Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy meets in Panama

The following is a report by Henry Vaux Jr., director of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water.

The theme for the 9th biennial meeting was “Managing Water and Biodiversity,” which represented a departure from the previous forums' themes that focused on the problems of water management in arid and semi-arid regions.

The Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, a program of UC ANR's California Institute for Water Resources, commissions the preparation of papers addressed to the theme. These papers are read by participants ahead of the actual meeting and become the focus of round table discussions, which are at the core of the program. The papers are ultimately published together with a summary of the findings and conclusions reached at the advisory committee meeting of the forum.

The forum's sessions focused on: 1) the scientific bases of moist climates, 2) the problems of conserving biodiversity in humid areas, 3) the variability of climate and water availability in different realms around the world, and 4) the global implications of El Niño and drought. 

To read a summary of the findings, visit http://ciwr.ucanr.edu/files/232208.pdf.

The primary sponsors of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy are the University of California and the Bank of America. For this 9^th biennial meeting, a number of locally based organizations and entities joined as co-sponsors, which included the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Biomuseo, the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT) of the Republic of Panama, The Panama Canal Authority (ACP), The Technological University of Panama (UTP) and the Botin Foundation.

The Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy originated in 1996 with an endowment gift from the Bank of America to the University of California. The purpose of the gift was to support a water policy forum in honor of then-retiring Bank Chair and CEO Richard Rosenberg. The forum is held every other year in different locations around the world. Participation is limited to 50 water scholars and senior water managers. Interactive discussions about the science of water management and different experiences in water management around the globe are at the heart of the forum.

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