Upcoming events

National SMAP RMSU meeting on "Environmental Information Exchange and Reporting Mechanisms in the Mediterranean", Syria

2008-07-23T00:00:00Z

A National SMAP RMSU meeting on “environmental information exchange and reporting mechanisms in the Mediterranean” will be held in Damascus, Syria, on the 4th of August.

National SMAP RMSU meeting on "Environmental Information Exchange and Reporting Mechanisms in the Mediterranean", Egypt

2008-07-23T00:00:00Z

A National SMAP RMSU meeting on “environmental information exchange and reporting mechanisms in the Mediterranean” will be held in Cairo, Egypt on the 19th of August.

Response of IFIs to Major Challenges in the Water Sector: Launch of the EIB Water Sector Lending Policy - Stockholm World Water Week

2008-07-21T00:00:00Z

The European Investment Bank (EIB) invites you to the launch of the new EIB water lending policy at the 2008 Stockholm World Water Week. The launch will take place at a side event on Wednesday 20 August 2008, from 17:00 to 18:30 in the Stockholm International Fairs and Congress Centre. The exact location of the event will be announced later. The side event will be opened by the EIB Vice President in charge of environmental protection, Simon Brooks, followed by a short presentation by Jose Fradé and wide discussion of the water lending policy. There will be a short drinks reception thereafter.The key objective of the side event is to launch and discuss the new water lending policy. The event will also provide information on the new € 3 million ACP Water Project Preparation Facility, co-financed by the EC and the EIB that was launched earlier this year. A set of publications will be available at the Side Event, including the:

· EIB water lending policy;

· 2008 EIB Water Division Brochure; · ACP Water Project Preparation Facility brochure; and· The new EIB Flood Risk Management Guideline.

If you are planning to attend the side event and would like to receive a copy of the water lending policy, please send an email to Anette Keuchel (a.keuchel@eib.org), who will then send you an electronic copy.

EURO INBO 2008: International conference on the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive

2008-07-21T00:00:00Z

The next «EUROPE-INBO 2008» international conference, organized by the «Group of European Basin Organizations for the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive», will take place, at the invitation of the National Administration ROMANIAN WATERS (APELE ROMÂNE) and the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management, under the aegis of the Romanian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development: in SIBIU – ROMANIA on 2 - 3 October 2008 at Hera Conference Hall – Ramada Hotel: Address: 2, Emil Cioran Street.

This General Assembly of the « EUROPE-INBO » Group will be especially dedicated to the preparation of the 5th World Water Forum 2009 of Istanbul with the participation of all our European partners.

The aim of INBO is to enable the European Basin Organizations to regularly and informally meet in order to exchange their practical experiences. It will be organized around three main current topics:

    * 1. The preparation of the Programs of Measures of the Water Framework Directive;
    * 2. The implementation of the Flood Directive,
    * 3. The analysis of WFD implementation in the International Districts.

As the meeting is taking place in Romania, special attention will be paid to the issues specific to water management in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Danube River Basin.

You are invited to present a paper on your experiments: The title and summary should be delivered to us at the two following e-mail addresses: inbo@wanadoo.fr and andrei.mihai@hidro.ro

The meeting is open to all INBO member organizations and observers, and also to the water administrations and organizations, interested in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and of the Flood Risks Directive, of the member and candidate countries of the European Union and of all the other countries of the Balkans, the Mediterranean Region, as well as of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.

Any useful information, programs and proposed papers will be continuously available on the website: www.inbo-news.org .

2nd European Groundwater Conference

2008-07-16T00:00:00Z

The Paris 2008 Groundwater conference aims to bring together different communities involved in the implementation of the WFD/GWD (national and European policy makers, scientists and stakeholders) as well as experts interested by groundwater integrated management issues. This conference will constitute a forum to share experiences about groundwater integrated management and good status assessment on the eve of the River Basin Management Plans publication.

2nd European Water Conference 2009

2008-07-16T00:00:00Z

The clock is ticking towards the deadline for Member States to establish the first River Basin Management Plans at the end of 2009. Prior to that, Member States are required to encourage the active involvement of consultation on water management issues that are significant in the river basin districts as well as their draft river basin management plans (dRB MP). These drafts will be made available for consultation by 22 December 2008 at the latest, and be available for written comments for at least 6 months.

