SPECIAL GUEST

The River Management Society is pleased to feature a special guest speaker at the closing banquet in the middle of Casco Bay—international water expert, Sandra Postel. Sandra directs the independent Global Water Policy Project, as well as the Center for the Environment at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. From 1988 until 1994, she was vice president for research at the non-profit Worldwatch Institute. In 2002, Sandra was named one of the “Scientific American 50,” by Scientific American magazine, an award recognizing contributions to science and technology.

A leading authority and prolific author on international water issues, one of Sandra’s books, Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, appears in eight languages and was the basis for a 1997 PBS documentary. One article, “Troubled Waters,” was selected for inclusion in the 2001 edition of Best American Science and Nature Writing. In 2005, the Worldwatch Institute released her publication Liquid Assets: The Critical Need to Safeguard Freshwater Ecosystems.

In addition to finding time to author more than 100 articles for publications such as Science, Natural History, Scientific American, Foreign Policy, BioScience, and many others, Sandra is a frequent conference speaker and lecturer, has served as a commentator on CNN’s “Futurewatch,” addressed the European Parliament on environmental issues, and appeared on CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” ABC’s “Nightline,” and NPR’s “Science Friday.”

Sandra has served as advisor to the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the U.S. National Research Council as well as to American Rivers. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Water Resources Association, and on the editorial boards of Ecosystems, Water Policy, and Green Futures. In addition to a B.A. (summa cum laude) in geology and political science at Wittenberg University and an M.E.M. in resource economics and policy at Duke University, Sandra has also received two honorary Doctor of Science degrees and has been awarded the Duke University School of Environment’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and a Pew Scholar’s Award in Conservation and the Environment.

With the symposium looking back at 40 years of water conservation through the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, we can’t think of a better way to end it than looking at the future of water here and throughout the world. This is one closing speaker you can’t miss.