progress report - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - international network

Progress Report 2007 - 2009www.inbo-news.org

Progress Report2007 - 2008 - 2009under the Presidencyof Mr. Laszlo Kothay

Hungarian State Secretary

in charge of Water

Debrecen - Hungary - 7-9 June 2007

Rome - Italy - 8-10 November 2007

Sibiu - Romania - 1 - 3 October 2008

Istanbul - Turkey - March 2009 - 5thWWF

2Progress report 2007 - 2009

Two and a half years have passedsince the INBO family met in Debre-cen on the occasion of the 7th Gene -ral Assembly. We, Hungarians, werevery proud that Debrecen became thewater capital of the world for 3 days,from 6th to 9th of June 2007.

Time has been running very rapidlyand we are already preparing the next8th World General Assembly of INBOthat will take place in Dakar, Senegal,on 21-23 January 2010.

What happened during this period?Could we achieve better results? I will try to give you a summary aboutthis period with my Hungarian eyes.

In Debrecen, I took over the presi-dency from Mrs. Madeleine Jouye deGrandmaison, who brilliantly expo -sed her island’s (Martinique) watermanagement and even showed usher country’s culture with the help ofthe Martinique’s Regional TourismCommittee. Madeleine also created anew tradition and from now on duringINBO General Assemblies, the formerpresidents are kindly asked to orga -nize a national evening with culturalprograms to present their countriesto the participants.

Very soon after the Debrecen As -sembly, we met in Rome at the 5th "EUROPE-INBO 2007" Confe -rence. This was followed by two otherEUROPE-INBO conferences in Sibiu(2008) and in Stockholm (2009). I am especially happy to refer tothese conferences because it was acommon French-Spanish-Hungarianinitiative taken during Kyoto WorldForum to strengthen cooperationamong the European Basin Organiza-tions for the implementation of theEuropean Water Framework Directive(WFD). INBO is a participant in theEU-WFD Strategic CoordinationGroup, which provides possibility toget direct information from the WaterDirectors and to present the contribu-tions of INBO.

The EUROPE-INBO Group also con-tributed in our global activities. Wegot step by step accustomed that notonly European partners participatedin these conferences but participantsfrom other continents as well. Thisprocess testified that many waterorganizations outside Europe be ca -me interested in the EU-WFD imple-mentation. The dialogue with nonEuropean partners even stimulatedthe Europeans to improve their ownriver basin management.

Regional cooperation is an importantfield for action of the InternationalNetwork of Basin Organizations. I amvery glad that I could personally par-ticipate in the General Assembly ofthe Mediterranean Network of BasinOrganizations (MENBO) which washeld in Beirut, Lebanon, on 7-9 Octo-ber 2009. Cooperation betweenEuropean and Mediterranean BasinOrganizations is successfully deve -loping. Another good example of thiscooperation is that a special sessionwas organized during EXPO-AGUA inSaragossa on the 8th of July 2008 on"Basin Management and Transboun -dary Cooperation in Europe and inthe Mediterranean Area".

During the 2007-2009 period, INBORegional Networks got strengthenedin Latin America and in the Carib -bean, in Africa and Asia. Our Perma-nent Technical Secretary, Mr. Jean-Francois Donzier, participated inmany important events of all regions.We could follow these developmentsthrough the INBO Network Newsletterand its website.

I would like to express my apprecia-tion for the good development ofINBO Action Plan and of the informa-tion and communication activities.

I would like to mention two examplesof how INBO successfully enteredinto new regions:

u In Moscow on 5 June 2008, du -ring the ECWATECH Interna-tional Exhibition, an INBO ses-sion was held on the WFDimplementation. This eventhelped to build up the Russian-speaking Network of BasinOrganizations. I remember withgood feelings the ECWATECH/INBO session that ProfessorDukhovny and I jointly chaired.

u The second example of openingnew areas for INBO is China. Astrong Hungarian delegation par-ticipated in the 3rd and 4th Inter-national Yellow River Forums inDongying and in Zhengzhou in2007 and in 2009. On bothoccasions, INBO organized "spe-cial sessions" with cooperationfrom our Chinese partners. Themost important step was thesigning of a cooperation agree-ment between the Yellow RiverWater Conservancy Commissionand INBO.

INBO again played an important roleduring the 5th World Water Forum inIstanbul, where it jointly organizedwith UNESCO the very successfultopical sessions on "Basin Manage-ment and Transboundary Coopera-tion". Those who participated mayremember how full our room at theKagithane Hall room was.

Participants were sitting on the stairsor standing beside the walls and atthe entrance! The session dealt withsuch important topics as: hydro- solidarity, water users’ participation,institutional tools for transboundarycooperation. INBO also organizedseveral side events in Istanbul withthe Regional European Session, thecommon GWP-INBO presentation ofthe "Handbook for Integrated BasinManagement" and the EU-ChinaRiver Basin Management Program.

Another success for us was that, inMay 2008, INBO participated in theUN Commission on SustainableDevelopment in New-York. On theoccasion of a side event which asso-ciated several of our Members, ourPermanent Technical Secretary madean introductory speech on the finan -cing of IWRM in the world.

ICOLD and INBO also expressed theirinterest in technical cooperation during the 80-year jubilee meeting ofICOLD in Budapest.

During the 2007-2009 period, INBOwas very active in many internationalprojects: I would like to mention, inparticular, the importance of theIWRM-NET project which coor -dinates the research activities of 20 institutes from 14 Member Coun-tries of the European Union.

All these successes could not beachieved without the participation ofmanagers and experts of our MemberOrganizations and of INBO Secre-tariat.

I would like to express my gratitudeto all of you who strengthened cohe-sion inside the INBO Family, andwish good luck to the new AfricanPresidency.

László KóthayINBO President

President’s editorialFrom Debrecen to Dakar: INBO with the President’s eyes


DECLARATION OF DEBRECEN

From 7 to 9 June 2007, 217 dele-gates coming from 46 Countries,representatives of governmentaladministrations in charge of watermanagement, of Basin Organizations,already existing or being created, andfrom interested bi and multilateralcooperation agencies, met in Debre-cen in Hungary, during the 7th Gene -ral Assembly of the InternationalNetwork of Basin Organizations(INBO) of which IOWater ensuresthe Permanent Technical Secretariat.

The delegates reaffirmed that fresh-water resources are limited andthreatened all over the world and thattheir better governance, respectful ofthe environment, is one of the mainkeys to sustainable development.

However, findings are alarmingall over the world!

Climate change, pollution, wastage,destruction of ecosystems: the situa-tion is serious in many countries andrequires urgent implementation ofambitious reforms.

The Millennium Goals for drinkingwater supply and sanitation can onlybe achieved with significant andsimultaneous progress made to intro-duce Integrated Water ResourcesManagement (IWRM), organized onthe relevant scale of basins of rivers,lakes and aquifers, either local,national or transboundary.

Integrated Water ResourcesManagement at the level of riverbasins is obviously essentialworldwide!

The basins of rivers, lakes andaquifers are the relevant natural geo-graphical territories in which toorganize water management.

Indeed, river basins are the naturalterritories in which water runs on thesoil or in the sub soil, whatever arethe national or administrative boun -daries or limits crossed.

Significant progress has alreadybeen made since the 1990s.

River basin management expe -rienced a quick development in manycountries, which made it the basis oftheir national legislation on water ortry it in national or transboundarypilot basins and the acquired experi-ence allows today to say that Inte-grated Water Resources Man-agement at the level of riverbasins is a real advantage forgovernance.

