| 1. The 4th World Water Forum will be held
in Mexico City next 16-22 March. This initiative of the World Water Council
aims at raising awareness on water issues all over the world. As the main
international event on water, it seeks to enable multi-stakeholder participation
and dialogue to influence water policy making at a global level, thus assuring
better living standards for people all over the world and a more responsible
social behaviour towards water issues in-line with the pursuit of sustainable
development. EMWIS will be present in Mexico in various sessions; as a Co-Convener
in the session on "Information for Integrated Water Resources Management",
and will be also present at another session on "Distributed Water Information
System". EMWIS will also be promoted on the Spanish and French official
stands in the exhibition area. A web page listing the sessions with a direct
focus on the Mediterranean area has been set up.
2. The International Network of Basin Organizations
(INBO), which gathers members and observers from more than 50 countries
interested in Integrated Water Resource Management at Basin level, will
actively participate in the WWF4 in order to: make better known the real
experiences of basin organizations worldwide, and to mobilize energies
and available expertise to enable new initiatives to take place. Four
sessions devoted to «basin management over the world» will
take place Saturday 18 March 2006, from 11: 00 to 18: 30, at the MEXICO
BANAMEX CENTER. See EMWIS webpage for further information.
3. The Mediterranean Environmental Technical
Assistance Program (METAP) will be represented at the 4th World Water
Forum in Mexico on March 16-22, 2006. METAP will be represented on March,
20th in the session FT4.11 "National and Regional Water Quality Management"
under the theme 4. The key messages of the "water quality monitoring
and information dissemination" and "policy coordination"
guidelines will state the water quality challenges and the various local
actions implemented within Mashreq and Maghreb countries. See EMWIS website
for further information.
4. Related to the Financial Perspectives 2007–2013,
the European Commission DG Development adopted on 25 January 2006 seven
thematic programmes. These are complementary to the geographical programmes
also proposed by the EC (see the Communication of August 2005: de, en,
fr). One of these thematic programmes is related to "Environment
and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy":
de, en, fr. See the website of the EC for further information.
5. The European Development Fund has been the
main financing instrument of ACP-EU cooperation since 1958. It has developed,
however, in parallel with the EU’s integration process and in particular
with the general budget and the inter-institutional task division in the
Union. Whereas the EU budget is supranational and thus gives the European
Parliament certain powers, the EDF is inter-governmental in its funding.
A new internal agreement establishing the 10th EDF committee and the responsibilities
of EU Member States and the European Commission is in preparation. Key
issues which might require changes to the current agreement include: coherence
and consistency with the EU budgetary instruments for external assistance
and the future involvement of the European Parliament. More information
on line.
6. The growing frequency and scale of floods
due to climate change and the increasing number of people and property
located in flood-prone areas means a higher flood risk in Europe. Often
the wide-ranging scope of catastrophic flooding across river basins and
coastal regions demands a cross-border approach to the problem. The ECs
new draft directive to fight floods responds to this challenge. This new
draft directive builds on the EU’s year 2000 Water Framework Directive,
which is the cornerstone of EU water protection policy. See EC website
for further information.
7. The 1st Call for Proposals of the Water Facility
for an amount of €230 M will help over 10 million people to get access
to safe drinking water by 2010, while at the same time around 5 million
people will benefit from improved access to basic sanitation facilities.
Up to 97 projects have been selected for this first call, which will be
followed by a second one in March. PreAWIS (Towards a Pan-African Water
Information System, for a better integration of regional knowledge in
local water management) which is based on EMWIS approach, is among these
projects selected. The interest in the Water Facility’s first Call
for Proposals has been overwhelming. Nearly 800 preliminary proposals
(for a total of €5 Billion, requesting €2,7 Billion from the
Facility) were received following the call in November 2004. Apart from
financing projects resulting from the Calls for Proposals, the Water Facility
is financially supporting several activities of the EUWI, such as the
Nile Basin Initiative (€18 M) and has set €20 M aside for the
African Water Facility. See the website of the EC for further information.
Details about the 2nd call for proposals are available below in point
63.
8. In 2005, the European Investment Bank lent
a total of € 47.4bn (2004: 43.2bn) for projects furthering the European
Union’s political objectives. Financing in the EU-25 Member States
totalled € 42.3bn, of which € 5.8bn in the 10 new Member States.
