To help celebrate World Water Day on Monday 22nd March, Susan Cooksley and Simon Langan from the Institute’s Catchment Management Group will be participating in an interactive online event focused on Hydrology, Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) river basins in Scotland.

Organised by the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee, the innovative event will be a collective gathering of knowledge, expertise and opinion from amongst the worldwide network of HELP stakeholders with Susan and Simon focussing on the River Dee.

International World Water Day is held annually as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and encouraging the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Water quality is key to human and ecosystem health, but worldwide, many communities face a lack of awareness on water quality issues and lack of capacity to safeguard water supplies. There are numerous add-on benefits to improving water quality including improved ecosystems and ecosystem services, improved health, and improved livelihoods.

At a local level, the Dee Catchment Partnership are working to ensure that the waters of the River Dee catchment are protected for current and future generations to enjoy. The River Dee is considered to be the best example of a large natural highland river in Scotland. The catchment is relatively unusual in the UK in that it contains predominantly upland, semi-natural land use but has isolated areas of significant pressures on water and habitat quality related to agriculture and urbanisation.

A management plan has been developed to guide the sustainable use of the catchment’s river, tributaries and lochs, as well as the habitats and species associated with these waters.

Practitioners and stakeholders in the public and voluntary sectors in the Dee river basin are often located in many small towns and smaller settlements which could make travel to a location based conference more difficult, hence the use of an online environment to support the day.

World Water Day videos and presentations from the on-line, interactive seminar are now available to view again online. Log on to the World Water Day pages, and simply click on “The Policy Context”, “The River Basins” and “Focus on Water Quality and Flooding” to view the thematically grouped presentations and slideshare presentations, including those by Susan Cooksley and Simon Langan.
Presentations also include those made by the Dundee UNESCO Centre, the Tweed Forum, SEPA and RSPB.

For further information please visit www.be2camp.com.