Water resources management shouldbe organized in geographical areaswhere the problems occur, i.e.:

∂ on the scale of local, nationalor transboundary basins ofrivers, lakes and aquifers;

∑ based on Integrated Informa-tion Systems, allowing know -ledge on resources and theiruses, polluting pressures,ecosystems and their functio -ning, the follow-up of their evo-lutions and risk assessment.These information systems willhave to be used as an objectivebasis for dialogue, negotiation,decision-making and eva luationof undertaken actions, as well ascoordination of financing fromthe various donors;

∏ based on Management Plansor master plans that define themedium and long-term objec-tives to be achieved;

π through the development ofPrograms of Measures andsuccessive multiyear priorityinvestments;

∫ with the mobilization of spe-cific financial resources,based on the "polluter-pays"principle and "user-pays" sys-tems;

ª with the participation in deci-sion-making of the concernedGovernmental Administrationsand local Authorities, the repre-sentatives of different categoriesof users and the associations forenvironmental protection or ofpublic interest. Indeed, this con-certed participation will ensurethe social and economic accep -tability of decisions. Decentra -lization is the basis for effective-ness in water policies.

Legal and institutional frame-works should allow the applica-tion of these six principles.

It is especially necessary to take intoaccount the particular situation of the263 rivers or lakes and hundredsof aquifers, the basins of which areshared by at least two riparian coun-tries.

Cooperation agreements need to beinitiated or signed between theseriparian countries to achieve indis-pensable common cause at thebasin level.

It seems necessary to support thecreation of International Commis-sions or similar organizations and tostrengthen those already existing.

Such international organizationsallow better dialogue, the exchangeof useful information, the solving ofpossible conflicts and the sharing ofbenefits from better joint manage-ment and the strengthening of trans-boundary cooperation.

Agreements for transboundaryaquifer management should bedeveloped in particular, taking theirfragility into account.

.../...

7th World General Assembly of INBO

INBO Events

Madeleine de Grandmaisonand Laszlo Kothay

217 delegates coming from 46 countries



.../...Adaptation of water managementto climate change.

Global warming cannot now beavoided and fresh water resourceswill be directly affected in the co -ming years, with announced conse-quences:

u increase of extreme hydrologicalphenomena, such as droughtsand floods;

u melting of glaciers, reduction ofthe snow cover in mountains,which will not be able to regulateflow in the large rivers which areborn there;

u modification of the plant speciesand soil cover, which will resultin increased erosion;

u rise of sea and ocean level,which is likely to drown coralislands, coastal lowlands, pol -ders areas and river deltas andmouths, the flow of which will bechanged;

u salt water intrusion inland and incoastal aquifers;

u significant move of populations.

It is thus essential to very quicklyadapt water resources managementpolicies, by taking into account thenew elements of the climate change.

A priority: to make up for losttime as regards urban sanitation!

85% of the anthropogenic pollutionis discharged into the natural envi-ronments, without any treatment.

The effects on human health andhygiene, on economic developmentand the degradation of natural envi-ronments are very significant and willaggravate with the lack of sufficientmeasures.

The time lost with sanitation isextremely alarming and willrequire urgent reforms, severaldecades of constant effort andhuge financial resources.

The renewal, maintenance, operationand management of installations arealso a challenge to meet to ensurefull effectiveness of the investments.

Vocational training of the em -ployees of the sector will have tobe organized on a large scale.

The reduction of non-point pollutionis also a prerequisite to maintain orrecover good water status.

INBO recommends that agricul-tural practices be adapted tolimit pollution risks (use of ferti -lizers and pesticides).

Users’ participation should beorganized in Basin Committeesor Councils for a real mobiliza-tion of partners.

These bodies should be involved indecision-making, within proceduresthat clearly define their role whichshould be facilitated by the setting-up of integrated water informa-tion systems as objective basis fordialogue, negotiation and decision-making.

Significant means should be devotedto public awareness and participa-tion, especially for women and youngpeople.

Funding by the users is the logi-cal consequence of their partici-pation.

The investments necessary for thesustainable management, conserva-tion and control of water resourcesand ecosystems and for the develop-ment, exploitation, maintenance andrehabilitation of public utilitiesrequire huge financial resources.

Therefore, it is necessary to set upeverywhere complementary finan -cing systems that are based on theusers’ participation and commoncause.

These arrangements should be anincentive to limiting wastage, to con-trolling pollution and to reducing dis-charges, by changing the users’behavior.

INBO recommends the progres-sive and wide use of the costrecovery principle, through theestablishment of basin water taxes,which have shown their efficiencyeverywhere they have been applied,while ensuring common causebetween the categories of waterusers, between upstream and down-stream, and between generations.

Improving knowledge of waterresources, aquatic environmentsand of their uses is essential forgood decision-making.

Systems for warning against floods,droughts and pollution should bedeveloped and coordinated.

It is essential to specify the institu-tions responsible for the organizationand the permanent operation of suchsystems and to guarantee sufficientmeans for investments and their con-tinuous operation in the long term.

INBO recommends that the con-cerned multilateral institutions andnational Authorities take into accountthe specificity of water and environ-mental management in insular envi-ronments.Addresses on the progress made

in river basin management over the world

It is necessary to support the creation

and strengtheningof Basin

Organizations over the world!

7th World General Assembly of INBO

INBO Events


"DEBRECEN WAS THE WATER CA -PITAL OF THE WORLD FOR ONEWEEK"For a long time, Hungary had beeninterested in hosting the WorldAssembly of the International Net-work of Basin Organizations.

During the 6th General Assembly -which was held in the Martinique in2004 - Hungary was unequivocallychosen for organizing the nextAssembly in 2007.

It was a great privilege for the Hungar-ian Basin Organizations to receivetheir partners from all over the world.

The final site for the Assembly waschosen to be Debrecen, which is rap-idly developing with a new confer-ence center and with better priceconditions for accommodation.

The Assembly took place on 6-9 June 2007.

From more than 400 applications, wecould receive 250 guests (registeredparticipants and accompa nying per-sons) coming from more than 40countries.

The opening plenary session wasgreeted by Mr. László Kóthay, Direc-tor of the Trans-Tisza Region’s Envi-

ronmental and Water Directorate andMr. Gyula Györi, Mayor of DebrecenCity. Then, Dr. Miklós Varga, StateSecretary for Water, opened the Ge -neral Assembly on behalf of Dr.Gábor Fodor, Minister for the Envi-ronment and Water.

It is an INBO custom to introduce thewa ter management and Water Organ-izations of the host country: Mr. Sán-dor Tóth, Chief Councilor, talkedabout the situation of flood protectionin Hungary, Mr. László Kóthay gave alecture about the challenges of watermanagement in the 21st Century.

Mrs. Madeleine Jouye de Grandmai-son officially gave INBO Presidencyto Mr. László Kóthay. The new Hun-garian President emphasized theimportance of cooperation with theLiaison Bureau and INBO RegionalNetworks and recommended theenlargement of the Network.

The General Assembly was closed atthe Aquaticum Hotel with a real tro -pical Martinique night offered by theRegional Tourist Committee of theMartinique, presided by our formerINBO President, Mrs. Madeleine deGrandmaison.

On 9 June, there wasa cultural visit of theHortobágy NationalReserve Park, classi-fied UNES CO WorldHeritage.

Most of the guests visited the Hun-garian Puszta for the first time, and itwas a particular experience for themto see the fauna and flora of thisregion. After having lunch accompa-nied by gipsy music, the participantsvisited the flood protection dykeenhancement works in Tiszadob.

We were very glad of having theopportunity to show Debrecen and itscountryside to our guests. We hopeso that they will return to us again.

Organizing the General Assembly inour country in Debrecen raised theprestige of the Hungarian WaterOrganizations with the electionamong them of INBO President for thenext three years.

The Hungarian Organizing Com-mittee uses this opportunity toexpress gratitude to all of youwho helped strengthen coopera-tion in the INBO family!