€ 5.1bn was made available in non-EU countries, of which € 2.0bn
in the Acceding Countries (Bulgaria, Romania) and Accession Countries
(Croatia, Turkey). In 2005, the EIB signed individual loans for environmental
projects totalling € 12.3bn, of which € 1.4bn outside the EU-25.
The EIB’s target of devoting 30-35% of its individual loans in the
EU-25 to projects aimed at protecting or improving the natural or urban
environment has therefore been attained. Over 60% of this lending in the
EU-25 was directed to the urban environment (i.e. public transport and
urban renewal) and 20% to water supply and sanitation projects and the
reduction of industrial pollution. Most of the remaining 20% went on investments
in energy efficiency and renewable energy. See full report.
9.The French EMWIS National Focal Point web
portal reached the number of 3 millions of visits in just one year "2005"!
During the past few years, the portal of the International Office of Water
-OIEau- was transformed into true international gate of world water information,
giving access to many resources: documentation, current events, training
programmes, co-operation and data. This gate is addressed to the professionals
and to decision makers of the water sector and it reflects on the fabric
the principal vocation of OIEau, which is to join together the whole of
the public and private organizations implied in the management and the
protection of the water resources, in France, in Europe and in the World,
to mobilize competences and know-how necessary to a better governance.
Visit OIEau portal.
10. For the first time the official celebrations
of World Environment Day (WED) will be held in North Africa. At a press
conference in Algiers, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
has just announced that the city would host the official celebrations.
This year's theme is Deserts and Desertification. The UN General Assembly
has designated the year 2006 the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the
principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide
awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.
See the website of UNEP for further information. You can also see the
website of the World Environment day.
11. The Mountain Aquifer, the most important
source of water for Israelis and Palestinians, is subject to ongoing pollution
from hundreds of unsanitary dump sites on its sensitive recharge area.
A new report published by FoEME (Friends of the Earth Middle East) found
that over 1 million tons of waste per year is dumped in unsanitary conditions,
polluting scarce water resources shared by Israelis and Palestinians.
The report, titled “A Seeping Time Bomb: Pollution of the Mountain
Aquifer by Solid Waste”, found that as the rampant pollution continues
all sides share the blame. See FoEME website for further information.
12. The Good Water Neighbours project entered
a new phase with new funding from the EU Partnership for Peace program.
The project now includes 17 communities. The new communities are: Jericho
and Auja in the West Bank, Tamar and Jordan Valley Regional Councils in
Israel, as well as Moath Ben Jabal, Ghor As-Safi, and Deir Alla in Jordan.
This phase will mean enhanced efforts for rehabilitation as well as environmental
education in the Jordan Valley. The first 4 years of this project were
supported by the EU SMAP program and the US Government Wye River Program,
and is presently being supported by the EU Partnerships For Peace program.
See FoEME website for further information on this project.
13. The Moroccan Minister of Environment, Water
and Regional planning, Mohamed El Yazghi, discussed last 8th February
in Dubai, with the European Commissioner for the Environment, the Spanish
Minister of Environment, Cristina Narbona and the French Minister of Ecology
and the sustainable development, Nelly Olin during the board meetings
of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the follow-up of the
dynamization of the programme of bilateral co-operation in the field of
environment. The meetings approached the proposals for the promotion of
the policies adopted by the UNEP with the aim of carrying out the objectives
expected on the international level. See Le Matin for further information.
(Only in French)
14. The King Mohammed VI of Morocco chaired
in Tangiers the ceremony of signature of two conventions of urban restoration
of Tangiers and generalization of the drinking water supply. The second
convention was signed by the Wali of Tangiers-Tetuan, Mohamed Hassad,
the president of the urban district of Tangiers, the general manager of
the company "Amendis" and the general manager of the National
office of drinking water (ONEP). See Le Matin for further information.
(Only in French)
15. The King Mohammed VI of Morocco inaugurated
in August 20, 2003 a public plan and participatory study of reflection
and debate as a retrospective evaluation of human development in Morocco
since its Independence and a vision of its possibilities over the next
20 years. This project took the form of a report entitled “50 Years
of Human Development and Possibilities for 2025.” The first result
of this plan is to nurture a large public policy debate in the near and
distant future, in light of lessons learned from the experiences of past
success and failures. This report has included the water sector as a standard
of living and development of physical potential. You can download the
report: "Presentation of the drinking water sector: Assessment and
prospects in Morocco", and "Water resources and Watersheds in
Morocco: 50 years of development (1955-2005)". You can get full information
and reports at the RDH50 website.
