01/03/21

Debate: How to report on water conflict and cooperation

Brahmaputra River
Copyright: oemaix. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Send to a friend

The details you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited email, and will not be sold to a 3rd party. See privacy policy.

THIS DEBATE TOOK PLACE 10.00–11.30 am MONDAY, 1 MARCH 2021

Video recording of the debate. 

News reports can influence negotiations over shared water resources and play a key role in determining if the outcome is conflict or cooperation.

SciDev.Net brought together a panel of water experts, diplomats and journalists who debated on how to communicate in the sensitive context of international rivers, such as the Nile and Brahmaputra. The main questions of the debate were: How can journalists report in a critical, but informed, way on these complex topics? And how can scientific and technical facts about water be made accessible to broader audiences to support shared narratives on international rivers?

The panel:

Jane Baitwa, communications and stakeholder engagement specialist at the Nile Basin Initiative
Joydeep Gupta, environment journalist and director of The Third Pole and India Climate Dialogue
Rehab Abd Almohsen, freelance science journalist and editor
Emanuele Fantini, lecturer and researcher at the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Ashok Swain, head of Uppsala University’s Department of Peace and Conflict Research
Jenniver Sehring, senior lecturer in water governance and diplomacy, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education


IHE - DUPC2

This debate is supported by the DUPC2 project and the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education.