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

2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

Lecturer in Management and Organization of Sanitation, UNESCO-IHE, The Netherlands

2008-05-08T00:00:00Z

The staff member will be positioned in the Water Services Management (WSM) Core Group of the Department of Management and Institutions (MaI) at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, based in Delft, The Netherlands. The overall focus of this core group is on the development of capacity to sustain water and sanitation services in urban and rural settlements. The new staff member will contribute to the activities of the Core Group in education, research and projects. The new staff member can be from a variety of academic backgrounds, such as Environmental Engineering, the Social Sciences or Management Sciences, and has a proven interest in and experience with the management and organisation of piped and non-piped wastewater and sanitation systems by State and Non-State providers. This contract is initially for 2 years; after this period a permanent contract can be offered. Application deadline: 09 May 2008

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

Climate change-induced water stress and its impacts on natural and managed ecosystems - Study online

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

Impacts of climate change include increasing water scarcity and flood risk, along with decline in water quality. This study explores which ecosystems will be most impacted and analyses how the effects of climate change act as causes of additional emissions, thereby reinforcing global warming in a positive feedback loop. The paper was prepared for the European Parliament by Ecologic jointly with the Institute for European Environmental Policies (IEEP) and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).

EWA and DWA joined during the 14th European Water, Wastewater and Waste Symposium

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

When last 5th May for the fifteenth time IFAT – the International Trade Fair for Water – Sewage – Refuse – Recycling - opens its doors at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre, from 5th to 9th of May the visitors of the most important world Environmental Fair will have the opportunity to visit the specialty international conference programme. The European Water Association (EWA) and the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA), together with different partners from the water and waste management sectors, organised the 14th European Water, Wastewater and Solid Waste Symposium. More than 1000 participants and visitors were registered.

Cowater Awarded AfDB Project to Study Water Sector Governance in Africa

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

Cowater will manage and implement this new project to review the state of governance in the water sector for selected African countries. As part of this, Cowater will prepare tools to assist AfDB staff and recipient governments in governance-related analysis for the preparation and appraisal of water sector projects and programs. The main objective is to review and analyze water sector governance experience applicable to Africa, and to develop tools for AfDB and government staff to use when developing and supervising programs and projects. This new project builds on Cowater’s deep experience in Africa and follows a recent Pan Africa water sector monitoring and evaluation project.

European fund to support post - 2012 climate projects

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and four other public financing institutions have launched a €125 million fund to boost investment in clean energy projects that are to generate carbon credits after 2012.

The Post-2012 Carbon Credit Fund will exclusively purchase and trade carbon credits generated after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The aim is to support the market value of environmentally worthwhile projects amid uncertainty over the actual form that the carbon credit trading regime will take after 2012.

Both the scramble of governments to agree on a follow-up of climate pact by the end of 2009 and the uncertainty over long-term prices for carbon are increasingly affecting the development of projects.

By assuming the inherent regulatory risk, the Fund will give a clear signal to the market of the EIB and its partners' confidence in the development of a post-Kyoto regime while directly supporting environmental projects.

The Fund will contract credits from projects, for delivery as far away as 2022, under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) schemes, which allow industrialised nations to offset carbon emissions at home by funding "clean" projects in the developing world.

The fund will be an asset for the EU to remain at the forefront of international efforts to combat climate change.

More stringent water quality standards requested by the European Parliament

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

The draft directive on surface water, which is the final major piece of EU legislation needed for the Water Framework Directive (WFD), fixes environmental quality standards for 33 pollutants, likely to be found in the rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The Environment Committee of the European Parliament (EP) required at its meeting of 6 May 2008 tougher standards and adopted several amendments on this draft proposal that will serve as a basis for negotiations with the Council.

Member states would have to meet the water quality standards, which take the form of maximum allowable concentrations and annual average values, by 2015. Twelve of the 33 pollutants are already classified as "priority hazardous substances", to be phased out by 2025. The Environment Committee required that 31 more water pollutants have either to be controlled by 2015 or to be banned by 2025.

Furthermore, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) called on the Commission to include 10 more of these 33 pollutants in the category of hazardous substances that have to be phased out completely. MEPs want also to guarantee that Member States ensure the best available water treatment techniques for zones closed to pollution sources.

Moreover MEPs asked the Commission to table a new separate legislative proposal on standards for living organisms and sediments. This request contrasts with the positions of the Council and the Commission seeking to limit checks to surface waters.

Negotiations on the draft proposal continue between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

OECD Environment Ministers Meeting discussed policy solutions for climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and health impacts of pollutions

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

OECD Environment Ministers met on 28-29 April 2008 in Paris to discuss recent environmental trends and the projections in the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030 which highlights policy solutions for climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and health impacts of pollutions, environmental co-operation between OECD countries and emerging economies, challenges (competitiveness concerns) and opportunities (eco-innovation) associated with policies to address climate change, and the need for enhanced government-wide co-operation to shift towards a low-carbon society.

The discussions were centered on the following four themes:

Recent environmental trends and projections for the coming decades: the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030
Environmental co-operation between OECD countries and emerging economies
Competitiveness, eco-innovation and climate change
Strengthening co-operation across government for ambitious climate change policies

Read the Chairs' Summary of the meeting.

