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 Summary Record of First Experts MeetingWater Supply and Management
12-14 May 1998
Hua-Hin, Prachuabkirikan, Thailand
The Water Experts Meeting was held at Royal Garden Resort Hotel, Hua-Hin,
between 12-14 May 1998. The meeting, which comprised a 3-day workshop,
was one of the activities under the Center’s research project on Water
Supply and Management. There were 10 water experts from 9 different economies
participating in the workshop, including experts from Australia, Canada,
Chile, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, and Thailand.
Facilitator:
Professor Ron Johnston, Executive Director, Australian Center for Innovation
and International Competitiveness Limited (ACIIC), University of Sydney,
Australia
Workshop Program
Professor Tegart, Director
of the APEC Center for Technology Foresight, welcomed all participants
and gave an introduction to the workshop, as well as inviting Dr. Chatri
Sripaipan, the Co-director, to give a brief presentation about the Center.
This was followed by Professor Ron Johnston's introduction to foresight.
The experts from 9 economies later provided an overview of water supply
and management issues in their countries. Despite the vast diversity of
the economies, common issues raised were fragmentation of water management,
scarcity of water, and polluted water. On the second day, Professor Ron
Johnston presented the issues paper for discussion, resulting in a list
of 14 key issues being accepted by the expert group. He then went on to
explain the techniques of scenario planning in detail. Following that,
the group cooperatively identified possible uncertainties to be used in
the following session (15 uncertainties were generated). Examples of the
uncertainties were the most severe El Nino ever, wat wars, and a breakthrough
in desalination technology. In the afternoon, the experts were divided
into three small groups, each of which was assigned 4-5 uncertainties
to be used as a basis for developing a scenario with the time frame of
the year 2010. The three groups reported their scenarios at the end of
the session. The scenarios reported included water as a trading commodity
in a market dominated by 3 multi-national companies, creative responses
to extreme water scarcity caused by climate change, and integrated water
management through international political accord. The last day’s activities
included refinement of scenarios (small groups), presentation and discussion
of the refined scenarios. To meet Dr. Taeyoung Shin’s requirements for
Delphi survey development, each group generated about 12-15 possible topics/issues
for Delphi survey based on the scenarios they had developed. In the closing
session, Professor Tegart outlined the future schedule of the study.
LIST OF PARTICIPANT
Experts and Consultants, as listed
here
Guest of Honor
Dr. Yongyuth Yuthavong
Director, National Science and Technology Development Agency
Observer
Mr. Kwanchai Lamubol
Assistant Deputy Director, National Electronics and Computer Technology
Center, representative of Thai Foresight Unit
APEC TF Staff
Professor Greg Tegart, Director
Dr. Chatri Sripaipan, Co-director
Monthida Sitathani, Senior International Coordinator
Tamsin Jewell, International Coordinator
Mayuree Vathanakuljaras, International Coordinator
Nalinrat Sirikantraporn, International Coordinator
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