Maria-Tzina Leria

Maria-Tzina Leria is a Graduate student of Environmental Policy in the Masters of Environmental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a researcher for the Philadelphia Global Water Initiative (PGWI) and for the European Institute for Law, Science and Diplomacy. She interned for the European Parliament in constitutional and legal affairs. Moreover, she was an intern for the Greek Parliament, carrying out a research on the necessity of the foundation of a Global Environment Organization and she has cooperated with Gallagher &Gallagher Inc. for organizing the World Green Energy Symposium 2011, which took place in Philadelphia. Maria-Tzina was awarded the Young Leader Artemis Award in October 2011 by the European American Women’s Council (EAWC), as an honor for her volunteer work on sustainability and youth issues. She was also nominated as the Executive Global President of Youth of EAWC. She received a B.A. from the University of Macedonia in Greece in 2009, with a thesis on Water Law and Water-related wars. She has received the EU “Erasmus” scholarship and two scholarships of academic excellence from the National Scholarship Foundation of Greece. She also received a scholarship from Dimitris Karlos Foundation for her research paper on the ethics of war. While at Penn, she volunteers for PGWI and she participates in a team running an innovative project on Electric Vehicles. She has an outgoing personality, interested in meeting new people and seeing new places. She volunteers for YMCA in Greece and she is currently the liaison between YMCA Greece and YMCA USA. She loves also dancing flamenco and hiking.

Distinguishing different water qualities: Interview with Ger Bergkamp of IWA

Addressing the problem of water scarcity was the major concern during the World Water Forum 6. Many solutions were suggested, but it seems that the answer to this crucial problem can be found in the sustainable use of water resources. In the field of sustainability, innovation must be applied in every possible sense, in order for modern civilization to keep developing and flourishing. While attending several different discussion panels that focused on possible solutions such as desalination, replacement of malfunctioning infrastructure and filtration of rainwater, a certain proposal gained my attention. During the High Level Panel on Transboundary Waters, Mr Ger Bergkamp, Regional Group and Programmes of IWA, introduced the idea of the use of different water qualities.

By: Maria-Tzina Leria | April 15, 2012 | World Water Forum 2012

Sustainable Development and Water: Desalination in the Arab World

It is common knowledge that we are unsustainable consumers of water resources. Agricultural, household and industrial use deplete the Earth’s freshwater and experts state that water shortages will cause the next wars. One of the most water sensitive regions of the world is the Middle East. Rich in fossil fuels, but water-poor, the Arab world is already facing the cruel reality of insufficient water resources from unsustainable use and losses due to old and broken water infrastructure. These concerns were extensively discussed during the World Water Forum 6.

By: Maria-Tzina Leria | April 1, 2012 | World Water Forum 2012

Water for All in Algeria: Interview with Jean Marc Jahn

(post co-written with Caroline D’Angel0)

Student Reporter Maria-Tzina Leria interviewed Jean Marc Jahn, Chief Executive Officer of Société des Eaux et de l’Assainissement d’Alger (SEAAL) at the World Water Forum (you can listen to the podcast below). SEAAL is a private-public partnership between Algeria’s government and Suez Environment, the second largest private water company in the world . The partnership exists to expand water and sanitation access, as well as to build capacity at the local level through a specific program, Water International Knowledge Transfer Initiative (WIKTI), which provides videos, training and education to local operators. Suez presented this partnership and WIKTI as a ‘solutions’ in the Village of Solutions and on SolutionsforChange.org, the Forum’s online depository. Mr. Jahn brought Algerian operators with him to the World Water Forum and was clearly proud of the program. He says in the interview that in the past five years, there has been”…60,000 days of training in Algiers, and more than 50 percent of the trainers are Algerian. In the beginning it was zero.”

By: Maria-Tzina Leria | March 20, 2012 | World Water Forum 2012

Food, Energy and Water: The Nexus Determining Our Future

By the second day of the World Water Forum 6, in Marseilles, France, talks were already starting to heat up! Taking advantage of my Press badge, I decided to attend a closed-for-the-public session on “Transboundary Waters”. Never had I imagined before that representatives of countries, international organizations, and private and public sectors would agree on unifyng and synchronizing their efforts under the threat of a common enemy: Water Scarcity. The meeting was chaired by Germany andco-chaired by Oman. Attendees included representatives of Austria, Botswana, France, Kyrgystan, Morocco, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, the European Commission, the IUCN, the World Energy Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Business Action for Water, the International Water Association, the World Water Council, theFood and Agriculture Organization, the WIWP, the UN Habitat, the UNCCD, the UN Industrial Development Organization and the WWF.