. His credo is: ‘living body and soul’, which means to him a sportive challenge as well as an intellectual one. From the Amsterdam marathon till the Club of Amsterdam.