IWRM Karlsruhe 2012: Call for Papers

The global population has almost tripled in the last century but water consumption worldwide is almost six times higher. Experts from UNO and human rights organisations are warning: conflicts over use are pre-programmed where water resources are running short.

How can limited water resources be used properly? What planning and regulatory concepts are necessary for this for regions and cities? IWRM Karlsruhe, Integrated Water Resources Management, will be dealing with these issues from 21st to 22nd November 2012. The convention with accompanying exhibition invites those responsible for public and private water supply and wastewater disposal companies, research institutes, universities and students, experts from industry and public companies and partnerships, experts from public authorities, funding organisations, international project management and development organisations, consultants from the water and wastewater sector, policy decision-makers from politics, public and private investors, and those responsible for urban and rural planning from all over the world to the Karlsruhe Convention Centre. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is appearing this year for the first time as a co-organiser.

Britta Wirtz, speaker of the Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress-GmbH management board, explains: "The need for an international information and communication platform on the topic of integrated water resources management was confirmed by the success of the IWRM Karlsruhe premiere in November 2010 with over 400 participants from 33 nations. The importance of this topic is still valid in 2012 and gaining global political and social significance."

The dimensionality of water resources management in particular has increased. The reasons for this include the increasing conflicts between water users, the more and more important regulatory requirements for the implementation of sustainable water management and the growing energy demand for the supply of water resources to meet user needs. This development is mirrored in the IWRM Karlsruhe 2012 programme. Prof. Dr. Hartwig Steusloff from Karlsruher Fraunhofer IOSB and Chair of the Convention Committee states: "IWRM Karlsruhe 2012 should have a clear focus on the issues of competition when using limited water resources with regards to regional and urban-based, as well as planning and regulatory aspects, without excluding the technical and scientific topics of IWRM."

In the accompanying specialist exhibition, IWRM Karlsrule also gives visitors the chance to discuss new models and solutions from practice with suppliers and service providers. Exhibitors cover the whole range of IWRM: from water collection and distribution, water and wastewater preparation or treatment, analysis technology, environmental technology, science and research and technology transfer. Consulting companies and engineers and planners are also represented as are ICT, hardware and software suppliers for data transfer and management as well as for simulation. Other exhibition topics are services in the water, wastewater and geographic information system (GIS) sectors; associations, institutes, and specialist publishers also have a platform for their new topics and activities. In the industrial forum, companies and institutes present their new developments, methods and tools for implementing sustainable IWRM.

Call for Papers by 16th March 2012

With this call for papers, experts from research and science, industry and public authorities, who deal with, develop or provide IWRM systems are invited to actively participate in IWRM Karlsruhe 2012 Convention by submitting contributions. Interested speakers have the option of submitting their lectures with a lecture title, information about the author and an abstract of two printed sides at the most including 10 keywords by 16th March 2012 to the Call For Papers Centre on the website www.iwrm-karlsruhe.com.

The lectures should be submitted in English, the convention language will also be English. 15 minutes are planned with a follow-up discussion of 5 minutes for all lectures. The contributions selected by the committee will be presented during the convention and displayed as a poster. The contributions selected will be published in a quotable form in the convention volume.

International expertise on the future topic of IWRM

IWRM Karlsruhe 2012 wants to bring together the international knowledge and experience of experts on integrated water resources management and create a foundation for new approaches and technologies. The decisive factor for Karlsruhe as the venue for this trendsetting event is the huge amount of expertise in the region: an extensive network of expertise on the topic of IWRM has developed here with first-class universities and applied research institutes, water centres and companies, who carry out projects all over the world.

IWRM Karlsruhe 2012 can count on numerous partners. From the co-organiser KIT it is mainly the Institute for Water and River Basin Management, the Institute for Applied Geosciences, Department of Hydrogeology and the Engler-Bunte-Institut, Department of Water Chemistry, that are taking part in IWRM 2012. The institutes are not only contributing their extensive expertise to the event but also their worldwide contacts. The Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (FhG-IOSB) is not just an organiser but also an initiator of IWRM Karlsruhe. It has been researching tools and solutions worldwide for years, to permanently guarantee an adequate water supply for various types of use. The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovations Research (FhG-ISI) also supports the event using synergy from their employees' technical, economic and social-sciences knowledge. Other IWRM Karlsruhe partners include Siemens AG, the Chemisches Labor Dr. Vogt, the TZW, the State Office of Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg and the German Water Partnership, as a network in which private and public companies from the water sector, professional associations and institutes from business, science and research are united under one umbrella.

You can obtain more information from: www.iwrm-karlsruhe.com.