IWA establish the Project Innovation Awards (PIA) to recognise excellence and innovation in water engineering projects throughout the world.

This year, the IWA 2012 PIA features a NEW award category - MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS.

This category applies to Marketing and Communications related to a water/wastewater project, operations/management of related facilities, customer service activities, or public education campaigns.

Entries may be submitted for competition in one of the following six awards categories:

BMGF: Stimulating local innovation on sanitation for the urban poor in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia

Advert for PhD fellowships at UCT

Introduction

Twenty PhD Positions are available in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Funded Project on Pro-poor Sanitation Innovations, named "Stimulating local innovation on sanitation for the urban poor in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia".

The five research themes are:

The investments needed to deliver sustainable water and sanitation services, including the funds that are needed to operate and maintain the infrastructure, expand their coverage and upgrade service delivery to meet current social and environmental expectations, are huge. Yet, most systems are underfunded with dire consequences for water and sanitation users, especially the poorest.

In an effort to serve as a ‘one stop shop’ for climate-related information, data, and tools, the World Bank has created the Climate Change Knowledge Portal, an online tool that provides access to comprehensive global, regional, and country data information related to climate change and development.

Check the portal http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/

The 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol will be held in Durban, South Africa by the end of this month.

Not everybody is probably aware of what is currently happening to land acquisition in the developing world. It is normal not to be aware as not much information circulates in the news about these incredible facts, at least not as much as it should. This weekly brief will then try to put some light on the issue of land and water grabbing.

The Water Convention is a platform for industry experts, regulators, academics to interact and share ideas on a wide range of water challenges. In line with the SIWW 2012 theme, "Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities" the Water Convention 2012 Call for Papers is now open until 30 November 2011.

For more information on how to submit your abstract visit : http://www.siww.com.sg/water-convention