Kalman [email protected]


During its 3rd General Assembly, held in the Czech Republic, the Centraland Eastern European Network of Basin Organizations (CEENBO)nominated Mr. Petr KUBALA, Director of the Povodi Vltavy Agency, as Presi -dent for 2007-2008. The Romanian APELE ROMANE Authority is in charge of the Network secre-tariat. Daniela RADULESCU facilitates the activities dealing with theexchange of experience for the Water Framework Directive implemen-tation in the countries of the region, the support to the organization of twin-ning agreements within the Twinbasin project of the European Commis-sion, the development of a website, the prospects for actions for the imple-mentation of the Directive on floods, etc. The work program was adopted during the Bureau meeting organized inDebrecen in June 2007; any information is available on the website:

www.ceenbo.org

CEENBO

The 7th INBO General Assembly with Hungarian eyes

INBO EventsHungary

Hungarian evening

www.inbo-news.org

All informationis availableon the Web

www.inbo-news.org


INBO Events

The "Yellow River ConservancyCommission" invited INBO toorganize a special session on waterresources management in Europeand especially on the implementa-tion of the Framework Directive, du -ring the third "International YellowRiver Forum", which was held from16 to 19 last October in Dongying(China).

This special "European" session wasorganized, of course, around broadcurrent topics related to the Frame-work Directive implementation in theEuropean River Basin Districts in2007, and on the processes, toolsand techniques for water resourcesmanagement implemented inEurope.

More than 500 participants, co -ming from China and about fiftycountries, attended this largeInternational Forum.

Messrs. Laszlo Kothay, HungarianState Secretary in charge of waterand World President of INBO, JackyCottet and Jean-Marc Wauthier, for-mer and current Presidents of

"EUROPE-INBO", Jean-FrançoisDonzier, INBO PTS, as well as aboutten European experts participated inthis workshop together with theirChinese colleagues.Yellow River Conservancy [email protected]

.http://forum.yellowriver.cn

INBO workshop

INBO Participation in the International Yellow River Forum Dongying - 16 to 19 October 2007

China

Organized by the COmmittee for dia-logue and VAlorization of the BAsinof the Richelieu River (COVABAR),an important International Sympo-sium on the Management of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes Basinwas held from 13 to 15 last Sep-tember in Sorel-Tracy in Quebec.

It gathered about one hundred parti -cipants and elected officials who tes-tified to the successful experimentsof water management at the level ofriver basins in the United States, inEurope and Ontario, such as, in par-

ticular, Mr. Jean-François Donzier,Technical Secretary of the Inter -national Network of Basin Orga - nizations (INBO), and, for France,Mr. Rémy Filali, Director-General,Interdepartmental Institution for theDevelopment of the Charente Riverand Mr. Christian Bernad, Presidentof the Association for the Develop-ment of the Lot Valley.

The participants thus underlined theimportance of raising the awarenessof the decision-makers of the St. Lawrence River Basin on the chal-

lenges, water stakesand changes in theway of thinking neces-sary to develop theterritory water resour -ces: integrated watermanagement offersthe only solution forsustainable develop-

ment and it is urgent to support itsimplementation at the level of riverbasins.

The experiments in the basins ofOntario, the United States and Francealready have proven its effectiveness.

The creation of a Network gathe -ring the North American RiverBasin Organizations (NANBO),within INBO, was also at the coreof the discussions during thethree days of this great meeting.

It was thus agreed to develop, assoon as possible, Water Manage-ment Master Plans for the riverbasins of the St. Lawrence/GreatLakes District on the Quebec terri-tory, in adequacy with the develop-ment plans of the Municipalities.

The Minister for Sustainable Develop-ment, the Environment and Parks ofQuebec, Ms. Line Beauchamp, invited

the whole population to act and prio -ritize water protection.

COVABAR, presided by Mr. HubertChamberland, is an Organizationrepre senting all the citizens of theterritory of the Richelieu River Basin,from Lake Champlain to Lake Saint-Pierre, up to its confluence with theSt. Lawrence River.

Hubert CHAMBERLANDPresident of COVABARPresident-founder of the Regrouping of Basin Organizations of Quebec (ROBVQ)Fax: (450) 464 [email protected]

www.covabar.qc.ca

North AmericaManagement of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes Basin

Sorel International Symposium


The 5th Conference of the"EUROPE-INBO" Group took placefrom 8 to 10 November 2007 inRome, at the invitation of the Ita -lian Ministry of the Environmentand the Italian Basin Authorities.It gathered 200 representativescoming from 33 countries.

The Conference was organizedsimultaneously with the GeneralAssembly 2007 of the Mediter-ranean Network of Basin Organi-zations (MEMBO).

The "EUROPE-INBO 2007" Confe -rence was opened by Mr. AlfonsoPECORARO SCANIO, Italian Mi -nister for the Environment, withmany Italian personalities (Cityof Rome, Parliament and Re -gions), Mrs. Lubka KATCHA -KOVA, Vice-Minister in Bulgaria,and Mr. Laszlo KOTHAY, StateSecretary in Hungary and WorldPresident of INBO.

The Basin Organizations of the Mem-ber States of the European Union havemade significant progress since 2000in the implementation of the WaterFramework Directive (WFD):

administrative adaptations, economicanalyses, public information andinvolvement of water stakeholders,characterizations, development ofmonitoring networks, etc.

The "EUROPE-INBO 2007" Confe -rence allowed noting the increasinginterest in the WFD of countries of the Mediterranean Region and Eastern Europe, of Caucasus andCentral Asia.

The next step is to formulate Ma -na gement Plans and Programs ofMeasures for 2009, with a prelimi-nary public consultation in 2008.

The conference was thus organizedaround three topics:

l preparation and cost of the Pro-grams of Measures,

l account taking of global war -ming,

l public consultation.

As the meeting was taking place inItaly, special attention was paid to theMediterranean aspects.

37 papers were presented and manyrecommendations were formulated,in particular:

PREPARATION AND COSTOF PROGRAMS OF MEASURES

Involving the local stakeholders isessential especially the Local Autho -rities. Actions should also includethe preparation of local mana gementplans and Programs of Measures atsub-basin level.

Speeding up agricultural and sanita-tion measures is necessary, as thesetwo sectors are, with the hydro- morphological changes in rivers, themain factors of the Risk of NotAchieving Good Status: integratingthe "Urban Waste Water" and "Nitra -tes" Directives is a prerequisite.

Increasing the means devoted to themanagement of aquatic environ-ments and wetlands and to hydro-morphology is essential.

It is unavoidable to significantlyincrease the financial resources,based on the "polluter-pays" and"user-pays" principles.

Economic studies are essential forWFD implementation to justifyexemptions regarding deadlines andlevels as compared to the Good Sta-tus objective, to assess the cost-benefit of the measures, to optimize

the efficiency of the Program ofMeasures. It is necessary to developan economic culture and train eco -nomists specialized in the waterfield.

The participants wished sharingexperiences, harmonizing methods(environmental cost assessment,rate of cost recovery, cost-effective-ness models for measures, etc.) anddeveloping socioeconomic indica-tors or reference values, in the Inter-national Districts as a priority (dis-proportionate cost concept, etc.).

Giving explanations to the con-sumers and decision-makers is necessary to make the stakes under-standable and the (often unavoi -dable) water price increase accep -table.

In International Districts, coordina-tion should be fostered (commoncatalogues of measures, coordinatedobjectives, common socioeconomicindicators, etc.) by strengthening theaction of the International Commis-sions.

ACCOUNT TAKINGOF GLOBAL WARMING

The WFD does not directly take cli-mate change into account but pro-vides tools that should be effectivelyused in the Programs of Measures(quantitative status, hydro-morpho -logy, pricing and cost recovery, etc.).

A common approach seems essen-tial at the European and Euro-Mediterranean levels: research pro-grams, upstream-downstream com-mon cause, data sharing and coordi-nation of activities between basins,especially in International RiverBasin Districts.

.../...

INBO Events"EUROPE-INBO 2007" - Rome - 8 - 10 November 2007

EUROPE-INBO

The Opening Ceremony

200 participants coming from 33 countries


INBO Events"EUROPE-INBO 2007" - Rome - 8 - 10 November 2007

It is necessary to evaluate the hydro-logical consequences of climatechange in each basin according tovarious scenarios; to supplement themonitoring networks planned by theWFD; to set up National Water Infor-mation Systems; to develop andcoordinate warning systems forfloods and droughts; to pass from apolicy of offer development to a po -licy of water demand reduction.