In the context of this process, the Commission will organise the second European Water conference on 2-3 April 2009 – to highlight key issues of strategic importance across the Union in the process of implementing the Water Framework Directive. Key European stakeholder representatives will be invited to give their first feedback on the draft RBMPs to stimulate a debate at European level on substance and process. Participation in the event via webstreaming will be ensured. In the run up to this event a conference on public participation will be organised under the French Presidency (13-14 November 2008 in Poitiers (tbc), FR) and the European Environment Bureau will organise a key event on their perspective of the process (18 November 2008, Brussels).

Expo Zaragoza 2008, Thematic Week Seven: Water Economics and Financing - Water Markets - Financial Solutions for Emerging Countries

2008-06-13T00:00:00Z

The objective of this Thematic Week is to disseminate the concept, advantages and drawbacks of

Water Markets as a tool to reorganize and efficiently use water resources. Furthermore, through

the works and debates organized during this thematic week, it is expected to enlighten rich

assessments using such water markets as a possible supplement for governmental water

management and as a tool for conflict mitigation or solution. Water Markets are based on voluntary

transference of water rights - usually with a previous economic deal or agreement - for new uses

and different users. Furthermore, during this thematic week the Spanish case on water economics

and specifically, on water markets, will be assessed and strong recommendations are expected.

Finally, a full day will be dedicated to water finances especially oriented to emerging countries

needs to realistically or sustainably finance infrastructure and management schemes.

World Water Forum 5th, Topic Sessions Proposal- Topic 3.1: "Basin Management and Trans-boundary Cooperation"

2008-06-02T00:00:00Z

The 5^th World Water Forum will take place in Istanbul from 16 to 22 March 2009. It is a major event not to be missed!

A lot of key topics will be discussed during the Forum.

The 5th World Water Forum International Steering Committee (ISC) has confirmed INBO(International Network of Basin Organizations) and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), jointly, as coordinators for Topic 3.1, “Basin management and transboundary cooperation”.

The ISC remember you the following:

· Sessions should aim to provide concrete solutions to key questions on non-consensual subjects, raise awareness on new solutions or developments or give the opportunity to discuss issues in order to provide greater consensus.

· Sessions should favour exchange (panels, debates, questions and answers and interactive formats) rather than provide static presentations.

· Sessions must include different perspectives and associate various stakeholders.

· Session descriptions should not be elaborate nor detailed, since room should be left for further development as offers of contributions from the wider community are received (through Sept. 30^th). Efforts should be made to integrate as many of these proposed contributions as possible.

· A virtual platform for thematic development will be at our disposal to facilitate development processes (document creation with versioning, discussion groups, wiki tools, etc.). Topic Coordinators are responsible for managing these virtual spaces. More detailed information will be sent to you on this issue soon.

During the second Thematic and Regional Coordinators Meeting (Istanbul, February 2008), we proposed to focus our proposals for Topic 3.1 sessions on the four following questions:

1. What are the success and failures stories of hydro solidarity and IWRM at basin level?

2. How can transboundary water resources be managed more sustainably by all the riparian countries concerned?

3. How to organize and enable stakeholders’ participation?

4. What are the tools to be used for better basin management and transboundary cooperation over surface and ground water?

Preparation steps for the the topic 3.1:

· EUROPE-INBO session, during the International Symposium Management of water-related extreme phenomena, ECWATECH in Moscow, Russia from 04 to 06 June 2008;

· 4^th International Conference on River Restoration, in Venice, Italy, from 16 to 21 June 2008;

· International Water Exhibition Water Tribune, in Saragossa, Spain, from 07 to 10 July 2008 - Thematic Week 4 – INBO-MENBO-EWP Session: "basin management and transboundary cooperation in Europe and the Mediterranean", on July the 8^th,

· UNESCO-PCCP Consultation Process on the Mono River, Lomé, Togo, from 16 to 18 July 2008;

· UN Water seminar on transboundary water resources at the Stockholm Water Week, in August 2008;

· UNESCO-PCCP Consultation Process on the Ostua Metapan Aquifer, Guatemala, from 26 to 28 August 2008;

· IWRA General Assembly, session on Transboundary Water Management, in Montpellier, France, from 01 to 03 September 2008;

· IWA Symposium on River Basins, in Budapest, Hungary, from 04 to 06 September 2008;

· General Assembly UN October-November 2008

· Europe-INBO 2008, session on the implementation of WFD, in Sibiu, Romania, from 02 to 04 October 2008, “Floods management, groundwater management and draught management in basin context”;

· IVth International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management, in Thessaloniki, Greece from 15th - 18th October 2008,

· 6^th Workshop on ISARM Americas, Dominican Republic, November 2008

· Latin America Network of Basin Organisations General Assembly, in Rio Janeiro, Brazil, from 19 to 21 November 2008, with a session with the Organisation of America States.

