News for 2007/10

1. Bunyah GCC Infrastructure Fund will make investments in the GCC and MENA region
2. Target investment include potable water and waste water processing facilities
3. Public Private Partnership (PPP) type transaction structures including BOT, BOO,  BOOT
4. Project size in excess of US$150m
5. Government sponsored as well as private sector sponsored transactions/projects
6. 
   

• Enhancing the capacity of the civil society sector to support and participate in the implementation of integrated approaches to water management (including engaging organisations or groups sensitive to women issues, e.g. NGOs, universities);
• Engaging organisations responsible for river basin management to ensure that they are enabled to apply the necessary approaches, tools, mechanisms and know-how in and integrated water (and wetland) resource management including approaches to engage civil society;
• Developing civil society knowledge concerning policy and practical aspects of wetlands and water management.

- Order the entire book from Earthscan
- View the Summary (PDF 5MB)
- View the Chapters

• to improve the effectiveness of EU member state research on water for development in Africa and the Mekong;
• deliver innovations which make a real improvement to the lives of the poor; and
• speed up the transfer of knowledge from research through to practical use. 

•     Compile information on European partner water research funding for poverty reduction
•     Work with developing country partners in identifying their priorities for water-related research
•     Establish tools (web portals, reports, workshops, and review meetings) to enable more efficient sharing of information between researchers, policy makers and practitioners
•     Develop and implement a strategy and work plan where priority topics for collaboration will be identified

1. Information exchange amongst Member States and Community on S&T international cooperation thus promoting an effective and efficient international scientific EU cooperation strategy at EU level;
2. Definition and preparation of joint activities;
3. Implementation of commonly agreed objectives and joint activities by facilitating innovative programmatic approaches;
4. Funding of joint trans-national research actions.

• a) be strategically planned (i.e. be composed of number of research projects focused on a defined subject area or set of problems, that are scheduled to run for a set period of time and that have a co-ordinated management); and
• b) be carried out at national or regional level; and
• c) either be financed or managed directly by national or regional public bodies, or by structures (e.g. agencies) closely related to or mandated by public authorities.

• Programme owners are typically national/regional ministries/governments responsible for defining, financing or managing research programmes carried out at national or regional level.
• Programme “managers” (such as research councils or funding agencies) are other national or regional organisations that manage research programmes under the supervision of the programme owners.
• Programme owners (typically national ministries/regional authorities) which do not have a running or fully fledged research programme at the moment of submitting an ERA-NET proposal, but which are planning or have committed to set up such a programme, are also eligible if their participation is well justified and adds value to the overall programme coordination. As such, countries or regions which have less diverse research programmes (in particular new Member States and candidate associated countries) will find their involvement in the ERA-NET scheme greatly facilitated.

Please feel free to fill in our Communication surveyor send your comments to uicnmed@iucn.org.

Full Report
Presentations
Pictures
List of participants
Programme
Communication Survey

Europe's environment — The fourth assessment

The latest in a series of assessments of the pan-European environment published over the past 15 years by the EEA, the report assesses environmental progress in 53 countries — an area with a total population of more than 870 million people. The region includes: Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA), South Eastern Europe (SEE), as well as Western and Central Europe (WCE). The report highlights priority areas such as:

• environment-related health concerns (issues related to air quality, inland waters, soil, hazardous chemicals);
• climate change;
• biodiversity loss;
• overuse of marine resources;
• the current patterns of production and consumption; and
• pressures caused by economic activities (agriculture, tourism, transport, energy).

Improved implementation of existing policies and the setting of clear, realistic targets is a key recommendation of the report. However, a shared environmental information system is also urgently required to deal with a prevailing lack of reliable, accessible and comparable environmental information across the pan-European region.

Reports free download

Download the fourth assessment report, its executive summary and a powerpoint presentation with the key messages.

In this issue:

-          Editorial: Asia-Pacific: A Political Forum for Water - by Loïc Fauchon, President

-          Focus on: An Unfortunate Anniversary

-          WWC News

ü       A First Step towards China

ü       “I am Water”

ü       Adaptation to Climate Change – Which Strategy for Water Stakeholders?

ü       The African Country Profile Online

ü       Visit on Spanish Soil

ü       Water in the heart of the Mediterranean Union

- Towards the 5^th Forum

ü       What’s up on the Forum Side?