Management Plans for droughtshould be developed with the stake-holders, not only in time of crisis butalso planned in the long term.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

The Basin Organizations have orga -nized the first two steps of publicconsultation planned by the WFD.They allowed better knowing thepopulations’ expectations. The limi -ting factor is the lack of human andfinancial resources. Involving thestakeholders and the public from thefirst stages is a factor of success andthis information effort should go fur-ther than the official times for publicconsultation planned by the WFD.

It is necessary to coordinate theprocess and timetable at the nationallevel and in the International Districts,while favoring the basin and sub-basin scale for the consultation.

Distinguishing information from con-sultation is needed because theseare two different objectives. It is recommended to rely on BasinCouncils or Committees when theydo exist. It is important to mobilizelocal elected officials and NGOs, toraise the young’s awareness inschool, to explain the stakes usinglocal problems, to combine variousinformation tools, not limiting itselfto questionnaires and websites butalso organizing local public debates.

It is important to communicate in aless administrative and more peda-gogical way (joint work by water andcommunication specialists) andensure transparency (communica tingon uncertainties, explaining the deci-sions made and reporting on theobtained results).

The main meeting of 2008 shouldnot be missed!

These consultations have a cost andit is necessary to plan specific bud -gets. Experience sharing is neces-sary to define the most suitablemethods according to situation andcost-effectiveness of the varioustools.

SITUATION INTHE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN

The Mediterranean Basin is likely tobe one of the areas most affected byclimate change over the world.

The problem of water sharing betweenirrigation, tourist areas and basichuman needs (drinking water) is nowarising in many places. The real pro -blem is not so much to mobilize newresources but to better use water!

Among the mentioned proposalsthere are: a Mediterranean Informa-tion Mechanism for Water Resour -ces; a policy for fighting againstwastages; not supporting the deve -lopment of irrigation in water defi-cient areas; defining maximumabstraction quantities, preparing"drought" action plans; a water pri -cing policy; the re-use of treatedwastewater and the desalination ofsea water; making up for lost time asregards sanitation, etc.

Modernizing the institutions andcapacity building are also necessary:integrated water management at thelevel of river basins, creation andstrengthening of Basin Organizationsand International Commissions, theplanning and programming of invest-ments with financing based on thepolluter-user-pays principles, waterusers’ participation, etc.

It is advisable to develop the mana -gement of community services ofmunicipal and irrigation water andbasic and continuing professionaltraining.Access to information should befacilitated especially by creating andnetworking the National Water Infor-mation Systems, that are developedwithin EMWIS, and by more widelydisseminating research results,within the European IWRM-Netproject for instance.The participants wished to work onadapting the general principles of theFramework Directive to the Mediter-ranean Basin while emphasizing theimportance of the Euro-Mediter-ranean common cause and of thenext Ministerial Conference plannedin the second semester of 2008.The participants underlined the inte -rest of continuing the twinning agree-ments between basins initiated by theTWINBASINXN project, especially forthe Mediterranean Basin and theEECCA Region (Eastern Europe, Cau-casus and Central Asia), of establi -shing common socioeconomic indi-cators and performance indicatorsallowing making the neces sary com-parisons between Basin Organiza-tions and of creating a base of practi-cal references on the methods usedfor public consultation.Mr. Jacky COTTET, President of theFrench Rhone-Mediterranean and Cor-sica Water Agency, was congratulatedfor the effectiveness with which heheld his Presidency in 2006-2007 andMr. Roberto GRAPPELLI, SecretaryGeneral of the Tiber Basin Authority(Italy), will take the chair until the next"EUROPE-INBO" conference.

The final resolutions, papersand photographs are avai lableon the website.

The Closing Ceremony led by Ms. KATCHAKOVA and Messrs. KOTHAY, MAZZITTI, GRAPPELLI, COTTET, PINESCI and DONZIER

THE EUROPEAN BASIN ORGANIZATIONS ARE GETTING MOBILIZED FOR THE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE!


INBO EventsMediterranean Network of Basin Organizations - MENBO

The MENBO Gene ral Assembly exa -mi ned the Network advances andacti vities covered sin ce the meetingof Marrakech in 2005. The structureand functioning of the Network werepresented to the participants as wellas the decisions of MENBO Bureausand General Assemblies, the ap provalof candidates and new members, par-ticipation in international events,activities developed within projectson integrated water re sources mana -gement, proposals for the develop-ment of future projects.

The General Assembly highlightedthe strong and continuous implica-tion of the Network in projects suchas TWINBASINxn, MELIA or SPI-Water, in liaison with Organizationsthat share objectives and projects inthe region, such as GWP-Med andEMWIS.

MENBO annual general accounts for2005 and 2006 were approved andthe provisional budget for 2007 waspresented. The increase in annualbudgets shows a greater supportfrom the Spanish Government andcollaborating organizations, and agreater participation in projects forexchanges of experiences betweencountries of the region.

The Assembly approved the proposalof two new Members: the GeneralDirectorate of State Hydraulic Works(DSI) of Turkey and the Water andIrrigation Ministry of Jordan.

It is necessary to underline thequick development of MENBO: theparticipants were invited to promoteparti cipation of their countries in theNetwork, reminding that the registra-tion to MENBO is free as the primaryobjective is to obtain an active par-ticipation of all the MediterraneanBasin Organizations and Administra-tions in charge of water managementwith the joint objective of achievingmechanisms for integrated manage-ment at the level of River Basins.

In accordance with MENBO statutes,Mr. Walter MAZZITTI (Italy), Pre -sident of the "European Task Force onWater of the Middle East PeaceProcess" will take the Presidency ofthe Regional Network up to its nextGeneral Assembly in 2009.

It will be from now on Italy to headMENBO, taking over this responsibi -lity from Morocco and previouslySpain which allowed the initial andsuccessful launching of the Network.

Mr. Alfonso Pecoraro SCANIO, ItalianMinister for the Environment, an -nounced his will to develop actionsfor collaboration and cooperationbetween the Mediterranean countriesas a continuation of the Spanish andMoroccan Presidencies.

The Assembly especially thankedMr. Mohamed ELYAZGHI, StateMinister of Morocco, for the excel-lent Presidency he has carried outand the new Moroccan Minister forEnergy, Water and the Environmentand the State Secretary in charge ofwater for their reaffirmed support toMENBO and INBO.

Mrs. BENBIBA (Morocco) and MO -RA GUES (Spain) were electedMENBO Vice-Presidents.

MENBO Permanent Technical Secre-tariat remains hosted by the JucarRiver Basin Authority in Valencia,Spain, which was thanked for theefficiency of the work carried out.

Some proposals were given for theorganization of the next GeneralAssembly and Liaison Bureaus in2008: the present countries wereinvited to participate in the Inter -national Saragossa Exhibition2008.

The participants underlined theprime importance for the Mediter-ranean Region of the effect of cli-mate change on water scarcityand drought: it was reminded that

climate change will have sig-nificant effects on water avail-ability and will aggravateextreme phenomena, affectingthe Mediterranean areas thatare already vulnerable andcount on limited water re -sources. It is anticipated thatthese effects will have environ-mental and socio economicimpacts that will have to bequickly dealt with strategic andpreventive mea sures. In such acontext, the compatibility ofwater uses with environmental

protection will have to be taken careof.

Water scarcity and drought affect agreat number of Mediterranean coun-tries. MENBO participates in pro -jects on the evaluation and applica-tion of joint solutions. MENBO wasappointed as observer in the Strate-gic Coordination Group (SCG) of theCommon Implantation Stra tegy (CIS)of the European Water FrameworkDirective and participates in theEuro-Mediterranean wor kinggroup on water scarcity anddrought.

The participants applauded the paperof the European Commission "Fa -cing the challenge of waterscarcity and drought in the Euro-pean Union", published in July2007, as well as the proposal todevelop a community strategy thatdeals with this problem.

MENBO intends to play an importantrole in the exchange of experiencesbetween the Members States of theEuropean Union and Mediterraneancountries facing the same problems.

