Water in the Mediterranean discussed ahead of regional and world summits

Within the framework of the preparation of the First Mediterranean Water Forum, the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM), the Region of Murcia and the Foundation Euro-Mediterranean Water Institute (IEA) collaborated with the Mediterranean Water Institute (IME) to organise a launching seminar today and tomorrow in Murcia, Spain.

Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso shared the conclusions he put forward as rapporteur in the report on local water management adopted last January by the ARLEM's plenary session. The report suggested amongst others the creation of consultative committees involving all parties concerned. Furthermore, it stressed the importance of multilevel governance and suggested launching a local water management pilot project and drafting a financing map to give a comprehensive overview of financing opportunities and synergies between different schemes and institutions.  

Ahead of this event, Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso also met with the Union for the Mediterranean's deputy secretary general in charge of water, Rafiq Husseini. 

The First Mediterranean Water Forum will be held in December 2011 in Marrakesh, a first step to the Word Water Forum of 2012 in a country of the South of the Mediterranean. Therefore, this preparatory seminar aims to bring together around targeted themes the main stakeholders of the Water Community in the Mediterranean, namely: decision-making bodies, local and regional authorities, parliamentarians, donors, representatives of the private sector and experts, regional networks, other civil society stakeholders and State representatives.

During this seminar, a Steering Committee of the Mediterranean Water Forum will be set up and charged with the preparation and with the holding of the Forum with a view to echo the voices of the regional and local authorities in the Water Word Forum, scheduled in Marseilles in 2012.

The themes discussed will take into account the specificities of the Mediterranean region, and thematic working groups will meet outside the Steering committee to elaborate proposals around targeted themes: the governance of water, the re-use of waste water and desalination.

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