An International Conference hosted by

The Commission for Water Sustainability

International Geographical Union (IGU)

Torino, Italy

Throughout the world problems of decreasing water quality and quantity are associated with increased consumer numbers and individual demand, increases in the range and amount of uses, and the problem of actual and potential environmental, especially climatic, change. While technological and political solutions, or at least approaches to solutions, vary from society to society, the underlying problems are similar. This conference will assess the similarities and differences.

The Commission for Water Sustainability aims to interpret "sustainability" in the widest possible sense, including the sustainability of the environment in the face of water development work as well as the sustainability of water resources. It aims to foster links between the human and physical aspects of water management, with specific concern for the sustainability of water resources and for the impacts of water management on the environment.

The Commission meets annually, and reports findings through peer-reviewed journal articles and special publications.

The Conference is calling for papers focusing on the following Sections:

• Underground resources

• Water and hydro-geological risks

• Planning of water resources

• Infrastructures for water resources management

• Hydrologic emergencies

• Water resources and environmental and climatic change

• Water sustainability in the alpine environment

Welcome

Dear colleagues, welcome to the 7^th Conference of the Commission on Water Sustainability entitled “Managing water in a changing world”.

This time, Torino, a city located in the Piemonte region and surrounded by the Alps (in fact Piemonte means “at the foot of the mountain”), is hosting the conference.

There is a close and harmonious connection between the Alps and their glaciers, and the water. The Alps are the source of many important European rivers, such as the Rhyne, the Danube, and also the Po, which is the longest Italian river.

Since the establishment of first human settlements at the foot of the mountains, the presence of these rivers has favoured the development of agriculture and, during the last two centuries, of industries. It may be said that European Countries had never seriously suffered of drought problems in the past, despite the Little Ice Age. The most serious problem connected to water, which affected the European populations was the recursive presence of floods, with their associated damages and victims.

In recent years, however, human use of water, for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses, has greatly increased, due largely to the continuous growth in population. The impact on water quality has also increased dramatically. In contrast, the warming climate is reducing the Alpine glacier extension and in a near future may affect water availability even in regions which are not usually subjected to those phenomena, such as the Po Valley.

These facts are most dramatic in the world regions in which water resources are limited. In many countries the water supply is actually very limited, and a large portion of the population lives below the minimum threshold allowable for a decent life. In some countries, the water supply is ensured only thanks to the extraction of fossil water, which is a limited resource that will last for a short time.

The continuous growth of the world population will make these problems of water availability even worse with time. In many cases, climatic global warming will increase the frequencies of drought episodes, as well as those of the floods, in the same places, thus aggravating the situation.

Water sustainability may thus become an important subject on which to carry out investigations.

This conference aims to discuss these problems in an interdisciplinary way and through an intercomparison of the different experiences reported from different Nations. For this reason, the Commission has always favored the participation of scientists and experts from many fields and a range of nations, and has decided to have its conference each year in a different nation, in order to stimulate the diffusion of new ideas and merging with the local community.

Claudio Cassardo (Local Organizer of the Conference)

and

J. Anthony A. Jones (Chairman of the Commission on Water Sustainability)