WKU and Circle of Blue will join the China Environment Forum and the Environmental Change and Security Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in hosting a discussion Wednesday (Jan. 20) on water resource challenges that affect tens of millions of people in southwest China’s karst regions.
The presentation, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. EST at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., will feature three renowned experts on caves and karst geology, the fresh water crisis and China:
*Dr. Chris Groves, director of WKU’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute and one of the world’s foremost experts on caves and the international scientific collaboration and research focused on karst geology.
*J. Carl Ganter, founder and director of the multimedia news organization Circle of Blue.
*Christina Larson, contributing editor of Foreign Policy Magazine.
Dr. Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum, will moderate the session, which also highlights the findings of Circle of Blue’s new multimedia report, “Hidden Waters, Dragons in the Deep.”
A reception will follow to debut an exhibit of photographs from “Hidden Waters, Dragons in the Deep.”
About the water challenges in China: The vast yet inaccessible underground waters in southeast Yunnan Province represent the front lines of China’s fresh water crisis. Two openings in the earth, the Shi Dong and Nan Dong caves, where the Yang Liu River slips into and out of the shadows, mark the point where a fluvial region rich with surface streams meets an unusual geologic formation of soluble rock layers known as a karst landscape. It is also a fateful human dividing line, a place where China’s challenges with water scarcity, land management, and pollution come into clear focus.
About WKU’s China Environmental Health Project: For the past 15 years, researchers at WKU have been working with Chinese scientists and a number of U.S. government agencies toward finding sustainable solutions for the future of water and air quality in China. In October 2006, WKU’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute and WKU’s Institute for Combustion Science and Environmental Technology united to form of China Environmental Health Project. Funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development through the support of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the ENVIRON Foundation and with matching funds coming from partner organizations, this initiative has been carried out in partnership with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholar’s China Environment Forum, A Child’s Right, and two Chinese universities, the Anhui University of Science and Technology and the Southwest University of China.
About the Wilson Center: The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the living national memorial to President Wilson established by Congress in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center establishes and maintains a neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. It is a nonpartisan institution, supported by public and private funds and engaged in the study of national and world affairs. Since 1997 the Center’s China Environment Forum has been active in creating programming and publications to encourage dialog among U.S. and Chinese scholars, policymakers, businesses and nongovernmental organizations on environmental and energy challenges in China.
About Circle of Blue: Circle of Blue is the international network of leading journalists and scientists that reports the global water crisis. It is a nonprofit affiliate of the Pacific Institute and publishes WaterNews, the daily go-to source for water news and data.
The event is made possible with the generous support of USAID and The ENVIRON Foundation.
Contact: Chris Groves at (270) 745-5974 or Sharon McCarter at (202) 691-4016.