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Folder Shared Water Resources Management (JP)

At the Athens Conference held in Athens on 6-7 November 2006, Phase II of Med JP was agreed by the Water Directors, the establishment of a new Working Group on Shared Water Resources Management. The overall objective of the Working Group on Shared Water Resources Management is to promote synergies between competent EU and non EU partners of the Mediterranean and SEE region and to assist for a common approach on key aspects of joint management of shared surface and ground water resources. In particular, the new activity on “Shared Water Resources Management” aims to:

- Review current policies, agreements and practices in the EU and the Mediterranean area on the issue;
- Promote synergies, at decision-makers and stakeholders level, for the sustainable management of the shared water resources of the region and facilitate the exchange of experiences and know-how between experts (EU and non-EU);
- Promote common approach and methodology on shared water resources management, based on the IWRM principles and building among others on the provisions of the WFD , and prepare related recommendations;
Improve awareness raising as well as distribution of information on shared waters cooperation and management;
- Create the basis for additional related action in the region.

The Water Framework Directive, the European Neighbourhood Policy, the GEF IW and its Strategic Partnership for the Mediterranean, the Petersberg Phase II / Athens Declaration Process, the UNECE Convention on Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, the UN ESCWA activities on the subject as well as all the extensive work that has taken place in the sub-regions and countries of the Mediterranean by governments and organisations provide adequate background for the Working Group. The group is led by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med).


URL Basins at risk The Basins at Risk project (BAR) addressed a series of overarching gaps in research on freshwater resources and international conflict by providing a quantitative, global scale exploration of the relationship between freshwater resources and conflict.
URL Between the Great Rivers: Water in the Heart of the Middle East by David Brooks
File Inception Meeting Agenda (17 January 2007)
URL MED-EUWI JP Proposals for a Second Phase 2007-2009
File Main shared water resources in the South and Eastern Mediterranean countries
File NEWATER project – Transboundary river basin management
URL Optimal Water Management in the Middle East and Other Regions Serious conflicts over water pervade the Middle East. How might these be resolved or eased, and how could water management models and international financial institutions help?
News Recent Papers on transboundary aquifers

The following papers are available for your reference:

"Shared Groundwater Resources: Global Significance for Social and Environmental Sustainability". The following URL links to the abstract page in the SSRN eLibrary. Full-text paper  can also be download  from this web page.
        http://ssrn.com/abstract=1105386

"A Global Programme to Assess, Evaluate & Develop Policy". The following URL links to the abstract page
        http://ssrn.com/abstract=1105354

HTML Document Reminder on the Joint Process between the Water Framework Directive and the EU Water Initiative process (JP)
URL Report: Water Resources in the Mediterranean
URL The next major conflict in the Middle East: Water Wars
Document Transboundary River Basin Management in Europe Thematic paper for Human Development Report 2006; final draft 31 January 2006, by E. Mostert and B. Barraqué.
Document Transboundary River Basin management Regimes: The Tisza Basin Case Study

Background report to Deliverable 1.3.1, Status: Final, Author: Gert Becker, Date: 18. 6. 2005.

The Tisza river basin (TRB) originates in the Carpathian Mountains in the territories
of Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine and is the largest catchments area (157 218 km2)
among the 15 sub-basins of the Danube Basin (801 463 km2).
The Tisza flows (average discharge of 794 m3/sec) through the Pannonian flood plain
of eastern Hungary and joins in Serbia-Montenegro the Danube.
The river can be divided into 3 main parts:
- the mountainous Upper Tisza in the Ukraine (including the tributaries of
Romania)
- the Middle Tisza in Hungary, receiving the tributaries Bodrog and Sajo from
the Carpathian mountains in Slovakia and Ukraine and the Szamos, Koros and
Maros draining Transylvania in Romania
- the lower Tisza downstream of the Hungarian-Serbian border, where it
receives the Begej and small tributaries through the Danube-Tisza Canal
system and joints the Danube between Novi Sad and Belgrade.
The mean discharge at the confluence with the Danube is 766 m3/s, ranging from
a low 371 m3/s to a 1% peak discharge of 3867 m3/s (Schnellmann 2002, ICPDR
2004).

HTML Document Transboundary Water - UNESCO Water Portal Newsletter No. 191 July 2007
File Transboundary Water Management as an International Public Good (Prepared for The Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden- 2001
URL Transboundary Waters Information Exchange Network for the South Eastern Europe
URL Transboundary river basin management, RAMSAR
URL Transboundary river basins - Atla chapter (OECD)
URL Transboundary river basins of the Balkans
URL Water Wars by Mohammed Mesbahi
URL Water Wars by Mohammed Mesbahi
File Working Group Mandate
Pointer Joint Process - Phase II -2007-2009 Description of the Joint Process phase II, including working groups mandate