Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector

2006-06-19T00:00:00Z

Priority issues in the Mediterranean environment

2006-06-19T00:00:00Z

A revised version of the report: "Priority issues in the Mediterranean environment" is available now at the website of the European Environment Agency (EEA). The report, which scans existing and emerging pollution issues, draws a picture at the regional level but also provides an environmental profile for each of the Mediterranean countries. Download it.

2006-07-10T00:00:00Z

2006-07-11T00:00:00Z

Environmental statistics in the Mediterranean countries - Compendium 2005

Jauad El Kharraz — 2006-07-12T00:00:00Z

The MEDSTAT-Environment project II (MED-Env II), implemented between 2003 and 2006 under the regional MEDA statistics cooperation programme (MEDSTAT), has presented the publication “Environmental statistics in the Mediterranean countries - Compendium 2005” during its final forum, held in Amman, Jordan, on the 13^th and 14^th June 2006.

The publication is the second environmental statistics compendium produced by UNEP/MAP Blue Plan, the implementing agency for the MEDSTAT-Environment project (MED-Env), in collaboration with the EC EuropeAid Cooperation Office and Eurostat. It has been compiled on the basis of data coming from the national statistics offices (NSOs) of twelve Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria Cyprus, Malta and Turkey).

The work carried out during the three years of the second phase of the MEDSTAT Environment project aimed at reinforcing and consolidating the institutional capacities of Mediterranean countries to produce national statistics that are recent, relevant, reliable and comparable from one country to the next because they have been harmonised according to international and European standards, while conserving the essential local specificities. In the first phase the project concentrated on the topics of water, waste and land use, while this second phase concentrated its activities on air pollutant emissions, biodiversity and the calculation of environmental indicators for sustainable development.

The United Nation Report on progress towards the MDGs

Jauad El Kharraz — 2006-07-17T00:00:00Z

The United Nation Report on progress towards the MDGs was released on 3 July 2006. The report presents the latest assessment on how far we have come, and how far we have to go in reaching the goals, in each of the world’s regions. With less than a decade left to meet the MDG targets, the United Nations said that there were "staggering" obstacles to succeeding and conditions in many poor countries were actually worsening. See Developmentgateway website for further details.

Exemple of flood prevention in semi arid regions

Equipo Huarango – Ica — 2006-08-01T00:00:00Z

Mud flow control for flood prevention with dams, forestation and environmental management in an arid basin: Quebrada De Cansas, Ica, Peru.
Alejandro Pavez Wellmann, Félix Quinteros Ferreyra.
Equipo Huarango – Ica, associated of IPROGA

Final Minutes: Water Accounting for Integrated Water Resource Management

2006-08-23T00:00:00Z

Final minutes of the User-Producer Conference: Water Accounting for Integrated Water Resource Management that was held in Voorburg, the Netherlands, 22-24 May 2006.

2006-09-28T00:00:00Z

IGRA. A tool for applying the benchmarking initiative to irrigated areas

INIST Diffusion - Service Clients — 2006-10-16T00:00:00Z

L'eau est devenue d'une grande importance, constituant un élément essentiel, et une ressource maigre, c'est pour cela que son utilisation doit être rationnel. L'irrigation est une des activités la plus grande consommatrice d'eau, par conséquent la bonne gestion de cette ressource est primordiale. Les indicateurs de gestion de l'irrigation sont précisément des outils utiles pour améliorer sa conduite, et en optimiser son utilisation. Pour faciliter son utilisation, un outil informatique, nommé « IGRA » (application des indicateurs de gestion de l'irrigation), a été mis en place. Par son intermédiaire, il est plus facile de calculer ces indicateurs, définis à partir d'un large éventail de descripteurs de zones et de variables de campagne d'irrigation. Ainsi, ce programme permet d'établir des comparaisons entre différentes zones et campagnes grâce à une base de données introduite sous trois formats distincts, à savoir le registre, la table et le graphique. Pour cela, quelques phases du procédé benchmarking (comparaison à une référence) sont pris en compte. Les indicateurs sélectionnés pour son application correspondent à ceux définis par la IPTRID. Ils se divisent en quatre groupes: indicateurs de rendements, financiers, d'efficacité et environnementaux. IGRA est utilisé pour le calcul et la comparaison d'indicateurs de gestion de plusieurs zones d'irrigation andalouses. Par conséquent, une étude complète sur les différences de performances d'irrigation entre zones peut être réalisée.

Water Resources Systems Planning and Management - an introduction to methods, models and applications

Daniel P. Loucks & Eelco van Beek — 2006-10-20T00:00:00Z

This book introduces the use of quantitative methods for identifying and evaluating alternative water resources management plans and policies. It can serve water resources engineers and planners as a useful guide. It presents ways of obtaining useful information for managing the world’s vital water resources. The book builds on ‘Water Resources Systems Planning and Analysis’ by Loucks, Stedinger and Haith, published by Prentice Hall in 1981. It not only rigorously updates this text, but it also introduces new modelling methods and case studies. The graphics presented are innovative and in colour. The enclosed CD contains exercises, software and copies of all the figures and tables for use in presentations.

The Economics of Water and Agriculture: Water quantity and quality issues in Mediterranean Agriculture

Jauad El Kharraz — 2006-10-23T00:00:00Z

The high demand of water resources for irrigation purposes is the cause of significant water quantity and quality problems in the Mediterranean countries. The reliance of the Water Framework Directive on water pricing may fail in these countries, sicne water pricing is quite complex to implement in irrigated agriculture, efficiency of water pricing is questionable, and its political acceptability remains to be seen. This calls for alternative directive instruments, such as the re-allocation of water from off-stream use by agricultral, urban and industrial users to environmental uses both in aquifers and streams, and also in the coastal wetlands. Pollution control instruments such as ambient quality standards and pollution emission limits are also needed.

Report on social issues in water management in the Mediterranean Countries

Jauad El Kharraz — 2006-10-24T00:00:00Z

The involvement of local people on the management of scarce resources is a correct approach to try to solve some of the difficulties of decision-making processes. The participation of local stakeholders in decision-making processes has to do with giving them the power to mobilise their own capacities and therefore turning themselves in active actors instead of passive subjects. Of course this type of
co-management requires power sharing between government agencies and citizens with a stake in the common pool of resources and territory. It emphasizes a bottom-up rather than top-down process of participation and implies user groups playing an active role in decision-making. Furthermore, it REPORT ON SOCIAL ISSUES IN WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES 6 requires the understanding of the functioning of local networks of stakeholders. In fact, in the decisionmaking process, they operate as an essential tool in terms of transmission of normative systems, which regulate the decision and allow for identification of actual problems and potentialities, evaluation of the validity strengthen of proposals for intervention, and also understanding interactions and conflicts among the various social actors, whether individual or collective.

2006-10-25T00:00:00Z