Over a hundred participants from 14 Mediterranean countries, representatives of the national institutions, of the academic world, of the private sector and of associations, met together in Saragossa on 19, 20 and 21 March 2007 to attend the 3rd regional workshop on water and sustainable development in the Mediterranean region. Medwet is collaborating with the UNEP Blue Plan to organise the working group on water needs of ecosystems, one of the five thematic groups contributing towards the workshop.
The session on water needs of ecosystems chaired by Professor George Zalides, Thessaloniki University and assisted by Eduard Interwies, InterSus – Sustainability Services as rapporteur are available in PDF format in English and French as well as Powerpoint presentation (English) on the website of the UNEP Blue Plan. Also featured on the website are abstracts, power points as well as the full text of six papers presented within the session.
A summary of the 3rd regional workshop on water and sustainable development in the Mediterranean region provided by the UNEP Blue Plan is attached below:
While the Mediterranean countries’ demand should increase by about 50 Km3 by 2025 to reach about 332 Km3, i.e. a level that is not easily compatible with the renewable resources, transport losses, leaks, misuse could be greater than 120 Km3 per year. That is why better management of water demand is of such great importance.
During the debates, the participants evoked ways of optimising the various water uses: for agriculture, industry and domestic, while taking into account the water needs of the ecosystems. Examples of good practices carried out locally in the various water use sectors, as well as studies carried out in the Mediterranean, were presented during the three-day workshop.
The discussions highlighted the need to share successful experiences, to draw up reports on progress made in terms of water demand management in the Mediterranean countries, to analyse the policy instruments implemented, to identify the main obstacles and to formulate proposals for the integration of water demand in water and sectorial policies, as well as in international cooperation policies.
Various conclusions arising from this event should be mentioned, including the need to improve knowledge concerning available resources, as well as present and future water needs, to make the general public aware of the problems of water scarcity and the need to save water, to involve local players in the steps to be taken for water demand management and to integrate the factor of climate change in water management strategies.
The main messages arising from this work were presented to the public during the 7th public session of the Permanent Forum on Water and Sustainability of Expo Zaragoza 2008.
Follow the links below to access the conclusions and recommendations of the working group on water needs of ecosystems:
Recommandations_ecosystemes_EN.pdf
Recommandations_ecosystemes_FR.pdf
Powerpoint_ecosystemes_EN.ppt
Updated on 4/24/2007 12:58:13 PM.
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