December 2003
7th SEARNET Annual Conference decides Regional Representative to IRCSA.

The 7th SEARNET Annual Conference took place in Arusha, Tanzania on 1-5 December 2003. The Rainwater Harvesting Association of Tanzania (RHAT) hosted the conference which had the theme "Rainwater Harvesting Towards Millennium Goals". The conference was supported by the Rgional Land Management Unit (RELMA) through the GWP Associated programme 'A network for green water harvesting in Southern and Eastern Africa and South Asia'.

The sessions included an overview of rainwater harvesting, particularly topics on poverty alleviation by Mesfin Shenkut (ERHA), Conservation Agriculture and RWH by Roy Chiti (ZARHA), and RWH Policies in the SEARNET Region by Dr. Terry Thomas... More

November 2003
IRCSA XII Conference Announced

The next IRCSA conference - IRCSA XII - will be held in New Delhi, India from November 15-18, 2005. More information on the conference can be found on the next conference section of this site.

November 2003:
IRCSA Joins First South East Asia Water Forum as Session Convener

The First Southeast Asia Water Forum (SEAWF) was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 17-21 November 2003. The core theme was "Strengthening Regional Capacity through Best Practices in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)"

Southeast Asia is one of the water-rich areas of the world, and also one of the most populated (522 million in 2002, and a population growth of 2.1%). Nearly one third of the population live in urban areas, but over 90% of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, and the remainder used in households and industry.

Given the tremendous importance of water resources in the region, and... More

October 2003
The International Rainwater Harvesting Training Course, China, 2003

The International Training Course on Rainwater Harvesting and Utilization was held in Lanzhou, Capital of the Gansu Province in China from Sept. 8th to Oct. 22nd 2003. The Course was sponsored by the China Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Water Resources and the Gansu Provincial Government and endorsed by UNESCO. There were in total 40 participants from 19 countries in Africa and Asia attending the Course, including Algeria, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Laos, Lesotho, Mauritania, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The 45-day course included 20-day lecturing and 10-day field trips to... More

August, 2003
11th International RWH Conference

The 11th International Conference on Rainwater Catchment Systems took place in Mexico City, Mexico on 25 - 29 August, 2003.

The theme of the conference was "Towards a New Green Revolution and Sustainable Development through an Efficient Use of Rainwater". The objective of the conference was to develop a comprehensive approach towards sustainable development through rainwater catchment systems, achieving a balance between socioeconomic development and proper management of rainwater. This stems from the fact that water scarcity seriously affects rainfed and irrigated agriculture and hence directly threatens the livelihoods of billions of people, particularly in developing regions. This makes improved... More

August 2003
First American Rainwater Harvesting Conference

The first American RWH Conference was held in Austin, Texas in August 2003. In addition to the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA), other sponsors included the Texas Water Development Board, Lower Colorado River Authority and the City of Austin. Over 150 people attended the conference which included two days of paper presentations and discussions, followed by a one-day field trip. In addition to U.S. participants, there were attendees from ten different countries. Dr. Hari J. Krishna, ARCSA President, served as the Chair of the organizing committee. More information about that conference and on obtaining the proceedings can be found on the ARCSA website

The next American RWH conference is slated to be held in Seattle, WA in July 2005.

February 2003
Gender & IWRM

From 8 - 15 February 2003, a week of regional training of trainers on Gender Mainstreaming in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As part of the Training and Capacity Building initiatives of the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) and in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Universiti Putra Malaysia, this regional training aimed to enable organizations and institutions to develop their own capacity in the application of gender mainstreaming tools and methods. The devastation wrought on millions makes promoting the optimum involvement of all sections of society - women and men, rich and... More