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Project Mediterranean Dialogue on Integrated Water Management

- There exist a general perception that water management models are still constructed from points of view that ignores contributions from all the key stake-holders, specially users and citizens, determinant for the impact on the territory of water schemes and the satisfaction of the water demand, specially from the sustainability point of view, taking into account the social, economic, environmental and institutional dimensions.
- Research in this topic is of common interest of the EU and its Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC) in view of the economic integration of both sides of the Mediterranean area, the risks associated to the climatic change and the increase in frequency of water risks events, such as droughts or floods, inthe area. Another general perception in the Mediterranean area is the lack of visibility of the important role that Science and Technology play in the sustainable development of the region.  Part of these problems is due to communication gaps between political and administrative institutions, scientists, cultural workers, lawyers, economist, end-users and citizens.

- The Coordinated Action MELIA aims at structuring an open dialogue between experts from both sides of the Mediterranean and among the key stake holders concerned and affected by water use and management, such as scientists and professionals, decision makers, policy makers, water providers and, specially, citizens, whose awareness on the issues should be raised by using appropriate dissemination instruments, language and content. This dialogue intends to create a Forum where water players can share knowledge, find consensus and propose new perspectives on the emerging needs of the different stakeholders such as agriculture, industry, trade and tourism and urban development, and appropriate integration of knowledge for integrated water management, in a region of scarce resources such as all the Mediterranean basin countries. This involves also looking beyond the physical aspects of water supply and sanitation.

Project number n/a
Subject(s) POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT
Acronym MELIA
Geographical coverage Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Belgium, Malta, Austria, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine
Budget (in €) n/a
Programme INCO MED (FP6)
Web site http://www.meliaproject.eu/
Objectives

- Building a knowledge base for integrated water resources management (IWRM) planning, based on integrating contributions from different perspectives, involving the wide spectrum of stakeholders and based on the general frame defined by EU Water Framework Directive.·

- Develop a Mediterranean-wide awareness of the social (cultural and participatory), economic and technological issues related to water management.·

- Propose participatory mechanisms and prevention tools to avoid competition in resources allocation between regions states and different waters users.·

- Provide legislative and administrative bodies with criteria and arguments agreed in a consensual way by a wide representation of social, economic, scientific and political actors from different countries, to support sustainable water policies and economy.·

- Provide the intellectual basis and the indicators to perform a benchmarking exercise of Integrated Water resources management in the Mediterranean area.·

- Contribute to the construction of a common frame and knowledge, and to the development of a common terminology and semantic and help water negotiations. The dissemination of the results of MELIA will be the most relevant and appreciable output, carried out by means of a wide communication strategy, addressed to all those actors involved in water use, in rising awareness at educational level, in research, administration and policy making.

 

Period 01/01/2006

Partners

  • Spanish Council for Scientific Research, CSIC

    Coordinator acts as project coordinator
    Type
    Country Spain
    Contact Mr. P. Pasimeni,
    Position: Project coordinator
    Phone/fax: ,
    Email: paolo@orgc.csic.es

Publications

  • MELIA Proposal Part B
    Proposal abstract:
    Despite the important number of research projects in the water management, monitoring of water
    resources and water related technology, performed at local, regional or Euro-Mediterranean scale, and
    the strong commitment of the EU in the support of the Integrated Water Resources Management in its
    development cooperation policy (COM(2002)132), there exist a general perception that water
    management models are still constructed from points of view that ignores contributions from all the key
    stake-holders, specially users and citizens, determinant for the impact on the territory of water schemes
    and the satisfaction of the water demand, specially from the sustainability point of view. Research in this
    topic is of common interest of the EU and its Mediterranean countries partners in view of the economic
    integration of both sides of the Mediterranean area. Another general perception in the Mediterranean area is the lack of visibility of the important role that Science and Technology play in the sustainable
    development of the region. Part of these problems is due to communication gaps between political and
    administrative institutions, scientists, cultural workers, lawyers, economist, end-users and citizens. The
    Coordinated Action MELIA aims at structuring an open dialogue between experts from both sides of the
    Mediterranean and among the key stakeholders concerned and affected by water use and management,
    such as scientists and professionals, decision makers, policy makers, water providers, citizens. This
    dialogue intend to create a Forum where water players can share knowledge, find consensus and
    propose new perspectives on the emerging needs and appropriate integration of knowledge for integrated water management, in a region of scarce resources such as all the Mediterranean basin countries.
    Type of document Report
    File link ../PDF/MELIA-proposal-B (copy)
    Source of information OIEAU, France
    Subject(s)
    Geographical coverage Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Belgium, Malta, Austria, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine
  • MELIA Presentation in the Session on Water Cooperation in Mediterranean River Basins, Athens, November 5, 2006
    Publisher Prof. Rafael Rodríguez Clemente, MELIA coordinator, CSIC.Spain
    Type of document SlideShow
    Rights Public
    File link http://www.emwis.net/documents/meetings/events/menbo06/fol781798/MELIA_Rodriguez.pdf (copy)
    Source of information REMOC
    Keyword(s) MELIA
    Subject(s) POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT
    Relation http://www.semide.net/documents/meetings/events/menbo06
    Geographical coverage Spain, Malta, Greece, Belgium, Cyprus, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Austria
PDF