Voices of Water for Climate
UN Water Conference
March 22-24, 2023
Voices of Water for Climate works on bringing the vital power of water to cool the Earth to the center of climate action. Our central focus on the role of biology in powering the water cycle offers guiding principles for the ecological restoration and rehydration of landscapes that can lead us to a livable, secure, and equitable future. We will be covering the UN 2023 Water Conference from this perspective, highlighting the regenerative solutions on the table and the developments coming out of this event. Stay tuned for updates from @bio4climate on Instagram and Twitter!
Scientists, policymakers, and practitioners are gathering at this conference, convened around World Water Day 2023, to address water issues and sustainable development goals (SDGs). Sessions will focus on the intersection of water and climate, sanitation, energy, cities, the environment, food security, poverty, gender equality and health, amongst others.
Find out more information about the UN 2023 Water Conference here, and sign up for a periodic newsletter about the conference here.
Additional Resources:
- UN Water Channel, where you can livestream conference sessions
- UN Water and Ecosystems page
- UN Be the Change call to action and map of global activities
Global Cooling from Plant Transpiration: Mechanisms and Uncertainties
In a time of accelerating global warming, nature’s ability to cool the Earth is one of the most exciting and important prospects we can explore.
Trees provide cool shade under a hot sun, but where does the solar energy spent on evapotranspiration go? What is its fate in the atmosphere? Do forests cool the Earth as a whole or only locally?
This talk by Dr. Anastassia Makarieva (TUM-IAS) is for those who want to go a little deeper into the new water paradigm. It includes Q&A and discussion with colleagues Andrei Nefiodov, Jan Pokorny, and Zuzka Mulkerin.
A message from the late Jan Lambert in 2021:
Greetings! Welcome to Voices of Water for Climate (VoW), a 2021 addition to our growing family at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. I have been volunteering for Bio4Climate since 2014, when I first became acquainted with Michal Kravčík of Slovakia. Please donate to Voices of Water!
I am an editor and American coordinator for Dr. Kravčík, who is an internationally renowned hydrology expert and Goldman Environmental Prize winner. He is coauthor of Water for the Recovery of the Climate-A New Water Paradigm (free download here). The ideas in that book set the stage for the founding of Voices of Water for Climate in 2017.
You can download my 2015 book, Water, Land and Climate -The Critical Connection, which will inform you much more about what I learned from Dr. Kravčík and his global circle of colleagues who are busy transforming landscapes to restore water cycles vital for a stable climate.
Dr. Kravčík, who designed our logo, is also an artist. We all know that mixing blue and yellow makes green. Michal often makes the point that the GOLDEN SUN along with BLUE WATER make a GREEN EARTH! To find the meaning of the 8 stars, read on.
Global restoration of natural water cycles is absolutely
essential for biodiversity and climate restoration.
The key to stable water cycles is allowing rain and snow to soak into the land close to where it falls, so it can replenish the moisture in the atmosphere to fall again in a steady cycle of moderate precipitation- the short or small water cycle that is vital to local climates.
Photo: Skip Lisle
Benefits of Implementing
Natural Rainwater Retention
Humans have been depleting water cycles for a long time with poor management of water. Especially in the last century we have allowed water to erode poorly managed agricultural lands and forested slopes.
In our developed areas, water is literally lost down the drain as storm water.
This constant “bleeding” of water from our human-managed landscapes must be slowed down because it is contributing mightily to excessive drought, floods, heat waves, severe storms and sea level rise.
But we can manage our landscapes effectively to bring barren land back to vegetative lushness, productivity and habitat for wildlife– and ultimately an improved climate.
Our Vision: Rehydrating the continents to restore natural water cycles and climate.
Our Mission: Educating globally to empower people to act locally to renew natural small water cycles to aid climate recovery.
Introducing Dr. Michal Kravčík!
A worldwide vision began to take shape with the 2015 publication of our collaborative document, here, A Global Action Plan for the Restoration of Natural Water Cycles and Climate. The research and work of Dr. Kravčík and his colleagues, in Slovakia and other nations, have shown that joining new understanding and centuries-old techniques, along with modern innovations, can provide tangible local solutions to flood, drought, heat waves and severe storms, ultimately moderating global climate. (Free download here.)
Michal’s presentation at Bristol Community College in 2015
No matter where we live, as citizens we can take action to replenish lost water into our local water cycles. Home owners, community groups and municipalities can start by installing rain gardens – attractive bowl-shaped landscaping that soaks up the rain and puts it back into land and plants instead of into the stormwater sewer. Plans are widely available in many areas – here’s a good example from Vermont.
Farmers can take measures to avoid leaving their fields bare, such as cover cropping and no-till practices, and use holistic management for grazing on grasslands. Forest managers can take care to avoid erosion on logging roads. And they, as well as urban land managers, can use innovative techniques of curbing erosion and soaking water into the land. There are many possible ways of retaining the rain and most are being used at present, but the effort needs to be much more widespread in order to make that critical difference in restoring our local water cycles.
How the Water Cycle Works
Please Donate to Voices of Water!
Your donation will help support Bio4Climate’s Voices of Water project, including sharing funds with Michal’s non-profit in Slovakia, and spreading the message that water cools the climate and the biosphere!
If you’d like to send us a check, please make it payable to “Biodiversity for a Livable Climate,” write “Voices of Water” on the memo line, and mail it to:
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
P.O. Box 390469
Cambridge, MA 02139
Many thanks!