"Preventing drought and water scarcity"General Assembly - Rome - 8-10 November 2007

Mr. BENBIBA (Morocco) and Mr. MAZZITTI (Italy)

www.remoc.org


INBO EventsNetwork of Asian River Basin Organizations - NARBO

NARBO (Network of Asian RiverBasin Organizations) held its 3rd General Assembly from 20 to22 last February in Solo-Sura -karta (Indonesia).

About a hundred delegates partici-pated in the debates, which focusedon NARBO Action Plan for 2008-2009 and on the revision of its char-ter. Technical visits of hydraulicinstallations on the Bengawan SoloRiver, the longest river of Java Island,as well as meetings with water users

and local decision- makers enabledthe participants to perceive field real-ities.

ACTION PLANFOR 2008-2009 It was decided to continue the acti -vities related to training on IntegratedWater Resources Management(IWRM), preparation of topical work-shops, benchmarking work and twin-ning programs, with the support ofthe Asian Development Bank andJapanese Cooperation in particular.

An effort for informing the Membersabout the Network activities shouldbe made, via the website and thenewsletter. Other activities could beinitiated in the IWRM field, when theconclusions of the Asian-PacificWater Summit, which was held inDecember 2007 in Japan, will beofficially published.

REVISION OF THE CHARTER

It was decided that the Presidentwould become Special Adviser at thecompletion of his mandate. The Spe-cial Adviser will be able to advise thenew President and the Secretariat forpromoting and strengtheningNARBO activities.

The President will be able to recruit a"special officer" to represent and pro-mote NARBO, its objectives andactivities in the region and in the world, especially to decision- makers, administrations, the mediaand the general public.

NARBO gathers 65 Members: 22 Basin Organizations, 17 Repre-sentatives of the States, 25 RegionalPartners and 1 Cooperation Agencyfor Development.

Mr. Jean-François Donzier, INBOSecretary, was invited to participatein this General Assembly, to whichhe made a speech on the progressmade in Basin Management over theworld and a proposal to strengthenthe bonds and cooperation betweenthe two Networks.

NARBO

Secretariat: Japan Water Agency (JWA)Land Axis Tower - 11-2 Shintoshin, Chuo-kuSaitama City, 330-6008 (Japan)Fax: [email protected]

www.narbo.jp

3rd General Assembly - Solo-Surakarta (Indonesia)20 - 22 February 2008

AMCOW (African Ministers’Coun cil on Water) and AfDB(African Development Bank)organized the first African WaterWeek in Tunis, on 26 - 28 March2008.

This first meeting gathered manywater specialists coming from theentire African continent: technicians,politicians and scientists came to dis-cuss essential problems related towater (control, supply, consumption,security, etc.), to lay the first stones ofthe building which will guarantee thelong term socioeconomic develop-ment of Africa, so much hoped for.

Formulating strategies, policies andproposing practical actions for water

resources development and supply ina context of climate change: thisevent also allowed outlining the mainenvironmental and social challengesof the continent.

The discussions of this water weekdealt with crucial issues, including:

v lessons learned on an interna-tional scale, related to watersecurity;

v challenges related to drinkingwater supply and sanitation;

v investments for infrastructures togive access to water;

v efforts necessary for improving ex -pertise and information systems;

v social and environmental chal-lenges related to the develop-ment of hydraulic infrastructures;

v roles of the involved parties andthe development of partnerships.

Mr. Jean-François DONZIER, INBOPermanent Technical Secretary, wasinvited to co-chair the session on"institutional capacity building forwater security in Africa" and pre-sented an introductory report analy -zing the situation of these issues onthe African continent.

www.afdb.org

Water for a more prosperous Africa

Roundtable of the African Water Week


From 5 to 16 May 2008 in New York,the participants in the Commission onSustainable Development of the UnitedNations drew up an evaluation of the"water and sanitation cycle" launchedduring CSD-13 in 2005.

The French Ministries for ForeignAffairs and Ecology had mandated theFrench Water Partnership (FWP)for organizing a side event, on May 12,on the topic of IWRM financing on anational and transboundary scale.

The FWP was created in 2007 after the 4th World Water Forum of Mexico Cityand gathers the public and privateFrench water stakeholders interveningworldwide. It is a forum for exchangeson governance and management ofwater resources.

This side event was presented by Mr. Stefa nini, the French Ambassador’srepresentative in charge of the Environ-ment, and by the representative of theState Secretary in charge of the Envi-ronment of Slovenia, Mrs. Iskre novic,on behalf of the EU Presidency.

Mr. Donzier, Permanent Secretaryof the International Network ofBasin Organizations, made an in -tro ductory speech on the financingof IWRM in the world.

The Chief of the Environment and Inter-national Relations Department of theWalloon Region of Belgium, Mr. Wau-thier, President of EUROPE-INBOGroup 2005-2006, was the facilitator.

In his introductory speech, Mr. Donzierreminded that IWRM was certainlymaking progresses, but some countriesare only at the beginning of its deve -lopment and still have an approach pri-marily based on the buil ding of tradi-

tional infrastructures and thesharing of available resources.He underlined that, today,beyond access to the resources,"we must also deve lop inte-grated policies for sanitation,the reduction and treatment ofpolluting discharges, take intoaccount the quality of theecosystems, as being the truenatural infrastructures essential

to water cycle operation, and of courseit is necessary to prevent the natural erosion, flood and drought hazards".

Financing is a key element to makeeffective "everybody’s access toessential services and goodresources management": long-termfinancial resources should be mobi-lized and common cause systems setup, which are effective today throughthe application of the "users-polluters-pay" principles and mechanisms ofcommon cause/equalization betweenthe various categories of users.

This must make the payment of thequantities of safe water essential totheir everyday life bearable to the mostunderprivileged populations. It is alsonecessary to emphasize the signifi-cance of agricultural irrigation in watermanagement.

This meeting was a success.

It gathered 150 participants and apanel of top level decision makers,coming from several continents:the President of the African Ministers’Council on Water (AMCOW), Mr. Itoua;the High Commissioner of the Organi-zation for the Development of theSenegal River (OMVS), Mr. Ould Merzoug, also President of the Networkof International Commissions andTransboundary Basin Organizations; thePresident of the Water Commission ofthe French Association of Mayors ofLarge Towns, Mr. Begorre; the Directorof the Water Program of the Interna-tional Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), Mr. Bergkamp; the Director ofthe National Water Agency of Brazil,Mr. de Cordeiro Netto, Secretary of theLatin American Network of BasinOrganizations, and the President of theMediterranean Water Partnership, Mr. Scoullos.

The conclusions of this side event,drawn by Mr. Donzier, were presentedto the 5th World Water Forum of Istan-bul, in March 2009.

INBO was designated, together withUNESCO, as coordinator of topic 3.1of the Forum on "Basin Managementand Transboundary Cooperation",and was the spokesman of theseexchanges.

Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16)

INBO Events

United Nations - New York

A top level panel facilitated the discussions

More than 150 participants

"Financing IWRM pays back!"


"ECWATECH 2008"

"Water Resources Managementunder Extreme Conditions"

The International Conference on "WaterResources Management under ExtremeConditions" took place in Moscow on 5 and 6 June 2008 within “ECWATECH2008”, the main Water Forum of theEastern European countries.

This Conference was organized by theRussian Federal Water ResourcesAgency, the Dutch Water Partnership,the World Water Council, the Interna-tional Water Resources Association,the World Meteorological Organization(WMO), the European Water Partner-ship (EWP) and the InternationalNetwork of Basin Organizations(INBO).

The objective of the Conference was toallow a meeting between water mana -gement specialists coming from allover Europe, Caucasus and CentralAsia.

During this Conference, the partici-pants dealt with various topics, such asforecasting extreme phenomena;assessing flood and drought risks andassociated resources management;monitoring; land use; technical statusof infrastructures; lessons learned frommanagement practices, causes andimpact of extreme phenomena; socialand economic factors in decision-ma -king; damage prevention and limita-tion.