Final Conference of the SPI-Water project: Managing water related information in support

2008-05-29T00:00:00Z

The Conference aims to:

Bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and water policy implementation
Presenting the enhanced WISE-RTD Web Portal as a tool for sharing water related research information and operational practices
Facilitating the transfer of WFD and IWRM experiences

Target group: Operational water managers, researchers, water policy implementation agencies, policy makers, EC project coordinators, consulting & engineering companies, scientific media, ... from Europe and outside Europe

The conference program will allow the attendances to get a clear overview on the actual status on European Water Information Management and related tools in support of WFD and IWRM implementation. To achieve this, a two day agenda is set up with the following items:
General issues related to EC support in the science/policy interfacing process with respect to the implementation of the WFD and its information needs will be presented. Also the actual status will be provided on other Environmental Information Systems that are in use worldwide.
Parallel workshop sessions are organized on practical topics like the latest developments on availability of water related information, the latest enhancements in WISE RTD through real life sessions, linking WISE-RTD with water related databases. Also specific WFD and IWRM experiences from EU and non-EU countries will be communicated.

A unique insight will be provided in the future plans of the EC with respect to the Water Information System Europe (WISE), the use and role of WISE-RTD, the organization of IWRM support to non-EU countries, the twinning processes, etc.

The conference will close with a round table discussion on the availability, sharing and linking of water related information. The sustainability and safeguarding of the available European Water Management Information will be an important issue here.

EUROMED 2008: Desalination Cooperation among Mediterranean Countries of Europe and the MENA Region

2008-03-26T00:00:00Z

This is the fifth conference in the EuroMed series and the eighth in the Mediterranean region which provides an excellent forum for professionals, scientists and technologists in all aspects of water desalination, to meet and to exchange their ideas and experiences, and to update their knowledge of latest developments in the various aspects of water desalination. The theme “Desalination Cooperation among Mediterranean Countries of Europe and the MENA Region” was chosen to offer the chance to discuss key elements underlying the policies and strategies governing the optimum use of the various desalination technologies in the region to provide water, an essential ingredient for peace in the region.

Around the Mediterranean there is a growing awareness of increasing demand for water while the natural supply is increasingly limited. The situation of the southern countries is dramatically more serious with rapidly increasing populations and much lower rainfall. Different techniques can be used to supplement natural water. Desalination technologies can make potable the brackish and sea water which are available in these regions.

Cooperation between countries of Europe and the southern rim of the Mediterranean, Middle East and the Gulf countries is essential. In this conference, attention will be focused on the possibility of producing water by desalination for the region in a sustainable manner and at a cost that people can afford. The conference will overview the most recent developments in desalination technology, its cost and extent of application including socio-economic and environmental issues. Concern about the environmental impact of desalination has grown and an increasing number of studies is being made.

Topics will include:
– Water demand in countries of the MENA region
– Desalination and the environment
– State of the art of desalination and water purification processes
– Seawater thermal and membrane processes
– Brackish water desalination
– Wastewater treatment
– Desalination and water resource management
– Energy recovery technology
– Pre-treatment and post-treatment
– Post-treatment of desalinated water
– Brine disposal and removal of specific compounds
– Fouling and scaling and material selection
– Financing – public and private

DEADLINES:
Abstracts : April 20, 2008.
Notification of acceptance: May 20, 2008
Papers: July 20, 2008

Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water, October 29, 2008 (Jordan)

2008-03-19T00:00:00Z

Following the proposal of the last conference of the water directors of the Euro-Mediterranean and Southeastern European countries, Bled (Slovenia), in December 2007, the Ministerial Conference organised under the French Presidency of the European Union and the Euro Mediterranean Partnership aims to prepare a long-term strategy on water in the region.

In order to involve all stakeholders, a day dedicated to civil society will be held on the eve of the ministerial conference.