By Andreas Harsono*

BANDUNG, Indonesia, Nov 28 (IPS/AMIC) - Water vendor Annur Sukarya makes a 500 percent profit on his investments each month, the envy of any businessman. “I’m just trying to help my neighbours,” he argues.

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Nov 14 (IPS) - The campaign to save South-east Asia’s largest waterway from being blocked by a series of massive dams picked up pace this week, with activists accusing a regional river authority of abandoning its mission to protect the Mekong River.

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

MANILA, Nov 12 (IPS/AMIC) - Supporters call it a model for the future. But critics say it is a conspiracy by multilateral financial institutions to privatise water supplies and open the floodgates for multinational corporations to reap profits from Asia’s poor.

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Sep 19 (IPS) - A tsunami alert, last week, sent thousands of Sri Lankans living along the coasts of this island nation fleeing inland, but authorities were exultant that the early warning systems installed after the disastrous Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami were working.

In commemoration of the 2007 World Water Week on Aug 12-18, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) will conduct a series of seminars and other activities in Stockholm. The events will be held at the Stockholm City Conference Centre in Barnhusgatan 12-14, Stockholm, Sweden.

SEI York Centre's Stacey Noel leads the seminar on "Poverty, Wealth and Water: Prioritising Water Investments" on Aug 12 with a literature review on water linkages with growth and poverty reduction, while Dr. Jennie Barron, also of SEI York Centre, will present research on rainfall variability and GDP growth in Africa.

On Aug 13, the Green Blue Water Initiative aims to promote the integration of land and water management and governance across scales.

The Water and Climate Day on Aug 15 will present sessions on "Mainstreaming Climate into Integrated Water Resources Management  (IWRM) and Millennium Development Goals (MGDs)" and on "Risks and Adaptation for Cities and Utilities".

The first session will discuss the vulnerability of developing countries to the impacts of climate change and how to improve the ability to adapt to these changes and increase resilience.  SEI executive director Johan Rockström will present a report on building water resilience in tropical agriculture.

SEI Stockholm research fellow Holger Stoff will introduce the second session, which will discuss the urgency for mainstreaming climate adaptation into infrastructure and other planning for urban environment.

EcoSanRes, SEI's international environment and development programme on ecological sanitation, will also make its presence felt in such events as "Sanitation 21 — Let's Do Planning and Design Better" and "The Killing Fields of Sanitation — Political Neglect".

The World Water Week in Stockholm aims to annually present and exchange views and experiences between members of scientific, business, policy and civil society communities in order to advance efforts related to water, the environment, livelihoods and poverty reduction.

By Chris Oliver