Conference Introduction
South Asia region inhabits 1.7 billion people, almost 1/4 of the world population. Pakistan, one of the main countries of the region, has a population of more than 200 million people, and a population density of 260 persons per square kilometer. These places demand on municipal services, especially on water for food production as well as human consumption. Increase in demand with declining per capita water availability has placed serious pressure on water resources.
Water coverage in urban areas in Pakistan is estimated to be 96 percent, of which 58 percent is through individual service connections and 38 percent through other means, such as standpipes and hand pumps. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) baselines prepared by the WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) states that in 2015, 2.1 billion people lacked water services reaching the new standards, including 159 million who still drank untreated water directly from surface water sources such as streams or lakes. The SDG no. 6, 6.1, 6.5, and 6.6 (a) aim to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,achieve universal and equitable access to safe drinking water for all, implement integrated water resource management at all levels including transboundary cooperation as appropriate, and support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation respectively.
The two day Conference on Safe Drinking Water Governance (15-16 January 2019) is an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the subject under the SDGs and facilitate collaborative deliberation and action around sustainable management. One of the objectives of the Conference is to bring academic and policy researchers, policy practitioners, policymakers, communities, NGOs etc. together to develop the common understanding on issues related to safe drinking water available to all and explore means for effective governance in the area.
The Objectives of the Conference are as follows:
- Developing, widening and deepening understanding of safe drinking water policy framework and the SDGs.
- Grasp the challenges, implications and causes underlying inadequacies in existing policy and implementation measures
- Exploration of possible ways and methodologies to ensure the effectiveness of safe drinking water governance and infrastructure for equitable availability across rural and urban dwellings.
- Contemplating and proposing measures, processes, and mechanisms for healthy community participation in improving water and sanitation conditions.
- Provide a critical forum for future discourse, dialogue, and debate as well as the opportunity for networking among the range of stakeholders for continued deliberations to address the issue.
Conference Themes
- Existing Safe drinking water legislation and policy and the SDGs achievement
- Challenges to safe drinking water availability and improving water resources governance
- Political, social, economic and governance challenges to overuse of water and depleting water table
- Communities’ contribution and participation ineffective water resources management
School of Governance and Society (SGS), University of Management and Technology, Lahore Pakistan cordially invites you to be part of the Conference deliberations by submitting a paper, register for the conference as participant, or be a proud sponsor. Abstracts (maximum 300 words) for the papers should be submitted to the SGS conference Secretariat, on the prescribed format, by 30 November 2018. Incomplete papers or those submitted after the due date would not be entertained by the SGS Technical Committee.
A maximum of one submission are permissible per author/co-author. Papers other than theme/sub-theme will be considered but papers on theme/sub-theme will be given preference. Papers accepted to be presented at the Conference will be published in the Proceedings volume of the Conference.
Conference Registration is on first come first serve basis. More details of the conference and how to participate are available from our website
On behalf of the SGS, it would be appreciated if you disseminate this information among the teaching/ research staff, PhD/Mphil students and alumni of your prestigious institute and encourage them to join.