16. People who live in the Sahara have traditionally
exploited the availability of underground water thanks to foggara irrigation,
which creates green oases. Though rain may fall only very rarely, a veritable
sea of fresh water exists under the sand dunes. Studies show that the
Sahara aquifer basin is one of the largest in the world. It stretches
across territory belonging to Algeria, Tunisia and Libya and is made up
of two main deposits, the Terminal Complex and the Continental Intercalary.
The two aquifer systems contain enough water to satisfy the needs of Algeria
for 120 centuries at the current rate of consumption. Algeria has planned
two projects. The first consists of sending water from the groundwater
deposits under the In Salah region over a distance of 750km to Tamanrasset,
situated further south. Nearly 50 billion dinars (about € 572 M)
have been released to finance the work. Another project consists of sending
Saharan underground water to the northern steppe regions to supply urban
centres along with the new towns to be built there. A co-operation mechanism
allowing common management has also been put in place. Algeria, Libya
and Tunisia, enjoy good co-operation leading to rational and non-confrontational
management of this precious shared resource. See Magharebia for further
information.
17. The European Commission decided in October
2005 to provide, in the framework of the MEDA Neighbourhood Programme,
financial assistance to eligible MEDA countries in order to encourage
their participation in projects financed by INTERREG. INTERREG aims to
promote transnational and cross-border cooperation in the Mediterranean
area via, inter alia, regional programmes such as MEDOCC (Western Mediterranean)
and Archimed (Eastern Mediterranean). The last meeting of the INTERREG-MEDOCC
Programme, held on 6 February 2006 in Rome, aimed to present the state
of play of ongoing projects financed and to discuss the next stages of
the MEDA-Neighbourhood Programme aiming at financially supporting the
participation of the Maghreb region in the INTERREG-MEDOCC Projects. See
the website of this project for full details.
18. Albania's Ministry of Environment has placed
the Albanian portion of a valuable transboundary wetland system onto the
List of Wetlands of International Importance. Lake Shkodra and River Buna
site (49.562 hectares, centred at 40°52'N 019°22'E) comprises
the eastern side of the largest lake in the Balkan Peninsula as well as
the River Buna with its near natural delta on the East Adriatic coast.
The area includes a variety of habitats: freshwater, brackish water, woodland,
freshwater marshes, wet pastures, sandy shore and rocky habitats. The
site supports about 900-1000 plant species and hosts about 25.000 wintering
waterbirds. Albania now has three Ramsar sites, with Butrint and Karavasta
Lagoon, covering a surface area of 83.062 hectares. See the website of
RAMSAR for further information.
19. Veolia Water, the Water Division of Veolia
Environnement, has been awarded the contract for the management of water
services by the Prostejov Water Company, the public water utility responsible
for the area around this large city in Central Moravia. The contract covers
the production and distribution of drinking water, the collection and
treatment of wastewater, as well as customer services. It will extend
over 25 years and generate total revenues of more than €122 million
over the period. These new contracts further strengthen Veolia Water's
business in the Czech Republic. Over the past 10 years. See the website
of Veolia Water for further information.
20. Shares of RWE AG, Europe's fourth- largest
power company, rose to a record on reports that buyout firm Terra Firma
Capital Partners Ltd., led by the British financier Guy Hands, plans to
buy the company's U.K. water unit for 8 billion pounds ($14.2 billion).
See Bloomberg website for further information.
21. In the context of global economical action,
the measurement of natural resources plays a more and more important role.
From more than 15 years of experience in the field of time series management
systems for natural resources, KISTERS offers its hydrological workbench:
WISKI (the Water Resources Information System for the entire data management
process starting with the data stream for telemetry, continuing through
to time-series management, visualization and interactive graphics up to
the final report), SODA (for Simultaneous Online Data Acquisition) and
BIBER (for discharge measurement and evaluation and the rating curve editor
SKED). See KISTERS website for further information.
22. For the Water Academy (France), the right
to water may become effective for people without access to drinking water
if a responsible authority is designated , if the water service to be
provided is specified and if appropriate financing mechanisms are developed.
As long as the various rights and duties of citizens and authorities in
the area of water supply and sanitation are not spelled out in a law,
the right to water is likely to lack practical effects. In order for the
most deprived people to gain access to water, appropriate financing mechanisms
must be set up to pay the cost of solidarity measures. The position of
the Water Academy is explained in a booklet available at the website of
the Water Academy, or you can see directly the corresponding note, which
is drafted for the 4th World Water Forum (Mexico) and, in particular,
its session on “The Right to Water” convened by the World Water
Council and its partners.
23. Brisbane City Council (Australia) has a
fairly well developed policy on Rainwater Tanks that could be of interest
of Euro-Med cities. Also the committee for Water Quality and Treatment
in Adelaide has recently produced a report “Public Health Aspects
of Rainwater Tanks in Urban Australia”. Check the following search
or their website.
24. A new Memorandum of Collaboration
was signed between the Ramsar and Barcelona Conventions. A brief report
on the signing which took place with the opportunity of the ninth Special
Session of UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum,
is available online on the homepage of MedWet.
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PUBLICATIONS
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33. Zer0-M (Sustainable concepts towards a zero
outflow municipality) project has published the second issue of the journal:
"Sustainable Water Management", which is an initiative of the
project Zer0-M, one of MEDA water projects. This 2nd issue of the journal
discusses some possibilities, which where presented ath the 1st Zer0-M
Conference geld in Turkey (March 2005). It includes papers by scientists
in EU and MEDA countries working in the field of sustainable water management
and contributions of partner projects in the MEDA program. See this issue
for full details.
34. MEDWA (Stakeholder Participatory Sustainable
Water Management at Farm Level) project (one of MEDA water projects) has
launched its official website. This project brings together partners from
Jordan, Palestine, Austria and Spain.
35. EMWIS Tunisian NFP (National Focal Point)
has launched the English version of their website.
36. As part of the actions agreed during the
Water Directors meeting in London to improve the communication of the
intercalibration exercise, DG ENV has published a new web page based on
a text consulted with the Ecostat leaders
and the Intercalibration Steering Group.
37. The report "Using the market for cost-effective
environmental policy (EEA Report No 1/2006)" has been released on
the EEA website. This report presents an assessment of the main and most
recent developments in the use of market-based instruments in European
environmental policy. It covers a range of instruments which are used
as tools to achieve environmental objectives.
38. The Australian Research Institute in Education
for Sustainability (ARIES) has released a new series of reports on the
question of 'how we effectively educate for sustainability'? Environmental
Education (EE) has a long history in Australia and now, with the strength
of the sustainability agenda. You can obtain PDF copies of the full reports
or key findings by downloading from the ARIES website, or through the
Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage website.
39. ?"FEMIP & The Mediterranean partner
countries" brochure gives an in-depth summary of EIB (European Investment
Bank) activity in the Mediterranean partner countries. Pinpointing the
eligible sectors for funding under the EIB’s financing programme,
FEMIP (Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership), this
publication offers an insight into the finance facilities available in
the FEMIP region, as well as underpinning further EIB actions to foster
links between the EU and the Mediterranean Neighbours.
40. "Water Rights Reform: Lessons for Institutional
Design", from Bryan R. Bruns, Claudia Ringler, and Ruth Meinzen-Dick,
is a new book that illustrates ways in which improved water rights and
allocation practices can raise water productivity, enhance livelihoods,
and increase benefits from existing and new investments in the sector.
It may be downloaded for free at the website of IFPRI (International Food
Policy Research Institute).
41. "Everything regarding water managing
systems, engineering view" is a new book which contains everything
about how to manage water systems from collection to drainage system.
To know more about see the content index.
42. A new web site dedicated to the Fight Against
the desertification in the Maghreb has been launched. This site is managed
by the Coordinators of the ONGs network of the Maghreb: Algeria (AREA-ED),
Morocco (ENDA Maghreb) and Tunisia (ASNAPED) and financed by the World
Mechanism (The Global Mechanism (GM) of the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification was established as an instrument to facilitate
the rationalisation of resource allocation and the mobilisation of additional
resources to combat land degradation and poverty) and the IFAD (International
Fund for Agricultural Development). See this website. (Only in French)
43. In the light of the 4th World Forum of Water,
Maghreb Mashreq Alliance for Water (ALMAE) initiated a cycle of Forums
of discussion on Internet. After the first forum on the topic "Water
and unhealthy habitat: Impact on health ", the ALMAE holds a second
forum of discussion on the topic" the Right to Water ". Participate
in this forum.
44. "Urban governance and access to drinking
water in Morocco. Public-Private partnership in Casablanca and Tangiers-Tetuan"
is a recent book by Claude de Miras & Julien Le Tellier, in collaboration
with Abdelmalik Saloui. This book was published by Editions Harmattan,
collection Cities and companies. With the assistance of the ISTED. November
2005. 276 pages.
45. The Mediterranean yearbook Med.2005 is a
joint publication of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed)
and the Fundació CIDOB in Barcelona that analyses the most outstanding
events that took place in the Mediterranean between June 2002 and December
2004. This work is published in three editions: Spanish, English and French.
Med.2005 includes a wide-ranging monographic dossier on the Barcelona
Process (available on-line).
46. The HELCOM eutrophication assessment tool
HEAT has been tested in Danish waters. The latest report is available
at WFD-info website under “New Reports”.
47. The following report has been released on
the EEA website: "Agriculture and environment in EU-15 - the IRENA
indicator report (EEA Report No 6/2005)". This report provides an
assessment of the progress made in the development and interpretation
of the agri-environmental indicators identified in COM (2000) 20 during
the IRENA operation. The report builds on more than 35 detailed indicator
fact sheets that can be found on the IRENA website.
48. Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Volume
1 ($24.95; 200 pages; paperback; 8.5 x 11 in.; November 2005; ISBN: 0-9772464-0-X)
can be ordered from Chelsea Green Publishing Company 800-639-4099. Visit
Harvesting Rainwater website for more information.
49. HELP (Hydrology for Environment, Life and
Policy) has published the third issue of its newsletter. HELP is a joint
initiative of the United Nations Educational Scientific Organization (UNESCO)
and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Following the recommendations
of the 5th UNESCO/WMO International Conference on Hydrology (February
1999), HELP is led by the International Hydrological Programme. See the
website of HELP for further information.
50. WASAMED (WAter SAving in MEDiterranean agriculture)
has published the fifth issue of its newsletter. Wasamed is a thematic
network funded by the European Commission (EC), within the 5th framework
program for the international cooperation with Mediterranean countries
(INCO-MED), aiming at establishing a platform for effective Mediterranean
communication and debate on water saving in agriculture. See the website
of WASAMED for further information.
51. The presentations and report of the 1st
MEDA water regional programme meeting organised by the Monitoring and
Support Unit in Amman (Jordan) last 5-7 December 2005, are available on
line. See EMWIS web page for further information.
52. The US Army Corps of Engineers has just
released (January 2006) Version 3.0 of the HEC Hydrologic Modelling System.
The new version, as well as other recent HEC updates, are available on
the new IAEH version of HEC-Kit. See Hydroweb for further information.
53. The United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) has published its annual report for 2005. Under the headings 'Environment
for a Secure Future' and 'Protecting Nature's Capital' it gives an overview
of UNEP's contribution to sustainable development and the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment. It is available to order from Earthprint. See the website
of UNEP for further information.
54. "Joint EU NGO statement on the rationalisation
of the EC’s thematic funding instruments in the field of external
relations" is a paper that seeks to outline the basic principles
and concerns of EU NGOs relating to the overall process of rationalising
the EC’s thematic funding instruments in the field of external relations.
See this paper for full details.
55. The International Network of Basins Organisations
(INBO) has just published its 14th newsletter issue.
56. The presentations of the speakers of the
conference "Innovation and eco-technologies: which policies of support
in Europe and France" held last January 17th are now available on
ENVIROPEA website. One of the issues discussed in this conference was
about the Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP) presented by Ian
CLARK , from the DG Environment, EC.
57. "Guidelines for Sustainable Water Management
in Tourism Facilities" are the joint result and work of the SWAMP
project team (SWAMP stands for "Sustainable Water Management and
Wastewater Purification in Tourism Facilities"). The intention is
to promote an integrated approach to water supply and wastewater treatment,
targeted towards reuse of water and nutrients, in tourism facilities at
remote locations. The guidelines describe the suggested sanitary techniques
and give advise about best solutions, layout and operation. A decision
tree helps to select the best choice of a scheme for a given situation.