ü       First Announcement Now Available to Download

ü       3d ISC and Committee Meetings

ü       Mexico in Marseille to Prepare Istanbul

- In Brief

ü       Real Life behind Statistics

-          News from Members and Partners

ü       Jon Lane Appointed New Executive Director of WSSCC

ü       Gathering Young Water Professionals

ü       Concurso de Videos

-          Brown News

ü       Official Launching of the IYS 2008

ü       Poo Productions – Making a Difference through Media

ü       WTA Inaugural General Assembly

-          Capacity Building, Agenda, Publications, News

• Experts workplan for the period 2007–2009, adopted by the fourth meeting of the parties to the water convention (bonn, 20-22 november 2006) and from the programme of work for 2007–2009 adopted by the first meeting of the parties to the protocol on water and health  (geneva, 17–19 january 2007)
• Guidance towards climate-proofing of water management draft prepared by the ad hoc core group on water and climate
• Draft questionnaire on the impacts of climate change on water resources, and on adaptation strategies prepared by the ad hoc core group on water and climate

LIFE projects on water scarcity

A number of LIFE projects have worked directly or indirectly to improve performance or demonstrate new best practice in these areas. Several projects have worked to develop new production processes reducing or eliminating the use of water. The project ‘Microfinishing’ ( LIFE02 ENV/IT/000052) developed a new dry process of ceramic finishing that reduced water usage in this previously water-intensive industry to zero.

The project ‘Hagar’ ( LIFE02 ENV/E/000210) developed an effective new system of irrigation, which calculates the real-time water requirements of plants and avoids unnecessary watering of crops. The project achieved a reduction in water usage in twelve pilot fields and trained farmers and technicians in the implementation of the system.

Another recently finished project dedicated to more rational water usage in irrigation was the Optimizagua project in Spain ( LIFE03 ENV/E/000164). It combined innovative technologies with traditional rainwater collection methods to reduce demand on the general water supply (see project article is this edition of LIFEnews).

Preventing water loss from leaks is a key area of concern and the Dropawater project ( LIFE02 ENV/E/000183) checked all water supply pipes in the Spanish city of Ceuta using advanced technology. The project then implemented a “Compact Pipe/Roll Down” technique to repair leaking pipes, which were sheathed in a new polyethylene pipe jacket. The project reduced the daily water usage in the city by nearly 3,000m³. 

Similarly, the Rakvere LIFE project ( LIFE00 ENV/EE/000922) introduced a comprehensive monitoring system for its water supply network. The system measures water supply, consumption and flow and detected leaks. It also provided computerised tools which enabled more effective management of the water supply. Water loss was decreased from 37% to 21% and the time taken to detect leaks was decreased from up to six days to within three days.

A project focused on the re-use of water was Aquasave ( LIFE97 ENV/IT/000106). It introduced a system to collect and treat water coming from showers, bathtubs and washbasins (grey water) in a residential building in Bologna. After filtration and disinfection, the water was diverted for use in toilet flushing. It also collected and treated rainwater before sending it to be used in dishwashers and washing machines. These measures reduced demand for drinking water in the building by 20%. Furthermore, the project demonstrated that water-efficient appliances could further reduce consumption by 30%.

Another project looked at the “Reuse of filter backwash water from groundwater treatment for drinking water purposes with a submerged membrane system” ( LIFE98 ENV/D/000509). Standard water filters have to be washed out with fresh water for continued use resulting in dirty waste water. This project demonstrated the feasibility of a large-scale system to recover 99.85% of the water used to clean the filters by micro-filtration.

Whilst most of these projects are aimed at reducing water usage without changing consumption patterns, the LIFE project “Zaragoza, the Water-saving City” ( LIFE96 ENV/E/000509) did attempt to change the water consumption habits of the local population. It implemented a massive information campaign on water saving using a full range of information and promotional tools. It doubled the number of households engaged in water-saving measures, enabling the saving of 1.2 thousand million litres of water in 1998. It also encouraged more than 140 companies to market water-saving products.

Each of these LIFE projects demonstrates an effective method for improving the efficiency of water usage. Each of them thus makes a contribution to efforts to respond to the challenge posed by water scarcity and droughts. They show both policy-makers and practitioners what it is possible to do and the results that can be achieved.