ICE WaRM E-NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2011
WATER MANAGEMENT AND UNCERTAINTY
By Richard Hopkins
ICE WaRM Chief Executive Officer
It’s conventional wisdom that investors and executives want certainty. Managers of any
activity appreciate being able to predict and plan with more certainty - and less stress.
But most worthwhile activities involve risk and uncertainty. Traditionally, water
management may have been seen as generally stable and quiet – the lowest risk on the
Monopoly board. But those public perceptions are changing.
Firstly, it is now better recognised that weather and climate, including rainfall, are highly
variable. Flows in the major Australian rivers are among the most variable in the world,
making the extremes of droughts and floods more difficult to predict.
Secondly, climate change is adding to the extremes and to their unpredictability. Despite
the advances of science, the prediction of future events is more uncertain than it was in the
past. Or, to put it another way, the analysis of past records is no longer such a reliable
indicator of future behaviour.
And thirdly, the economic and social impacts of extreme events seem to be more keenly felt.
At least, they are more immediately and dramatically reported. This means decision-makers
are more acutely aware of the social dimensions of water management.
The more we learn, the better we understand about the added dimensions of environmental
and institutional risks and uncertainties.
Tomorrow’s water leaders will need new skills to better manage water under conditions of
increasing uncertainties. ICE WaRM has been developing and delivering courses to equip
these future leaders.
For example, in early 2011, ICE WaRM is hosting a group from all six countries of the Mekong
River basin. They are undertaking an intensive Professional Development Programme
around the theme of managing under uncertainties. The PDP includes newly developed
content which focuses tightly on this issue.
The recent additions and revisions to the ICE WaRM postgraduate study programmes too
are designed to enhance relevant knowledge and skills - for example, in aspects of climate
change adaptation, water planning, policy and governance.
We are delighted to be working more closely with our international partners, as well as a
wider circle of national partners. The first months of 2011 have already seen visits from
European and South-East Asian partners, as well as the continuing series of highly active
exchange programmes.
The growth in demand looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.
RECORD ENROLMENTS FOR MASTER PROGRAMME
Record numbers of new students have signed up for ICE WaRM’s award-winning nested
Master of Water Resources programme for the 2011 academic year.
Among the new students is a significant group from Iraq. Most have completed extensive
English language training before enrolling in the postgraduate programme.
In line with the growing international interest in water resources management, ICE WaRM
has continued to expand the Master programme, this year adding new elective courses in
Water Planning and Climate Change.
More students – mostly Australians – are also taking advantage of options to study
externally.
The programme includes studies at Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma and Master
levels and is offered through ICE WaRM’s five partner universities – the University of
Adelaide, Deakin University in Victoria, CQUniversity in Queensland, the University of South
Australia and Flinders University in South Australia.
PARTNERS EXPLORE EXTENSION OF
EUROPEAN EXCHANGES
Leaders of the Australia-European Union SWaRM exchange programme are looking to build
on the early success of the scheme.
In particular, the programme has established closer relationships between the tertiary
institutional, graduates and staff.
The ICE WaRM Board of Studies recently met jointly with key European SWaRM
representatives - Jasper Verberk from the Technical University of Delft in The Netherlands,
Peter-Wolfgang Gräber from the Technical University of Dresden in Germany and
Christopher Bustin from the University of Dundee in Scotland – to assess the strengths of the
existing exchange programmes and explore emerging opportunities.
In particular, the European group wants to develop more diverse links with the ICE WaRM
Australian partner universities – the University of Adelaide, Deakin University in Victoria, the
University of South Australia, Flinders University in South Australia, and CQUniversity in
Queensland.
Under the SWaRM programme, Australian students in the fourth year of a water related
discipline at an ICE WaRM partner university and current post-graduates, including students
enrolled in the ICE WaRM Master of Water Resources Management, are eligible to take part
in the exchange scheme.
For more information, visit the SWaRM EU-AU exchange pages on the ICE WaRM website
and contact ICE WaRM staff.
Dutch students enjoying an ICE WaRM-hosted barbecue
DUTCH STUDENTS MAKE FLYING VISIT TO AUSTRALIA
Coinciding with the joint meeting of the ICE WaRM Board of Studies and representatives of
the European SWaRM scheme partners, a group of 20 postgraduate students from the
University of Leiden and the Technical University of Delft in The Netherlands visited Australia
on a two-week study tour.
The group organised the tour themselves, using funds they raised through industry
placements and small research projects for industry in Holland.
