October 2019
At Climate Action Summit, Pacific Institute Affirmed Commitment to Action
At the UN Climate Action Summit in New York last month, climate activist Greta Thunberg called out the failure of leaders to act adequately to prevent the climate crisis. The effects of climate change are being felt around the world -- the changing climate is affecting every aspect of the water cycle. In response to the urgent need for action on climate change, the Pacific Institute has joined two initiatives that highlight the critical role of water in the climate crisis, "Call for Action: Raising Ambition for Climate Adaptation and Resilience" and the "Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Manifesto."

Read more here .
Featured Op-Ed: Climate-Equitable Water
By Peter Gleick, President Emeritus, and Gary White and Matt Damon of Water.org
“People living in poverty already lack safe water and sanitation, and they are the most vulnerable to the droughts, floods, storms, and rising seas that climate change is bringing,” write Dr. Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute and Gary White and Matt Damon of  Water.org.
“These people will stay vulnerable if planners and investors continue to ignore climate change and build the wrong systems in the wrong places, wasting money, time, and lives. If smart green systems are just for the better-off, the injustices that lie beneath the water crisis will only grow deeper.”

Read more here .
Update from the CEO Water Mandate:
 Blog Post: H ow to Set Meaningful Site Water Targets
By Senior Researcher Tien Shiao
As co-manager of the UN Global Compact's   CEO W ater Mandate,  the Pacific Institute mobilizes business leaders to advance water sustainability around the world.

This month, Senior Researcher Tien Shiao explores the value of site water targets for companies. "It is now more important than ever for companies to not only consider their own water use and discharge, but also to invest in healthy watersheds and water infrastructure to address their water risk," writes Ms. Shiao. "Companies which are not able to do so will continue to face serious water challenges."

Read more here .
Pacific Institute to Assess Risks and Solutions for California Drinking Water
Through an initiative of California’s State Water Resources Control Board, over the next year the Pacific Institute will contribute to a Needs Analysis on the state of drinking water in California. Led by the Luskin Center for Innovation at the University of California, Los Angeles, the project will involve a statewide drinking water needs assessment to identify risks and solutions for water systems and private wells throughout California. The Pacific Institute will focus on the cost of implementing solutions and identifying funding sources.

Read more here .
Pacific Institute to Host Salton Sea Summit this Week
On October 17th and 18th, the Pacific Institute and the University of California, Riverside will host a multi-disciplinary Salton Sea Summit in Palm Desert, California . The summit will include panels on hydrology, ecology, dust control, projects, and policy. It is intended to attract a broad range of interests, promote an exchange of ideas, and develop new opportunities and partnerships. Supported by the Water Foundation a nd the Bureau of Reclamation , the event will be hosted in both English and Spanish.

Learn more here . Watch the conference livestream here .
New Landing Page: Resources for Advancing Multi-Benefit Water Solutions
In collaboration with our project partners, the Pacific Institute is developing a framework for incorporating multiple benefits and trade-offs into water management decisions. Now the framework and multi-benefit resources have a new home on our website. The site includes an overview of the multi-benefit framework, examples for applying the framework, and resources for incorporating multiple benefits into your own work.

View the new landing page here .
Imagine a Day Without Water
On October 23rd, we will join with organizations, water utilities, and others around the U.S. to bring attention to the value of water by highlighting communities in the U.S. who lack access to this vital resource on Imagine a Day Without Water . Our recent research, including Plumbing the Depths: Californians Without Toilets and Running Water , has highlighted communities and individuals in California who lack toilets and hot and cold running water because of incomplete household plumbing and homelessness.

Learn more, and read this and other reports in this series, here .
A Day with Water
Can you imagine a day with water? For many communities in the U.S. and around the world, the reality is more than a day without water. Today, the UN estimates 2.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water and 4.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services. Even more concerning, climate change is fundamentally altering the water cycle, exacerbating existing water challenges and creating new ones for water resource management.

Here at the Pacific Institute, we’re working every day to advance solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges because many communities around the world do not have adequate access to water to meet basic needs. Working together, with dedicated and committed supporters like you, we can we can create and advance solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges. Donate to Pacific Institute today!
Upcoming Events: October through November 2019
October 17-18 : Senior Researcher Michael Cohen will attend the Salton Sea Summit, co-hosted by the Pacific Institute at the University of California, Riverside's Palm Desert campus in Palm Desert, California. 

October 21-22 : Senior Researcher Tien Shiao will participate in the "Context and Science Based Environmental Targets" panel and the "Corporate Water Stewardship throughout Supply Chains" panel at the 2019 Responsible Business Conference in Santa Clara, California.

October 22-24 : President Jason Morrison will attend the VERGE 19 conference in Oakland, California.

November 5-7 : Mr. Morrison, Director of Research Heather Cooley, and Research Associate Cora Kammeyer will attend a California Water Action Collaborative meeting in Mountain View, California. 

November 12-13 : Senior Researcher Karina de Souza will attend the Alliance for Water Stewardship's Global Water Stewardship Forum 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

November 6-8 : Research Associate Giuliana Chaves Moreira will moderate a panel on collective action on climate resilience and water security at the Brazilian Conference on Climate Change in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

November 13 : Ms. Moreira will participate in a panel on expanding the supply of sanitation services in Brazil at the Sustainable Development Goals Festival in Sao Paulo.

November 17-19 : Ms. Moreira will moderate a panel on new technologies and products in Brazil and worldwide at the World Toilet Conference in Sao Paulo.

Keep an eye out for more upcoming staff events on our announcements page . Read the list of Pacific Institute experts’ past outreach here .
Pacific Institute in the News
Bloomberg: River Flows All Across the Globe are Dropping
“The impacts are more profound than we understood. We’re kind of in this Wile E. Coyote moment where we’re over the cliff and we’re running still.” - Jason Morrison, President

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Op-Ed: Protecting the Environment in Times of War
"It is time for renegotiating and strengthening the international law protecting resources and the environment—a green Geneva Convention to protect resources, ecosystems (including the climate), and critical civilian water and energy infrastructure." - Peter Gleick, President Emeritus

Read more news featuring Pacific Institute research and experts here .
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