Speaker: Peter Rogers, Harvard University's Center for the Environment
Chair: David Grey, Oxford School of Geography and the Environment

Abstract:
The sustainability of water resources around the globe has recently become an issue of some concern to the general public. The general perception, stoked by “gloom and doom” environmentalists and promoted by the media, is that globally we are running out of water. However, at large conferences where the experts meet (Stockholm, Singapore) we hear less talk of disasters and more of concern that we are not managing our resources taking into account all available technical and management tools. Rogers' recent book is an attempt to point out to citizens and political leaders alike that we do not have to experience a water crisis, but we could have a really serious one if we ignore the warning signs and do not provide the leadership and the social determination required to avoid it.

About the speaker:
Peter Rogers has served as Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Engineering and Professor of City and Regional Planning at Harvard University since 1974; member of the Center for Population Studies, Harvard University, from 1966 to 1996; and member of the Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE), since 2000. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at Pembroke College, Cambridge University.

Co-sponsored by the Oxford Water Futures Programme and the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society.

For more information contact Esther Vicente (esther.vicente@sbs.ox.ac.uk)