INBO facilitated a special session, on 5 June in the afternoon, on the new toolsintroduced by the European WaterFramework Directive and its "daughter"Directives and announced the creation ofa Regional Network of Basin Organi-zations from Eastern Eu rope, Cauca-sus and Central Asia (EECCA-NBO).

www.ecwatech.com

Towards the creation of a Network of Basin Organizations from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia

The European Center for River Restora-tion (ECRR) is a platform providing scientists, planners, project managersand decision-makers with the opportu-nity for meeting regularly to discussabout existing practices and look intothe impacts of human activities on riverrestoration.

The 4th ECRR International Conferenceon River Restoration, held in Venice on16-19 June 2008, aimed at identifyingthe key issues on river restoration,especially in the European Union.

The presentations and discussions ofthe 300 participants, coming from 36 countries from all continents,demonstrated an increasing number ofriver restoration projects being imple-mented during the last 10-15 years.Among stakeholders, there is a growingawareness of the need to use newapproaches and a better understandingof opportunities and benefits relatedwith river restoration.

The embedding of river restoration intoan appropriate policy is crucial. In theEuropean Union, the Water FrameworkDirective is an effective driver althoughslow to produce its effects. In otherregions (e.g. Eastern Europe, LatinAmerica), legislations and policies

exist, but the Governments do not seemto be enough motivated or inte rested toapply them; in such cases the aca-demic institutions and civil society canact to support policy implementation.In most cases there is a gap betweenpolicy development and practice.

The ECRR delegates underlined that,on the one hand, river restoration prac-tices are being supportive to the imple-mentation of various EU Directives,while, on the other hand, the obliga-tions under the EU Directives often area driving force for the implementationof river restoration projects.

There is a common understanding thatriver restoration, based on an inte-grated ecosystem approach, is a goodinstrument to implement EU Directives(Natura 2000, Habitat, Bird, WFD andFlood Directives); it can foster a moresustainable relationship between manand nature by creating habitats, redu -cing flood risk and pollution.

The conference proceedings are down-loadable from the ECRR website.

Bart FokkensHarald [email protected]

www.ecrr.org

4th International Conferenceon River RestorationVenise, 15 - 21 Juin 2008

Mr. Laszlo Kothay, INBO World President with Mr. Victor Dukovny

INBO Events

Moscow - June 2008

ECRR


INBO Events

An International Exhibition on water andsustainable development, "Expo-Agua",took place in Saragossa, Capital ofAragon, from June to September 2008.It combined exhibitions, artistic events,shows and conferences. The "WaterTribune", a platform for discussions onthe economic, social and environmen-tal stakes of water in the world andcoordinated by Mr. Eduardo Mestre,former INBO President, gatheredsome 2,000 international experts du -ring 10 "Thematic Weeks".

These meetings ended on 11 Septem-ber with the organization of an Interna-tional Symposium on Water and Sus-tainable Development and the signingof the "Saragossa Charter".

INBO and MENBO got mobilized in"ExpoAgua", especially on two stra -tegic topics:

WATER, A UNIQUE RESOURCE

Within Thematic Week 4 of the WaterTribune: "Water, a unique resource" andthe issue of "Shared Water", orga nizedby Mr. Raimundo Garrido, formerINBO President, Mr. Jean-FrançoisDonzier, INBO Secretary and GeneralManager of the International Office forWater, was invited to present on 9 Julythe Introductory Conference on thetopic of "inter-basin twinning agree-ments, cooperation instruments".

This introductory speech was followedby a special session in which theFrench Adour-Garonne Water Agencyand Basin Committee and the EbroRiver Basin Authority shared theirexperience.

The organizers of the "Water Tri -bune" had invited INBO to jointlyhold a special session on 8 July onthe topic of "Basin Managementand Transboundary Cooperation inEurope and in the Mediterraneanarea" with the Mediterranean Net-work of Basin Organizations(MENBO) and the European WaterPartnership (EWP).The various round tables organized onthis occasion concerned: u Transboundary surface and

ground water management inthe international districts ofthe European Water Frame-work Directive;

u Participation of the popula-tions and decision makers in water resources manage-ment;

u Operational tools for the mana -gement of river basins andaquifers;

u Integrated plans for the pre-vention of floods, droughtsand extreme phenomena inthe Mediterranean area;

u Management Plans and Pro-grams of Measures for WFDimplementation.

These contributions were in line withthe preparation of the 5th World WaterForum of Istanbul in 2009, for whichINBO and UNESCO were designatedas coordinators of Topic 3.1.: "BasinManagement and TransboundaryCooperation".This Saragossa Session was a com-plete success, and mobilized a largenumber of participants, includingPresidents of the Spanish River BasinAuthorities, and representatives fromBrazil, France, Hungary, Italy, Portu-gal, Spain and Turkey. Many projectsand initiatives were presented.

CLIMATE CHANGEAND EXTREME EVENTSThe Directorate General for Water of theSpanish Ministry of Environment, Ruraland Marine Affairs organized on 24 July2008 a technical day on DroughtPlanning and Management.There were 120 participants, interna-tional and regional experts from diffe -rent countries (France, Portugal, Italy,Greece, Germany, USA, Brazil…). Theday conference had three technicalsessions and a concluding round tabledealing with:

∂ Institutional aspects (Europeanlegislative framework, transboun -dary basins and social responsi-bility).

∑ Drought characterization impactsand risks (mathematical predic-tion models, hydrological anddrought indicator systems).

∏ Drought planning and manage-ment in Spain (Special DroughtManagement Plans, public awa -reness campaigns).

π Socioeconomic and environmen-tal impacts of droughts.

The whole event pointed out the needof shifting from a risk/emergency to aplanned drought management withagreed measures. The importance ofpublic participation in the decisionmaking process for adequate droughtmanagement was stressed, anddrought management plans were iden-tified as useful tools to achieve thisobjective.

Teodoro Estrela/ Elisa VargasDirectorate General for Water, MARM [email protected] Serneguet i BeldaMENBO Permanent Technical [email protected]

www.marm.es

Opening of Week n° 4 of the "Water Tribune"

"EXPO-AGUA ZARAGOZA 2008"


This year, the conference of the“EUROPE-INBO” group took placein Sibiu, in Romania, from 1 to 3 October 2008, at the invitation ofthe Romanian Ministry of the Envi-ronment and Sustainable Develop-ment. It gathered 195 participantscoming from 26 countries. This conference was an importantstep before the World Water Forumof Istanbul in March 2009: draft"Basin" chapter for the Europeanregional document, joint writing of ahandbook with GWP on IWRM imple-mentation in river basins, preparationof the sessions of topic 3.1. of theForum on "River Basin Managementand Transboundary Cooperation".A workshop on the IWRM-Net (Euro-pean network of research programs onIWRM) project was organized as a sideevent in order to identify the needs forresearch related to the WFD and to pre-pare the second transnational researchprogram.

The EU-non-member countries (theMediterranean, Eastern Europe, theCaucasus, Central Asia) were veryactive in the discussions, due to theirgrowing interest in the WFD principles.

The participants wished that the"EUROPE-INBO" Group had amore important place in the WFDCommon Implementation Stra -tegy (CIS), as a "spokesman ofthe Basin Organizations" towardsthe European Commission andWater Directors.

The conclusions of the Confe -rence were reported to theStrategic Coordination Group on6 November 2008 in Brussels anda note on the WFD implementa-tion in transboundary river basinswas presented to the EuropeanWater Directors on 25 November2008 at their meeting in Paris.

The three workshops dedicated to theWFD presented many case studies andexchanges were particularly worth-while.

WORKSHOP 1: PREPARATIONOF THE PROGRAMSOF MEASURES

Much work has been done but signifi-cant challenges are still to be met.

‰ Relevant scales and involvement of local stakeholders

The Programs of Measures should bedeveloped on relevant river basin scales,not only at the large river basin level, but also in a more detailed manner at sub-basin level.

In WFD field implementation, the localpolitico-administrative stakeholders(municipalities, provinces, counties,departments, regions), together withthe local economic interested parties,will be front-liners, especially for theinvestments to be made.

However, the consultation processdefined in the WFD is not sufficient initself to mobilize these local stakehol -ders. The WFD approach should be bet-ter explained and its added value madeknown. The governmental authoritiesshould mobilize themselves not onlyfor enforcing regulations (basic mea -sures) but also for supporting the localstakeholders in their pro jects.

‰ Delays and uncertainties

As the deadline of 2015 will come veryquickly, it is necessary to launch nowthe measures for which there are nomore debates, without waiting for theirformal adoption at the end of 2009.

There are still many uncertainties aboutthe real efficiency of certain measures,about the time necessary to carry outprojects in the field and to obtain posi-tive results on the quality of water andecosystems. The time factor is indeedof prime importance and questions areraised about the timeframe of WFDimplementation.

The implementation of pre-existing“nitrates” and “waste water” Directivesshould be at the core of the Programs ofMeasures. On the one hand, it is neces-sary to fill the gap in sanitation. On theother, as regards agriculture, INBO isconcerned by the lack of ambitionnoted in the preparatory documents ofthe CAP Health Check. The Programs ofMeasures should include proactivemeasures from now on, otherwise it willbe very difficult to obtain positiveresults in 2015 and even in 2021.

INBO thinks that without a truereform of the CAP, it will be almostimpossible to change this situation.

INBO recommends increasing themeans devoted to wetlands and hydro-morphology as the functional restora-tion of aquatic environments is ofprime importance for achieving goodecological status.

It is also urgent to reinforce the protec-tion measures for groundwater, to makefor lost time.

‰ Definition of realistic objectives

The definition of objectives, exemp-tions and delays is still a major con-cern for Basin Organizations despitethe work carried out within the CIS.Information has not always been fullydisseminated to them and the positionremains unclear. As regards the criteriaof disproportionate cost, INBO pro-poses creating an inside working groupto share information between BasinOrganizations.

A survey, carried out during the work-shop with the attending basin represen-tatives, shows that the percentage ofwater bodies achieving good status in2015 could vary a lot, between 25%and 75%. Exemptions will be neces-sary, not only because of technicalaspects but also on account of finan -cing capacities. The objectives canonly be reached when the correspon-ding financial mobilization is possible.

However, additional financial effortswill be needed, maybe up to +30 % insome districts, and this will probablyimply an increase of the water priceand raises the question of acceptabilityby users, especially in the current context of economic crisis!

The issue of overseas territories wasunderlined, and more widely in EUperipheral areas, especially the need tohave specific references and to define aframework for regional cooperationwith their non-European neighbors.

.../...

INBO Events6th Conference of the "EUROPE-INBO 2008" Group

EUROPE-INBO

Sibiu, Romania, 1-3 October 2008



INBO Events6th Conference of the "EUROPE-INBO 2008" GroupSibiu - Roumanie - 1 - 3 octobre 2008

.../...

WORKSHOP 2: IMPLEMENTATIONOF THE FLOOD DIRECTIVE

The Flood Directive provides an essen-tial European framework. It gives astrong signal: it is no more only a ques-tion of building defense infrastructures,but of adopting an integrated preven-tion policy with real changes in poli-cies, institutions, decision-makingprocesses according to 4 pillars: fore-casting flooding events, reducingvulnerability, protecting people andgoods, aler ting and educating po -pulations.

The implementation of the Flood Direc-tive and WFD should be coordinated.But difficulties are encountered inpractice, because the administrationsconcerned are often distinct or act ondifferent territories/scales.

INBO recommends integratingfrom now on the elements of theflood risk management plans intothe 1st WFD River Basin Manage-ment Plans (2009-2015) and thetotality in the 2nd management cycle(2015-2021). It would be useful todevelop a guide of good practices totake into account the requirements ofboth directives.

The presentations showed the advan-tage of a proactive prevention policy.As a whole, the invested amounts arelower than the costs of avoided da -mages. But it will be difficult to investas much as necessary for the preven-tion of exceptional floods, which willbecome more frequent with climatechange.

The implementation of the Flood Direc-tive requires increasing exchanges ofgood practices between countries, for-mulating national strategies and sup-porting Local Authorities.

WORKSHOP 3: TRANSBOUNDARY BASINS:PROGRESS REPORT

The WFD brings real added value inEuropean Transboundary Basins, byproviding a common reference frame-work (objectives, methods, deadlines,production of common planning docu-ments). It increased coordination ofactions between riparian States and thepositive role of international commis-sions (when they do exist) was under-lined.

But huge work is still needed.

Management Plans of InternationalRiver Basin Districts still too often looklike a patchwork of national elements,as each Member State remains respon-

sible towards the Commission for theWFD implementation in what it is con-cerned.

Although WFD gives a common frame,the national legislations are remainingdifferent in the same international dis-trict and the countries do not have thesame priorities and deadlines, even forthe same types of measures. This isparticularly obvious when a river basinis shared with countries not membersof the European Union in the Balkansand Eastern Europe.

The Basin Organizations concerned by this transboundary context high-lighted specific needs: providing morehuman and financial resources to the"National" Basin Organizations con-cerned and to the International Com-missions; improving the decision-making process in International Com-missions; developing common sys-tems for monitoring and data manage-ment; better coordinating the Programsof Measures and giving more ambitionto the roof section of the managementplan; developing a true public consul-tation on the international district scale;organizing joint management of trans-boundary aquifers; better coordinatingthe management of floods, droughtsand climate change.

The work completed in the river basinsshared by EU and non-EU membercountries is encouraging but it will benecessary to increase the institutionaland financial support to non-EU coun-tries to achieve the WFD objectives inthese basins.

At the end of the conference, Mr. Alfredo DI DOMENICANTONIO,Director of the Tiber Basin Authoritywas congratulated for the last year Italian Presidency of "EUROPE-INBO"Group.

He handed the Presidency to Mr.Marius POSTELNICESCU, DirectorGeneral of the National Ad mi -nistration of Romanian Waters(Apele Romane).

The Romanian Authorities were thankedfor the organization of this conferenceand their warm welcome.

The final resolutions, presentations andphotographs are available on the Web-site.

Mr. DI DOMENICANTONIO (Italy) handed the "EUROPE-INBO" Presidency to Mr. POSTELNICESCU (Romania)

"FOR FACILITATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE"


General Assembly of the Latin-Americanand Brazilian Networks of Basin Organizations Rio de Janeiro - Brazil – 10-14 November 2008

Rio de Janeiro hosted the NationalForum of Brazilian Basin Commit-tees from 10 to 14 November 2008.

Every two years, this event gathers allthe Members of the Basin Commit-tees, created within the Law on WaterResources of 1997. To date, about 130Basin Committees have been createdin Brazil, either related to the federalrivers or to the rivers under the soleresponsibility of the Federal States.

More than 2,000 representatives,coming from all the Brazilian regions,participated in this exceptional event.

The 3rd General Assembly of theLatin-American Network of BasinOrganizations (LANBO) also tookplace on 11 and 12 November 2008,gathering the representatives of themain Basin Organizations of Centraland South America, of the Govern-ments developing basin policies and

of the regional Organizations con-cerned.

A strong Spanish delegation, led byMr. Teodoro Estrela, Deputy Directorat the Water Ministry, also took part inthe work.

Work was chaired by Mr. OscarCordeiro Netto, Director of theNational Water Agency of Brazil(ANA) and by Mr. Jean-FrançoisDonzier, Permanent Technical Secre-tary of the International Network ofBasin Organizations (INBO).

The Assembly discussed ongoingexperiments and developments ofbasin policies in the representedCountries. It approved a reform ofLANBO Statutes and elected the newExecutive Committee of the Network.

Mr. Edgar Bejarano-Méndez, DirectorGeneral of the "Regional AutonomousCorporation of Cundinamarca" ofBogota in Colombia was electedLANBO President for the 2 comingyears.

