NARBO

Japan Water Agency (NARBO) and Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) cooperated with each other to organize the International Workshop on Water and History. The International Workshop on Water and History was organized by Government of Japan, World Bank Tokyo Office, UNESCO and UNSGAB on December 13-14, 2011 in Tokyo.

The workshop was organized to learn from history in order to build better relations between people and water in the future, leading to sustainable economic and social development. High-level speakers from government, academia and international organizations who are involved in water-related matters were invited to share knowledge and lessons learned on relations between water and history. We are proud to have welcomed His Imperial Highness, the Crown prince of Japan and Honorary President of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) to the workshop on the 1st day. Around 100 delegates participated in the workshop and plenary discussion.

Discussion among experts helped participants to explore ways for sustainable regional development through water by sharing success and lessons from history. The workshop provided participants with the opportunity to revisit our relations with water to build a brighter and more sustainable future, which leads to a solution of global challenges such as poverty and climate change.

Dr. Keizrul kindly participated in the workshop as one of the panelists and made a presentation, ‘The Historical Development of Water Management in Asia’. In his presentation, Dr. Keizrul talked about relationship between human activities and water, and stressed that we should learn from the case of Easter Island as an example of ultimate failure. Dr. Keizrul concluded the presentation by saying that ‘Our Earth is but a very small Island in the vast Ocean of the Universe.’

 At the end of the workshop, we agreed on the necessity of disseminating the relationship between water and history which have been built over the long human history and lessons learned for sustainable development, to the people, especially to the people on the outside.