The students spent the first week of their tour in Sydney, before moving to Adelaide to visit
SA Water, the Plant Genomics Centre and focus on the Adelaide region’s water use,
including precision irrigation in the vineyards of McLaren Vale.
Seven of the 20 students are staying in Australia to take part in the SWaRM exchange
programme.
The Mekong group on a site visit to the
Goolwa barrage and the mouth of the Murray River
ALL MEKONG RIVER NATIONS JOIN
ICE WaRM TRAINING PROGRAMME
For the first time, representatives of all six nations along the course of the Mekong River are
taking part in an ICE WaRM international Professional Development Programme (PDP).
The group of 17 from the Mekong River Commission member countries –Cambodia, Laos,
Thailand and Vietnam - plus their dialogue partners China and Myanmar are spending a
month in Australia studying capacity building initiatives.
The nine men and eight women are senior staff from tertiary institutions and water
authorities in the six countries.
The programme, which is majority funded under AusAID’s continuing Australian Leadership
Awards scheme, is based in Adelaide, with intensive short courses, workshops and field visits
focusing on building capabilities to manage water resources for an increasingly complex and
uncertain future. The group will also tour sites in regional South Australia and Queensland.
The Mekong River Commission is a river basin organisation which supports decisions and
promotes action on sustainable development and the alleviation of poverty. It was formed in
1995 with the four downstream countries as full members. Subsequently China and
Myanmar progressed from observer status to become dialogue partners and the six
countries now work closely together.
Risyana Sukarma
Dr Le Van Minh
REGIONAL ADVISORS LAY GROUNDWORK
FOR LATEST INTERNATIONAL PDP
ICE WaRM’s leading advisors in South East Asia have played important roles in the
Professional Development Programme (PDP) for representatives of the six nations along the
course of the Mekong River.
Regional Advisor for the Mekong Region, Dr Le Van Minh, and the Regional Advisor for
Indonesia, Risyana Sukarma, were in Adelaide in early March to contribute specific case
study material from the region and facilitate a series of visits and meetings.
Jakarta-based Mr Sukarma has been an Advisor to ICE WaRM for the last year, while Dr Minh
– who’s based in Hanoi – joined the ICE WaRM team soon after.
The presence of such highly respected experts in Indonesia and the Mekong subregion
significantly improves preparation and follow-up activities for ICE WaRM alumni in their
home countries and with local institutions.
Meantime, ICE WaRM is further developing its professional networks in South East Asia, with
International Partnerships Manager Mike Seager, Chief Executive Richard Hopkins and Dr Le
Van Minh involved in a series of high-level meetings in Hanoi, Vientiane, Bangkok Khon Kaen
and Phnom Penh in late February and early March.
The meetings included existing partner institutions, potential new partners and alumni,
The high-ranking Thai delegation toured key water resources
sites during its visit in late 2010
PLANNING ADVANCED FOR CLOSER THAIS
Detailed planning is underway to forge closer links between water resources officials in
Australia and Thailand, following the success of the ICE WaRM-hosted visit to Australia by a
high-ranking Thai delegation late in 2010.
The second phase of the cooperative programme will be a visit by Australian water resources
officials to Thailand later this year.
In Phase 1, a group of 13 senior water resources officials from Thailand completed a 10-day
intensive learning tour of Australia, visiting Canberra, the Goulburn Valley in northern
Victoria, Melbourne and Adelaide.
The study tour concentrated on flood and drought management in the Murray-Darling basin
and related programmes.
2011 SHORT COURSES START
The 2011 programme of ICE WaRM short courses is underway, with an Australian Water
Industry Essentials course in Perth and a Policy and Governance workshop in Adelaide.
Two more Australian Water Industry Essentials courses are scheduled this year – one in
Adelaide on 23 and 24 June, the other in Sydney on 15 and 16 November.
Another Policy and Governance course will be staged in Canberra on 27 and 28 October.
As well, Hydraulics and Hydrology for Non-Engineers courses will be held in Adelaide on 21
and 22 July, with another in Sydney on 17 and 18 November.
River and Floodplain Modelling workshops are scheduled in Adelaide on 26 and 27 July,
followed by Sydney on 15 and 16 November.
All courses are presented by industry experts, with guest speakers detailing case studies in
some courses. Venues are in CBD locations and catering is provided in all courses. Everyone
who registers is given a hard copy and a CD version of the course notes.
Further details and registration forms are available on the ICE WaRM website.