Second Preparatory Meeting on the Third World Water Development Report, Perugia, Italy

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

From April 19^th until the 25^th, the second preparatory meeting, or “Integration Meeting,” for the Third World Water Development Report (WWDR-3) took place at the Villa La Colombella in Perugia, Italy, the new headquarters of the WWAP Secretariat. During the meeting, contributors, writers, members of the Technical Advisory Committee, co-chairs of Expert Groups, members of UN-Water and other participants involved in the development of the report discussed draft chapters and their integration. Conclusions and recommendations of the WWDR-3 were also addressed. Please see WWAP’s website for more information on the outcomes of the meeting.

WWAP website

UNESCO Water Portal Newsletter No. 204: Water and Energy

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

NEWS

- Summer School launched on Assessing Biodiversity and Growth Behaviour of Amazonian Floodplain Forests

- PCCP produces new case studies in Africa and Central America

- Second Preparatory Meeting on the Third World Water Development Report, Perugia, Italy

- Last call for abstracts: IV International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management

EVENTS

Featured International Events

- 6th Annual Mekong Flood Forum

- Seminar on Monitoring and Assessment of Transboundary Waters

- Workshop on adaptation to climate change in the water sector

PUBLICATION

Forest hydrology – results of research in Germany and Russia – Edited by H. Puhlmann, R. Schwarze, S.F. Federov and S.V. Marunich - Volume 6 in the IHP/HWRP-Berichte publications series of the German IHP/HWRP National Committee

VACANCY

Social Scientist/Researcher – International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

GETTING TO KNOW UNESCO’S WATER FAMILY

An interview with Jacques Ganoulis – Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - Director, Hydraulics Laboratory - Coordinator, UNESCO Water Chair/INWEB

DID YOU KNOW?

Facts and figures related to Water and Energy

"Technical Paper on Climate Change and Water" released by the IPCC

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

The "Technical Paper on Climate Change and Water" has been released by the IPCC (Intergovernamental Panel on Climate Change) last April and it constitutes an important addition to the 4th IPCC Assessment Report. In the last 20 years the IPCC has issued four multi-volume Assessments (1990, 1995, 2007, and 2007) addressing scientific, technical and socio-economic information about climate change. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report was released on November 17, 2007.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific body tasked to evaluate the risk of climate change caused by human activity. The panel was established in 1988 by two branches of the United Nations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The IPCC does not carry out research, nor does it monitor climate or related phenomena. A main activity of the IPCC is publishing special reports on topics relevant to the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty that acknowledges the possibility of harmful climate change; implementation of the UNFCCC led eventually to the Kyoto Protocol.

The IPCC carries out its work through three Working Groups and a Task Force:

Working Group I assesses the scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change.
Working Group II assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change, and options for adapting to it.
Working Group III assesses options for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and otherwise mitigating climate change.
The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories is responsible for the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme.

The chairman of IPCC is Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, who has been awarded (as representative of the IPCC) of the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change". The ceremony was held last November and he was awarded jointly with former Vice President of the United States Al Gore.

Website: http://www.ipcc.ch/meetings/session28/doc13.pdf
Supplier: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Stefania Prestigiacomo: New Minister of environment in Italian new government

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi led the members of his new government - Italy's 62nd in 62 years - in a swearing-in ceremony in Rome. The new Government Ministers are as follow:

Ministers with portfolio Foreign Affairs: Franco Frattini; Interior: Roberto Maroni; Justice: Angelino Alfano; Economy: Giulio Tremonti; Defence: Ignazio La Russa; Economic Development: Claudio Scajola; Education: Mariastella Gelmini; Agriculture: Luca Zaia; Environment: Stefania Prestigiacomo; Public Works: Altero Matteoli; Welfare: Maurizio Sacconi; Cultural Heritage: Sandro Bondi.

Ministers without portfolio Reform: Umberto Bossi; Simplification: Roberto Calderoli; Implementation: Gianfranco Rotondi; EC Policy: Andrea Ronchi; Equal Opportunities: Mara Carfagna; Regional Affairs: Raffaele Fitto; Youth Policy: Giorgia Meloni; Relations with Parliament: Elio Vito; Innovation: Renato Brunetta.

2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

Spain: Barcelona starts to import water on ships

2008-05-14T00:00:00Z

Barcelona began shipping in drinking water May 13 as severe drought conditions persisted, according to a May 13 Associated Press report on FOXNews.com.

Leonard Carcole, director-general of Aguas de Barcelona, the city’s utility, commented on the dry spring conditions as a Panamanian-flagged tanker loaded with water docked at Barcelona’s port. The ship began its journey at the Spanish city of Tarragona. “It has been one of the driest years ever, and Barcelona has found itself in need of water,” he said.

The ships, scheduled to continue to arrive with water for at least the next three months, will provide the 5.5 million people of greater Barcelona with 6 percent of their usual monthly water consumption. The ship that arrived May 13 carried 5 million gallons of water, enough to fill about eight Olympic-size swimming pools.

A planned $277 million pipeline to bring in water from the Ebro River to the west is also in the works, designed to help the region hang on until a desalination plant is completed in May of next year, the report said.

To read the full report, click here.

For related information on this story, click here.