Water, Soil and Air in Rome

This week’s topic in the Worsening Water Crisis series featured an interdisciplinary discussion about water crises around the world. The discussion was held at Notre Dame Rome Global Gateway and explored various research topics our guests are investigating as it relates to water inequality. Special guests included Dr. Bernd Cyffka, professor, CU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Mariana Jansen Ferreira, economics professor at the Department of Economics and at the Postgraduate Political Economy Program, PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil), Dr. Irene Ngunjiri, Acting Director, Strathmore University Water Governance and Innovation Hub, and Jennifer Tank, Galla Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame. 

Our host, Rev. Robert Dowd, welcomed and introduced the topic of discussion as well as all the contributing guest speakers. The discussion opened with hearing about each presenter’s research interests as it relates to the water crisis topic. The research varied from the impacts of environmental racism on access to clean water, health policy economics, water governance, and sustainability. Not only did the discussion focus on various topics related to water crises, but researchers also represented diverse perspectives from the United States, Brazil, Germany, and Kenya, which each have unique water-related issues.

Dowd asked each of the participating speakers to talk about water issues as it relates to their country. For Cyffka, Germany’s water issues vary by region, while for Jansen in Brazil, there have always been issues with water throughout the country. For Kenya, Ngunjiri believes the issue is about water quality, affordability, and governance. On the other hand, the United States’ water issues relate to agriculture and farming. These specific issues each have their causes and effects on the rest of the country, environment, and the world.

Each of the speakers agreed that while their country’s problems may be different, the water crisis issues are ultimately global issues where many of the problems themselves are actually related to each other in some way. These global issues often require global collaboration to find solutions. Yet, water issues are highly complicated and know no boundaries between borders. According to Tank, water policy is a classic example of how collaboration needs to happen. Everyone needs to be at the table to manage this complicated matter. Water policy is a very ripe area for collaboration. While collaboration is important, it is also quite difficult to manage and make agreements that will work for everyone. Jansen suggested that collaboration between researchers may prove more fruitful than collaboration between government entities because a researcher’s main goal is to learn and understand. 

The discussion brought to light that there is quite a bit of inequality between rich and poor countries over water resources. For example, some countries that have an abundance of water often over consume without even thinking about the consequences. Our guest speakers are finding ways to reduce water waste to reduce water inequality in their respective countries. Pope Francis’ Laudato Si has served as a “north star” for these researchers as a great starting point for leading discussions about being good stewards of Earth’s resources and finding ways to address climate change, water inequalities, and other environmental issues. The Catholic Church has a special call to help lead this important discussion on water use as it relates to human justice and environmental justice.

Visit the event page for more.