Second announcement & call for papers: "4th MELIA Workshop - Benchmarking exercise and recommendations on the application of the water framework directive"

The project "MELIA" aims at evaluating the methods for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Mediterranean countries, using the regulations of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) to harmonize water policies in the Mediterranean basin.

The objectives  of the MELIA are to:

• build a knowledge base for planning IWRM, based on the integration of the widest possible contributions;
• develop awareness on social, cultural, economic and technical issues related to water management at the Mediterranean scale;
• propose participation mechanisms and prevention tools to avoid competition for the allocation of the resource between the regions and the various water users;
• support sustainable water policies by provide the institutions with criteria accepted by a various stakeholders of the participating countries;
• provide indicators to implement benchmarking of IWRM in the Mediterranean region;
• facilitate the development of a common language to contribute to water-related negotiations.

These objectives are achieved by creating a common knowledge base and encouraging dialogue among partners through interactive site and through organizing thematic workshops. This 4^th workshop to be held in Amman (Jordan) next 21-25 March 2010; will be devoted to benchmarking exercise and recommendations on the application of the water framework directive.

The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/E) is the most substantial piece of water legislation ever produced by the European Commission, and will provide the major driver for achieving sustainable management of water in the Member States and non-EU countries implementing it for many years to come. It requires that all inland and coastal waters within defined river basin districts must reach at least good status by 2015 and defines how this should be achieved through the establishment of environmental objectives and ecological targets for surface waters. The result will be a healthy water environment achieved by taking due account of environmental, economic and social considerations.

Abstracts must contain at least the Title of the Contribution, the Name(s) and Affiliation(s) of the Author(s) and the Address for correspondence, including Phone, Fax and Email.The Abstract should not exceed 1,000 words and it will be uploaded as a plain text into the on-line registration formulary (click here)

The subject of the presentation should be focused either on comparative studies between national water strategies and the WFD or on the subjects of the Key Note Speeches:

1.- Governance and Public Participation.
2.- Economic Analysis.
3.- Status or Water Bodies.

The Scientific Committee will communicate to the authors the provisional acceptance of their contributions to the Workshop in order authors may submit their Full Paper contribution (maximum 10 pages). These contributions will be included in a CD ROM as well as uploaded in MELIA.

Important Dates: