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.
================================================= NOMINATIONS & VACANCIES ================================================= 25. Ms. Anita Fassio, replaced Ms. Roberta Camera as National Coordinator for the ISIIMM project (one of MEDA water projects). Anita will keep her position of River Basin Facilitator as well. See ISIIMM page at our website for further information about this project. 26. Nominations Welcome for the 2006 Stockholm Industry Water Award: The nomination period for the 2006 Stockholm Industry Water Award has now started. Nominations are welcome until February 28, 2006. The Stockholm Industry Water Award stimulates business sector contributions to sustainable development in the water sector, and to minimised water consumption and pollution load on the environment. The nomination brochure and an on-line nomination form can be found by visiting the website of SIWI. 27. Young people with ideas to improve the quality of life through practical water projects can win an opportunity to attend an international event in Sweden as part of the international Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition. The winner will also receive a prize of $5000. Winners of the national heats being held in 30 countries go on to the finals, held during World Water Week in Stockholm each August. Further information is on the Stockholm International Water Institute website. The final written submission should be sent by email to CIWEM or by post to: SJWP, CIWEM, 15 John St, London WC1N 2EB. Submissions will be judged by a panel of water experts chaired by CIWEM and the UK winner will be notified by the end of June 2006. 28. Nestlé Waters/Middles East & Africa is seeking a water resources manager, to ensure long term water supply (Quantity/Quality) according to the Nestlé Waters zone business strategy. Visit our Forum for more details. 29. Applications are invited for one post-doctoral research fellowship starting 1st April 2006, at INRA-Castanet, in collaboration with the Mesoscale Modelling Group at Centre National de la Recherche Météorologique (CNRM) in Toulouse, France, to work on the following subject: "Estimating the impact of climate change on the irrigation water demand of the Adour-Garonne basin". The closing date for applications is 15 February 2006. Contact Dr. Jacques-Eric Bergez or visit our Forum for further information. 30. A research vacancy is announced in INRA (Institut National de Recherche Agronomique) of Toulouse (France), and the deadline is: 27/02/2006. See our forum for further information. You can also find other vacancies in Jobs section of our forum. 31. UNESCO-IHE is looking for a (senior) lecturer in river basin development with a keen interest and experience in river engineering. International applicants should have a profound background in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and have the capacity to link this knowledge with relevant fields of hydraulic- and river engineering and applied science and management and planning. The candidates for this full-time position should have an academic degree in civil or environmental engineering or a similar area, preferably with a relevant PhD degree. Applications (letter of motivation, CV and references) can be sent until 1 March 2006 to UNESCO-IHE. Full details about the vacancy can be obtained from the website of UNESCO-IHE. 32. The International Water Association (IWA) recognises the special contributions of its members and water sector professionals through a programme of Honours and Awards. Nominations are sought for these prestigious awards which will be conferred at the Biennial World Water Congress in Beijing in 10-14 September of this year. Nominations must be made in writing, addressed to the Executive Director of IWA. The closing date for nominations is Friday 28 April 2006. Further details can be found at the website of IWA or see the announcement.
================================================= PUBLICATIONS ================================================= 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. ================================================= CALL FOR TENDERS and PROPOSALS ================================================= 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. ================================================= CALL FOR PAPERS ================================================= 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. ================================================= TRAINING ================================================= 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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