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

Conclusions of the "Regional Workshop for collaborating on IWRM Research: Southern Europe and Mediterranean region"

2008-07-01T00:00:00Z

The "Regional Workshop for collaborating on IWRM Research: Southern Europe and Mediterranean region" took place in Valencia (Spain) last 10-11 June 2008. Its conclusions are already available online. The discussions were useful and provided IWRM-net with a lot if information to take forward. The next stage for IWRM-net is to integrate these discussions with the other discussions around Europe and the website and Knowledge Management Tool will be developed for this role over the summer.

The IWRM ERA-Net project - The strategic objective addressed by the project is developing long-term coordination among national / regional Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) related research programmes in Europe The members of IWRM-net are a network of national/regional programme managers, wishing to enhance good practices, both by transfer of knowledge, and by developing new tools and expertise in IWRM and research management. The workshop was one of a series of four to identify short-term research needs for water management.

This network aims to discuss the research needs within Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, and ther similar countries and to include (but not exclusively) the following topics:
• The development of decision-support systems

for transfer of knowledge
for integrating different aspects of water management
for assessment and comparison of options
for participation, negotiation and consensus building

• water scarcity and managing extreme events

ephemeral streams
critical drought situations

A North Africa Water MDGs Monitoring and Evaluation Programme

2008-07-02T00:00:00Z

During the 3rd session of the African Water Facility (AWF) Governing Council held in Cairo, Egypt, 25-26 June 2006, North African Ministers’ Council on Water (N-AMCOW) through the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), submitted a request to the AWF to support N-AMCOW in a proposal for sub regional MDGs M&E program called “A Water MDGs Monitoring and Evaluation Program in North Africa”. Countries included in the study are Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania. The overall objective of the proposed project is to assess the progress in achieving the African Vision water related targets of the MDGs and IWRM in the Northern African countries and enable a country-led M&E functions in North Africa to produce monitoring data and evaluations that are credible, valid, comparable and useable as tested by internationally recognized monitoring and evaluation standards.

To discuss this request, a Regional M&E Stakeholders Workshop has been organised last 15-17 June 2008 in CEDARE permises in Cairo (Egypt). The workshop gathered around 70 participants, M&E water stakeholders representatives of the 6 AMCOW North riparian countries (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia), Regional organizations (EMWIS, GWP-Med, SSO, WWC, WHO, UNICEF, USAID), development partners, the CEDARE and ADB/AWF. Each riparian country was represented by 6 persons delegation representing the ministries in charge of Water (planning and water resources management departments), Environment, Health, and Statistical Office. Institutional arrangements for project implementation will include establishment of National Task Forces at the country level led by a National Coordinator from a lead water sector institution. At the regional level, CEDARE will establish a Project Management Unit and provide professional and logistical support to the Unit. CEDARE and the Project Management Unit will maintain strong linkages with other regional and international initiatives and programs such as those by GWP, AWC, EMWIS, and SSO. AMCOW_TAC will provide guidance and advice CEDARE regarding the annual work plans and comments on the progress and review reports. The final project document will be submitted to the AWF at the end of August, and in case of its approval it is scheduled that the project begin at early 2009.

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WG Synthesis (Only in French)

Participants list

Agenda

Indicators on water availability and abstraction

2008-07-02T00:00:00Z

In recent years, a growing concern has been expressed throughout the EU regarding water scarcity and drought (WS&D) events. The informal council of Environment Ministers discussed water scarcity and drought end August 2007 and the European Parliament had a public hearing on WS&D in April 2008. The assessment confirmed by the council conclusions also noted high data gaps and data uncertainty in estimating water availability, and water abstraction. Indeed, the Water Frame Directive allows valuable reporting on water quality issues but not on quantity and abstraction. In order to agree on reliable data and indicators related to WS&D, experts from EU member states are working together with the European Environment Agency, EuroStat and the DG Environment of the European Commission. A preliminary indicator framework for WS&D has been defined and an EU test on water quantity reporting has been carried out and discussed. The full framework is expected for late 2008. To get additional input in particular from non EU Mediterranean countries, the work in progress at EU level on the indicator framework could be presented at a meeting of the Med working group on WS&D. To complete this process, EMWIS will prepare an analysis of data availability in non EU Mediterranean countries.

