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The Alcoa Foundation Advancing Sustainability Fellowships Program Responsible Management of Water Resources for Sustainable Development is Launched in Moscow and Samara

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The Responsible Water Resources Management for Sustainable Development Program  is being fulfilled in the Russian Federation with support from the Alcoa Foundation since early 2011 and is a component of Alcoa Foundation three-year global program Advancing Sustainability Research: Innovative Partnerships for Actionable Solutions.

Program Goals in Russia:

• Promote an improvement of socially responsible water resources management systems for sustainable development at federal, regional and municipal levels;
• Form environmentally responsible attitudes to water resources among businesses, government, professionals and citizens.

Program Partners:

• Fund for Sustainable Development (FSD, Moscow)
• Institute of Water Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences (IWP) &

Natural Resources Management Department under Faculty of Public Administration, Moscow State University

• Education Center of Ecology and Safety (Samara) &

Chemical Engineering and Industrial Ecology Faculty, Samara State Technical University (Sam STU)

The core strategy of the Program includes work in partnership with NGOs, scientific organizations and universities and multi-sector cooperation in meeting priority goals and objectives of the water resources sector. This unique initiative brings together diverse activities aimed at addressing critical issues. 

1. RESEARCH AND ANALYTICAL ACTIVITIES

• Analytical reports were written and recommendations on optimizing water resources management on a federal level were developed (they are being disseminated in the form of electronic publications).
• The following reviews are being prepared: “Regional Aspects of Responsible Water Resources Management in Samara Oblast: Development of an Optimal Management Model” and “Water Resources Management on a Municipal Level”.
• Two sociological surveys were carried out among 750 Samara residents: “Attitudes to Water Resources Management: Issues and Possibilities” and “Competence of the Management and Staff of Water Consumer Organizations and Local Self-Government in Environmental Protection”.
• Research is being conducted to improve industrial oily water cleaning technologies (phytocleaning); and a laboratory course “Water Phytocleaning with the Use of Myriad-Leaf” has been introduced at the Chemical Engineering and Industrial Ecology Faculty of SamGTU.

2.  EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

• Three courses for Moscow State University students have been modernized: “Introduction to Natural Resources Management”, “Protection of Water Resources and Sustainable Development” and “The Fundamentals of Environmental Studies” (authors: V.Danilov-Danilyan, V.Pryazhinskaya, E.Venetsianov and N. Mitina).
• Two accessory and extended education curricula were developed and tested: “Sustainable Water Management as the Basis of Sustainable Development” (by a team of authors from Samara) and “Modern Oily Waste Cleaning Technologies”, as well as a course for students “Modern Industrial Sewage Cleaning Methods” (by assistant professor A.Kopnina, SamGTU).
• Three study guides were written and put out: “Sustainable Water Management as the Basis of Sustainable Development”, “Water Phytoremediation” and “Laboratory Studies of Phytocleaning” (by assistant professor A.Kopnina, SamGTU).
• 16 trainings were conducted for 365 industrial ecologists and decision-makers in the field of water resources and environment on a regional and community level from 176 organizations on the following subjects: “Responsible Water Management in Samara Oblast”, “Modern Methods of Industrial Sewage Cleaning” and “Modern Oily Waste Cleaning Technologies”.
• Contests for young scientists were held in the following fields of study: “Modern Oily Waste Cleaning Technologies” and “Responsible Water Resources Management for Sustainable Development”. Eighteen student papers have received award certificates from the Program.

3. COMMUNICATIONS 
To increase public and stakeholder awareness about the developments and recommendations of the Program, modern information and communication technologies are used: websites (http://acqua.municipal-sd.ru, www.fund-sd.ru, www.eco-prof.ru and www.iwp.ru); FSD portal Municipal;  and the electronic journal Local Sustainable Development (www.municipal.ru; www.fsdejournal.ru). Five roundtable discussions were organized and Program information was presented at 12 conferences in Russia.

4. CONSERVATION AND VOLUNTEER DEVELOPMENT
Nearly 250 citizens, together with volunteers from Alcoa-SMZ took part in 6 conservation activities, during which they cleaned and improved the Volga River shore area, the Samarskaya Luka National Park and the Botanical Garden in Samara.