Click here for further information.
58. "2nd World Water Development Report":
key issues and table of contents now available online in English, Spanish
and French. The table of contents of the upcoming 2nd United Nations World
Water Development Report (WWDR2) entitled 'Water, a Shared Responsibility'
is now available online in Spanish and French, while the English version
has been available online since October 2005. WWDR2, covering as it does
all regions and most countries of the world, provides an up-to-date global
overview of the state and uses of freshwater, critical water-related problems
and societies' coping mechanisms. Drawing on an extensive database, expert
analysis, case studies, and hundreds of graphic elements, it is the most
comprehensive undertaking to date of freshwater assessment. Published
every 3 years, the Report provides a mechanism for monitoring changes
in the resource and its management and progress towards achieving development
targets, particularly the Millennium Development Goals. WWDR2 will be
launched on World Water Day, 22 March 2006, at the 4th World Water Forum
in Mexico City, Mexico. Access the WWDR2 table of contents.
59. The French Water Academy has published the
proceedings (in French) of the Euro-African conference held in 22-23 March,
2005 in Paris. This proceedings includes several interesting interventions
about the integrated management and the sustainable development, cultural
dimension of water and territory, the indicators and study cases from
some countries such as Algeria and Morocco.
60. If you want to know the theme of the World
Water Day, what the events are, or how to get involved: visit the homepage
of the WWD 2006! The website has just been launched and will be enriched
in the coming days with information related to the Day's main focus areas.
It is currently available in English, French and Spanish. Visit the website.
61. "How Small Water Enterprises can contribute
to the Millennium Development Goals" is one of the output books from
a project designed to identify and test out ways of improving the water
services delivered to the urban poor through SWEs (Small Water Enterprises).
As such, it will prove an invaluable resource for water utility managers
and policymakers. The book includes accounts of fieldwork undertaken in
a number of African cities: Dar es Salaam (Tanzania); Nairobi (Kenya);
Khartoum (Sudan) and Accra (Ghana). Even in these cities, where dependence
on SWEs is high, the services provided by these SWEs have been poorly
documented until now. See Aquamedia for more information.
62. "Challenges of Water Scarcity: A Business
Case for Financial Institutions" is a report commissioned by the
United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and
the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). This report builds
largely on the need to engage with the financial sector in dealing with
water related challenges, by providing a basic set of risk drivers linked
to water scarcity, which can serve as a platform for identifying potential
investment opportunities for mitigation, contributing to water sustainability.
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CALL FOR TENDERS and PROPOSALS
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63. The 2nd Call for Proposals of the ACP-EU
Water Facility is expected to be launched by Mid March 2006, for an amount
of €178 M. Contrary to the first call for proposals, there will be
only one phase of evaluation for the 2nd Call (Due to the sunset clause
of the 9th EDF programme the Commission is obliged to commit all funds
before the end of 2007). The European Commission unit responsible for
the EU Water Facility organized a meeting on December 9th in Brussels,
to which representatives of local authorities and NGOs from Europe and
Africa were invited. See EUWF website for further information. See the
website of EuropeAid for further details.
64. The Work Programme for the fifth call for
proposals (SSP-5) on "Scientific Support to Policies" has been
published on 22 December 2005, with closing date on 22 March 2006. As
for all SSP calls, the instruments are: STREP, CA and SSA projects. Official
call documents are available at CORDIS webpage.
65. FP6 Open and future calls for proposal are
available on line at the EC website. One of the open calls under the category:
"Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems" is the
thematic call “Climate change and ecosystems“, in particular:
impact of GGE and atmospheric pollutants on climate – ozone layer
– carbon sinks – water cycle – biodiversity and ecosystems
– desertification – natural disasters – sustainable land
management – operational forecasting and modelling – risks assessment
– environment and health – concepts and tools for sustainable
development – specific support actions. The allocated budget is €205
million, and the closing date is: 02/03/2006. Check the details of this
call or contact Rtd-sustainable for more information.