2008-07-02T00:00:00Z

Publication: Assessing Management Regimes in Transboundary River Basins: Do They Support Adaptive Management?

2008-07-02T00:00:00Z

Transboundary river basin management, in itself of high complexity due to the variety of countries and stakeholders involved, is facing increasing challenges due to new social, economic and climate-change drivers. In this article, Tom Raadgever, Erik Mostert, Nicole Kranz, Eduard Interwies, and Jos Timmerman analyse the regime features that contribute to adaptive management of these basins.

Conclusions of the First International Conference on Energy and Climate Change

2008-07-02T00:00:00Z

The "First International Conference on Energy and Climate Change" took place in Tripoli, Libya last 20-22 May 2008. The scope of the conference was to present and discuss problems, best practices and appropriate technology led solutions in developing efficient energy systems in the MENA region with an emphasis on environmental protection, ecosystems, clean energy production, energy efficiency and practical cost-effective solutions. An objective was to highlight problems related to climate change, environment and energy, energy supply and financing of energy systems, particularly in remote and rural areas and in developing countries including the use of the clean development mechanism (CDM).

Presentations have ranged from the development and applications of basic renewable energy technologies adapted for use in the region to the illumination of the relationships between climate change and national and regional energy policies. Renewable energy became a main theme of the conference.

Two panel discussions provided opportunities for all participants to communicate experiences and express opinions about the topics of the conference.

The conclusions of this conference are available now online.

Conclusions of the First International Conference on Energy and Climate Change

2008-07-02T00:00:00Z

Two panel discussions provided opportunities for all participants to communicate experiences and express opinions about the topics of the conference.

The conclusions of this conference are available now online.

2008-07-03T00:00:00Z

Water Resource Protection in the Arab World

2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

From 2 to 4 June 2008, the regional workshop on "Protecting Drinking Water Sources from Pollution: Policy Options and Practical Solutions" was held under the patronage of H.E. the Minister of Water and Irrigation of Jordan, Eng. Raed Abu Soud at the Dead Sea in Jordan. The workshop was organised by the regional BGR-ESCWA water project in cooperation with the MWI-BGR project in Jordan, AWARENET, ACWUA, and was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The workshop brought together over 70 participants from competent government authorities, water utilities, academia, NGOs, the private sector and development projects from 12 Arab Countries, namely: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen, including resource people from Germany, Japan, UK and USA.

The participants issued the "Dead Sea Statement" on water protection recommendations in condensed form. The "Dead Sea Statement" shall facilitate and support advocacy work by local, national and regional initiatives and projects for water and environmental protection.

The statement could be downloaded from AWARENET website: www.awarenet.org

Workshop on water and adaptation to climate change -outcomes

2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

This document has been prepared for the Workshop on Water and Climate Adaptation (Amsterdam, 1–2 July 2008).

It is an intermediary version of the draft guidance on water and climate adaptation being prepared under the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and its Protocol on Water and Health for possible adoption by the Meetings of the Parties to both instruments in 2009/2010.

The document has been jointly prepared by the Convention’s Task Force on Water and Climate and the Protocol’s Task Force on Extreme Weather Events.

The current draft is still incomplete. In particular, the final Guidance should include:
•   An executive summary for policymakers;
•   Examples in the Guidance text to make it more concrete;
•   Case studies to be included in the annexes;
•   Additional recommendations related to water supply and sanitation in extreme events (these policy recommendations should be read together with the technical and operational guidelines on water supply and sanitation in extreme weather events to be developed by the Protocol’s Task Force on Extreme Weather Events);
•   Specific recommendations related to the transboundary context;
•   Financial aspects, in particular approaches to costing.

The final text will also aim at being of recommendatory nature; hence some editing will done to achieve the right tone and formulation of the text.

One of the main objectives of the Workshop on Water and Climate Adaptation is to comment and review the draft guidance and to collect good practices to illustrate its principles. Workshop participants are therefore invited to provide their comments to the existing text as well as suggestions for how its content and main message should be further developed.

2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

Climate change threatens global food and water supply

2008-07-07T00:00:00Z

Scientists from all over the world representing some of the most prestigious national academies of science from the countries of the G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission), Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa have issued a warning that is making people sit up and take note.

Since then, the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reaffirmed that not only is climate change happening, but that anthropogenic warming is influencing many physical and biological systems. Water resources are most vulnerable along with food supplies, health, coastal settlements and some ecosystems, in particular, the arctic, tundra, alpine, and coral reef ecosystems. The most sensitive regions are most likely to include the Arctic, Africa, small islands and the densely populated Asian mega-deltas.

In their latest statement, they not only raise attention to the need for adaptation to climate change but also the need for concrete action to be undertaken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They call for governments to agree, by 2009, to a timetable and funding, as well as formulating a coordinated plan for the construction of a significant number of carbon capture and storage demonstration plants.

The issue of carbon capture is a very important point when one realises the role that coal derived energy will play in the future. According to Martin Rees, ‘Coal will continue to be one of the world's primary energy sources for the next 50 years. If coal burning power plants and industries continue to pump out carbon dioxide unabated, we face a growing risk of triggering a dangerous and irreversible change in the climate. Techniques for carbon capture and storage must therefore be developed urgently. So much is at stake that current efforts are quite inadequate. The nations at the G8 summit should commit themselves to a much expanded and coordinated programme. The sooner this technology can be proven and widely adopted, and annual carbon dioxide emissions stopped from rising, the lower the risk of catastrophic climate change.’

The statement was delivered to the Japanese Government who is hosting the next G8 meeting on July 7-9. The Academies also presented a statement raising awareness on global health issues. They stressed the need for greater international collaboration and coordination on health issues such as water, sanitation, hygiene, food safety, access to medical information and treatments and training for health professionals.

IUCN calls for adopting the right methodologies and participatory approaches in Integrated Water Resources Management : Regional Dialogue on the Future of Ground Water in the MENA region

2008-07-09T00:00:00Z

Under the Patronage of HE Dr Mahmoud Abu Zeid President of the Arab Water Council and Egyptian Minister of Water & Irrigation, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) through its West Asia Middle East Regional Office is holding a Regional Dialogue on the Future of Ground Water in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Region between 12-14 July, 2008 in Cairo. This dialogue is held in cooperation with Center for Environment & Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), The Arab Water Council and funded by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGCS), IUCN Water & Nature Initiative (WANI), in addition to the Global Water Partnership - MED.

The Dialogue will lead to a high level policy meeting where possible avenues for more sustainable use of ground water can be translated in long-term policies in participation with all stakeholders. The Regional Dialogue will take place within the larger perspective of IWRM but focus on groundwater and its conjunctive use and management with other water resources (surface water, use of waste water, desalinization of saltish water).

"The dialogue hopes to foster a Regional Network of Water Knowledge Nodes and will be closely linked to different demonstration projects on sustainable ground water management implemented in countries of the region by the Regional Water Resources & Drylands Programme (REWARD)." Said Dr Odeh Al-Jayyousi, IUCN West Asia/Middle East (WAME) Regional Director.

"The purpose of this dialogue is to adopt the right methodologies and participatory approaches in Integrated Water Resources Management with special attention to the Ground Water Management. IUCN through its REWARD programme will adopt those methodologies in a number of its projects in Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Yemen." Said Peter Laban, IUCN West Asia/Middle East (WAME) REWARD Programme Coordinator.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region suffers from severe water scarcities, high over-abstraction of ground water resources and low conjunctivity of ground and surface water. There are few alternative options for water resources available. The most prominent seem to be desalinized sea water and use of treated waste water. High environmental negative impact on ecosystems and human development can be foreseen when not dealing well with environmental flows and conjunctive use of all water resources.

Ministries of Water, Environment, Agriculture will participate in this dialogue in addition to International donor agencies as well as local and international NGOs. This Dialogue will be made operational through a series of Regional Dialogue Expert Meetings with key institutions in the region over a period of 4 to 5 years.

African Union Summit Focuses on Sanitation

2008-07-10T00:00:00Z

The African Union recently held a Heads of State and Government Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt with the theme of “Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation.” As a contribution to the Summit, WSP-Africa published the eThekwini Declaration and Action Plan to bring the messages, outcomes, and commitments made at the second AfricaSan Conference held in February 2008 to the Summit. In the Declaration, ministers have pledged, among other undertakings, to create separate budget lines for sanitation and hygiene in their countries and to commit at least 0.5% of GDP. The AU Summit welcomed the Declaration and the accompanying actions. The Summit also committed to raising the profile of sanitation in Africa by addressing the gaps in the context of the Declaration.