Dr Anthony Turton, SERA Water Task Team member

Dr Anthony Turton, SERA Water Task Team member, has been elected a director of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) executive board for a period of three years, starting in January 2007. Turton joins fellow newly-elected board members from 19 countries, representing all six continents.

The IWRA is committed to the improvement of water management world-wide, through dialogue, education and research. Since its inception in 1972, the organisation has actively promoted the sustainable management of water resources around the globe. The organisation's main goal is to build and strengthen partnerships and mechanisms to facilitate the sustainable use of water resources.

Turton holds a doctorate in the strategic management of international rivers in southern Africa from the University of Pretoria. An active member of Pugwash - a global association concerned with the responsible use of science that was founded on the manifesto by Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell - Turton specialises in the analysis of hydro-political issues and political risk assessment at the local, national and international levels.

He works at the interface between science and policy-making and has a specialist interest in transboundary water issues - both surface and aquifer. He is a research associate at the London Water Study Group, based at Kings College, and a founding member and former President of the Universities Partnership for Transboundary Waters - a global partnership of universities all specialising in research on transboundary water issues.

Turton has also edited, authored and co-authored numerous papers, books and publications. He has participated in international conferences as keynote speaker and various study/working groups on strategic water resource management. A major thrust of his current work is mine closure as a sub-national transboundary issue in an economy that has historically been mining-based. This deals with integrating policy between different government departments, often with different mandates and strategic visions, but all linked in some way through water, either as a resource or an effluent stream.

Source: CSIR