The Water Security and Climate Change Conference (WSCC) is an annual event where scientists, policy makers, and stakeholders from various sectors discuss the diverse facets of water security and its relationship to climate variability and climate change. The conference strives to go beyond science and build bridges between the state-of-the-art in multiple disciplines and different groups of stakeholders and practitioners. The WSCC aims to provide a platform for discussions on water and food secure societies, by creating a stimulating environment that produces innovative ideas and clear pathways towards their implementation. This successful conference has already taken place in Thailand, Germany, Kenya, Mexico and Vietnam.
About
Background
The WSCC is an initiative of the ‘Higher Education Excellence in Development Cooperation – exceed’ program. It has been initally implemented under the auspices of the Sustainable Water Management in Developing Countries network (SWINDON) and the Centers for Natural Resources and Development (CNRD) in close cooperation with the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). The scientific and organizational committee has been continuously expanded and today includes the Food Security Center (FSC), the University of Cuenca, and the SDGnexus Network.

Keynote Speakers
Organized by
CNRD aspires to create a worldwide network of postgraduate courses related to natural resources management and development with an interdisciplinary and intercultural orientation. To achieve this objective there are a variety of initiatives, starting with CNRD semester scholarships for Master’s students. The teaching capacities of the members of CNRD are strengthened through individual and didactic staff support and curriculum development workshops. The other CNRD activities in Education include joint development of teaching material and e-learning modules on the four main CNRD topics is supported by CNRD and lecturer exchange between all universities involved.
The CNRD network fosters interdisciplinary research addressing the challenges related to the SDGs. The CNRD-exceed partners engage in consortia to develop competitive research proposals. These proposals target most interesting national and international calls and aim at strengthening the research capacities as well as widening the research portfolio at the partner universities.
Along with education and research, the third pillar of activities within CNRD exceed is capacity development (CD). In addition to generating knowledge by conducting problem-oriented (applied) research, the key role of the universities is to enhance individual capacities, e.g., in post-graduate education. There is a global network of experts providing sound, science-based governance advice and transferring scientific knowledge into applicable management strategies, as well as, contributing to close the gap between academic education and the constantly changing demands experts and decision-makers face in their day-to-day business.
Overall research fields include Sanitary Engineering, Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, Water Quality, Waste Management, and Water Governance.
The global project network of exceed-Swindon consists of 29 full member institutions in 15 countries on 4 continents. Each of these institutions is represented by a renowned scientist who has his research focus on water problems. The network considers cooperation, education, and knowledge transfer within the water research and management area to be an indispensable condition for solving present and, in particular, further water-related problems. The mission, first of all, is to inspire and promote exceed-Swindon members in being an international community of academic and practice-oriented professionals, graduated students concerned with water, and a global source of knowledge.
With 10 specialized working groups and more than 100 scientists, the Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute offers profound empirical and theoretical knowledge covering the entire spectrum of tropical and subtropical agricultural systems. During the last decade we have been active in more than 200 research and educational projects across 50 countries of the Tropics.
All essential scientific disciplines of tropical agriculture, i.e., crop and animal sciences, agroecology, agricultural engineering as well as agricultural economics and social sciences, are united in one institute.
The main areas of research at the institute are
(1) Sustainable Agri-Food Systems
(2) Ecosystem Services & Agricultural Development
(3) Farming Systems Digital Age
(4) Food Security & Health
The first “Water security and Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities in Asia” Conference (WSCC2016) was held from 29 November to 01 December 2016 at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
Funded by
The SDGnexus Network is funded by the DAAD from funds of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ)