66. A new call for proposals for Marie Curie
Conferences and Training Courses has been published. Deadline: 17 May
2006. See CORDIS website for further information.
67. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and its
Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative (MedWet) are calling for entries for
the Ramsar/MedWet Award for films on water and wetlands. The Ramsar/MedWet
Award granted at the Ecofilms International Films and Visual Arts Festival,
taking place on 20 -25 June 2006, Rhodes, Greece is offered for the third
consecutive year and aims to promote excellence and talent in film making
addressing issues related to water and wetlands. See Medwet website for
further information.
68. Mediterrania CIE (Centre of Ecologic Initiatives)
and MIO-ECSDE (The Mediterranean Information Office for Environment Culture
and Sustainable Development) are calling for candidates to be considered
for the 6th Mediterranean Honorific Awards. This years' theme is Youth
& Environment, while deadline for application is 31/03/2006. This
award will be given to innovative projects relating to activities on youth
and the environment. It is open to all those organisations in the Mediterranean
region working in the field of the protection of the environment, culture,
as well as on sustainable development issues. See the announcement for
further information.
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CALL FOR PAPERS
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69. The 3rd SWIFT-WFD Workshop: "Towards
operational monitoring programmes and protocols for implementation of
Water Framework Directive" to be held in Barcelona (Spain) next May
15-16, 2006, has announced a call for papers to be due on 1st April. The
objectives of this workshop are mainly to deal with monitoring activities,
latest developments on screening methods based on immunochemistry and
biosensors for water monitoring, chemical analytical improvements for
identification and trace level quantitation of pollutants in water including
novel sampling devices, data treatment interpretation of the monitoring
data based on EU funded river basin case studies of AQUATERRA and related
projects, and the application of innovative screening tools like ELISA.
See EMWIS news section for further information.
70. The organisers of the International Workshop:
"International Perspectives on Balancing Multiple Bottom Lines: Financial,
Environmental, and Social Justice" which is organised under the umbrella
of the 5th World Water Congress to be held in 10-14 September 2006 in
Beijing (China), look for potential speakers who might be able to attend
it. See the Workshop proposal and an abstract on the main issue of the
workshop for further information. You can also contact Cheryl K. Davis.
You can finally consult the official website.
71. The 3rd International Conference on the
Water Resources in the Mediterranean Basin "WATMED 3" to be
held in Tripoli (Lebanon) on November 1-3, 2006, announced a call for
paper to be due on 30 March 2006. It aims to review and compare the state
of water resources in the Mediterranean basin, to reconcile between scarcity,
quality, durability of resources, to interrelationship between global
change, drought and desertification, to review the methods of for assessment
and monitoring of aquatic ecosystems "health", to formulate
strategies and identify ecotechnological approaches for the restoration
and management of aquatic ecosystems, and to identify areas of co-operation
in aquatic sciences between Mediterranean countries. See EMWIS news section
for further information.
72. A Special Session on 'Remote Sensing and
GIS for Environmental Monitoring' is organised within EEESD'06 that will
be held in Athens (Greece) on July 11-13, 2006. Deadline for paper submission:
March 25, 2006.
73. The 3rd Harmoni-CA Forum & Conference
(5-7th April 2006, Osnabrueck): “Supporting the WFD implementation
-Tools for monitoring program design and public participation”. In
addition to public participation and monitoring program design, the event
discusses also tools and methods supporting the decision making process
in integrative river basin management. In a total of fourteen sessions,
results from finalized and ongoing European projects will be introduced,
including special workshops by the projects HarmoniQuA and EuroLimpacs.
For the detailed program and more information, check HARMONI-CA website
or our EMWIS news section. Registration is possible until 31st March.
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TRAINING
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74. The National Centre of Training for Water
Jobs in France (CNFME) organises a training session to know about the
techniques of sea water desalination for the production of drinking water,
and to study the problems by case studies. This training will be held
in Paris the days 23 & 24 May 2006. See the website of CNFME for more
details about it. You can also see the list of training sessions offered
by the CNFME in 2006 at the same website.
75. A 6-day intensive course on: Theory and
Practice of Brackish/Seawater Desalination by Reverse Osmosis Technology
(Phase One) will be held in Hurghada (Egypt) for the first phase of this
course during 3 days (07-09 March 2006). The seminar is aimed at technicians
involved in desalination by Reverse Osmosis technology, as operators,
design-engineers or site managers with the target of providing practical
knowledge and information about raw water pre-treatment, system design
and system construction. Forty participants will be selected by MEDRC/TMEu
based on internal procedures. See EMWIS news section for further details.
76. A 4-day intensive course on: Fundamentals,
Design and Applications of RO Membrane Desalination, will be held Bejaia
(Algeria) the days 18-21 March 2006. This course is organised by the MEDRC
in collaboration with Bejaia University. This course will provide the
participants with required expertise and knowledge to operate the RO desalination
plants. See EMWIS news section for further details.
77. A 4-day intensive course on: "MSF distillation
- Fundamentals and Practice" is organised by the MEDRC in collaboration
with Oman National Electric Co in Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) the days
16-19 of April 2006. This course is aimed at those new to distillation
and to those who wish to improve their knowledge and understanding of
the operation, maintenance and potentials of this important desalination
process. The course will be of particular interest to many of those engineers
brought up in the power industry, and who now find that their responsibilities
include cogeneration systems consisting of boilers, generators and distiller
units. See EMWIS news section for further details.
78. Intensive Courses in Desalination: Thermal
processes and economics, management and economics, will be held in L'Aquila,
Italy on July 26-27 of the next year. For further information see EMWIS
news section.
79. A course titled: "International Training
of Trainers on Wetland Management", focusing on the facilitation
of multi-stakeholder processes and curriculum development (ICWM-TOT) is
to be held in Wageningen (The Netherlands) between 8 and 26 May 2006.
The ICWM-TOT has been designed for (future) trainers in wetland management.
The course programme is suitable for wetland managers and land use planners,
policy makers, consultants, researchers and NGO staff who have affinity
with training. See EMWIS news section for further details.
80. The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
organises a Short Course on Water Quality Assessment will be held in Delft
(The Netherlands) between 13 February & 3 March 2006. The objective
of this three week course is to acquaint participants with the principles,
techniques and management issues related to water quality description,
monitoring and assessment. See The website of UNESCO for further information.
81. The UNESCO-IHE organises an Online Short
Course on Flood Modelling for Management, from 2006-05-17 to 2006-05-26,
This course is a postgraduate study ideally suited for flood managers,
water managers, flood modellers, engineers and scientists dealing with
floods. This course will address questions such as: How are floods generated
and how do they develop in time? What are better ways of designing flood
protection schemes using models? What models can be used for forecasting
floods? How should model results be used to inform decision-makers? See
The website of UNESCO for further information.
82. The International Agricultural Training
Centre (IATC) at Galillee College in Israel, invite you to attend the
scheduled March 2 – 20, 2006 “International Agricultural programmes”,
in addition to visiting the Agro-Mashov Agricultural Exhibition on the
1st of March 2006 during exhibition day. The training programmes include
according to your choice the following themes: Crop Production Management,
Irrigation and Water Management in Arid Zones, Agricultural Business Management,
and Marketing and Export of Agricultural Products. Additional information
regarding the programme, the application procedure and our special tuition
scholarship schemes may be obtained via the College web site or by contacting
the IATC Assistant Director Mr. Noam Nevo, or visiting EMWIS news section.
83. EduServ is the education service of European
Spatial Data Research (EuroSDR). Its fourth module EduServ4 will take
place will take place from March to June 2006 and consists of the following
four 2-Week Distance eLearning courses: 1. Quality of Geospatial Data
and the Related Statistical Concepts, 2. Co-ordinate systems and transformations
for spatial position, 3. Positional Accuracy Improvement in GI databases,
4. Methods for checking and improving of DTMs. See the website of EduServ
for further information.
84. ESA - FFG Summer School on 'Monitoring of
Natural Hazards from Space' will be organised in Alpbach/Tyrol (Austria)
on July 25 - August 3, 2006. Deadline registration: 31st March, 2006.
Registration fee: €330. See the website of ISPRS (International Society
for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) for further information.
85. An European in service training course ”Water
& Life” is to be organised in Pafos (Cyprus) next May 20-26th,
by The the new Media School. The goals of the course are to illustrate
the links between life-water-ecology and society, to train the participants
in the use of the biotic index for water quality assessment, to promote
water as theme for environmental education and to provide scientific tools
for sustainable development. See EMWIS news section for further information.
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