The Intermunicipal Consortium of thePiracicaba, Capivari and Jundaí RiverBasins - São Paulo State - Brazil, willtake care of LANBO Technical Se cre tariat, with the support of ANA.

The next General Assembly of the Network will take place in Colombia in2010.www.ana.gov.br/relob

RELOC

The National Forum of Brazilian Basin Committees

INBO EventsUkraine

The 1st Meeting of the Manage-ment Committee of the "National Dialog ue on Integrated Water Re sources Management" took placelast April in the National Academy ofSciences of Kiev, at the initiative ofOSCE (Organization for Safety andCooperation in Europe), EUWI (Euro-pean Union Water Initiative) and UNEP.

Representatives from the UkrainianNational Water Committee pre-sented the situation of water resourcesin their country as well as drinkingwater supply and sanitation, and talkedabout the impact of climate change.

International experts, inclu -ding Messrs. Jean-FrançoisDonzier, INBO PermanentTechnical Secretary, RainerEnderlein of UNECE and JosG. Timmerman, of the "Centerfor Water Management" of theNetherlands, presented thenew IWRM approaches,which could be adopted bythe Ukrai nian National WaterCommittee.

Mr Viktor ANTONENKODirectorWater Management Authority - [email protected]

"National Dialogue on Integrated Water Resources Management"

La réunion du Comité National à Kiev


INBO EventsEastern Europe - Caucasus - Central Asia - "EECCA - NBOs"

During a workshop, held on 11-12 December 2008 in Moscow,Russia, the participants werefami liarized with INBO activities,the experience of informationsystem development in the watersector - in Central Asia (regionalsystem), Russia, Ukraine, Bela -rus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, andArmenia - as well as with theactivities of water managementorganizations in these countries.

Several communications were pre-sented at the workshop.

Mr. N.I.Tupikin, Director of theCenter of Scientific-and-Engi-neering Information of “Melio -vodstroy” at the Ministry of Agri-culture, Russian Federation, pre-

sented the results of the Congress ofRussian hydrologists and irrigationengineers, as well as an interestingproposal on the organization of perio -dical irrigation, which combines andplans regular irrigation and rainfedfarming, depending on precipitationsin the steppe zone.

Mr. S.Ye. Bednaruk, Director ofthe Registry of Hydraulic Struc-tures at the Russian FederalWater Agency, presented the sys-tematic monitoring and forecasting ofwater availability in Russia. The Cen-ter’s website gives free access toinformation products, such as theRussian registry of hydraulic struc-tures, the Information System on“Russia’s rivers”, the hydroeconomiczoning in the Russian Federation.

Mr. V.A. Omel’yanenko, DeputyDirector of the Information Center“NIA Prirody”, which publishes theNature and Resource Gazette, openeda discussion on the opportunity ofcreating a transboundary systembetween the Caspian Sea and theBlack Sea, which was strongly sup-ported by the President of Kaza-khstan.

The initiative was proposed becauseof insufficient capacity of the Volga-Don canal.

A.P. Demin of the Water Institutesummarized the report presented tothe Academy of Sciences on wateravailability in agriculture in Russia.The water quantity used in agriculturedecreased by half from 1980 to 2004.

Production on irrigated land remains3-5 times higher than in rainfedareas. Moreover, the reconstructionof irrigated lands concerned 110thousand ha in 2002 - 2005, and 160thousand ha are planned in 2006-2010.

Ukraine has kept specializedwater management under theresponsibility of the State Com-mittee for Water Resourcesheaded by V.A. Stashuk.

The Deputy Head of the Commit-tee, Mr. O.Lisyuk, presented the“Basin geo-information system forwater management and monitoringalong large rivers in the Ukraine” aswell as the activity of the Seversko-Donetsk Basin Water ManagementAuthority.

The development of an informationsystem in the Ukraine, as well as inBelarus, runs according to the provi-sions of the European Water Frame-work Directive.

The main result of the workshopwas the agreement of all concer -ned parties on the establishmentof a Network of Russian-speakingBasin Organizations under theumbrella of INBO. Membership inthis network is voluntary. It is based onprofessional community and mutualunderstanding and aims at organizingexchanges of opinions, experience,and information on various aspects ofwater management, without reques -ting any financial contribution.

Prof. V. Dukhovny

SIC ICWC [email protected]

http://sic.icwc-aral.uz

Workshop on 12 December 2008 in Moscow

INBO was granted special consultative status by the United Nations Eco-nomic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The non-profit making and voluntary Non-Governmental Organizations canthus develop a mutually advantageous collaboration with the UnitedNations.

The rights and privileges, detailed in ECOSOC resolution 1996/31, allow thequalified organizations to contribute to the objectives and work programs ofthe United Nations, as technical experts, advisers and consultants to the Governments and UNO.

In practical terms, this implies INBO participation to the ECOSOC and itsvarious related organizations by attending meetings, by addresses and wri t tenreports on issues on the agenda.

The organizations to which the status was granted are also invited to attendthe international conferences organized by the United Nations, the specialsessions of the General Assemblies of the United Nations and other inter-governmental organizations.

Currently, only 2,719 NGOs have this status over the world.

www.un.org/ecosoc

INBO has obtained special consultative status

ONU - ECOSOC

Creation of the Network of Russian-speaking Basin OrganizationsDevelopment of Water Information Systems

African Network of Basin Organizations (ANBO)


INBO Events

The Ministerial Conference on Water,held on 22 December 2008 on theshore of the Dead Sea in Jordan, was afirst concrete stage for the implemen-tation, in the water sector, of the deci-sions made by the Heads of State andGovernment on 13 July 2008 in Pariswithin the new Union for the Mediter-ranean area.

A significant contribution of the stake-holders of the civil society was madeat a meeting of the main regionalNGOs concerned on 21 December, inwhich INBO and MENBO were repre-sented.

First of all, the ministers adopted orientations for the development of aWater Strategy in the Mediter-

ranean area for meeting the chal-lenges of the climate change.

This Strategy, which will be submittedto the Ministers then to the Heads ofState and Government for approval atthe end of 2010, will allow tacklingwith problems exceeding the meansfor action of a country alone or oneorganization.

It will include two quantified objec-tives concerning, on the one hand, theconservation of water quality and, onthe other, the reduction of the pres-sures on water resources with lesswater consumptive uses.

The Ministers wished the deve -lopment, as soon as possible, of newinfrastructure projects in the field ofwater.

www.medaquaministerial2008.net

Ministerial Conference on Water - 22 December 2008 - JordanA timetable and field projects in 2009 Historical reminder

Fresh water is a priority issue for allthe Mediterranean partners and itsimportance will do nothing but growas water resources are becomingrarer.The first Mediterranean Confe renceon Water took place in Algiers in1990. The Mediterranean WaterCharter was adopted in Rome in1992. The Euro-Mediterranean Partner-ship, launched by the Declaration ofBarcelona in November 1995,embraces a vast program of collab-oration. A specific chapter isdevoted to water. Two Euro-Mediterranean ministerialconferences on water managementin the region have taken place since,in Marseilles in 1996 and Turin in1999.

The Conference was co-chaired by Egypt, France and Jordan

The Mediterranean

Our friend Ould Aly, first ANBOPresident, left us suddenly on 5 August 2007. Since October1980, he has spent twenty sevenyears at the service of the NigerBasin Authority (NBA)

A Malian citizen, recruited as experthydrologist by the former Niger River Commission (NRC) for theHYDRONIGER project, Mr. Ould Alytook his duty on 8 October 1980.

The Niger Basin Authority (NBA)was created at the end of 1980 toreplace the Niger River Commis-sion.

The HYDRONIGER project, or Hy -dro logical Forecasting System forthe Niger River Basin, allowed thesetting up of a system for collectinghydro meteorological data in realtime, a regional Center, nationalcenters and a telecommunicationsystem. WMO was the executiveagency of the pro ject.

The Niger-HYCOS project

Afterwards, Mr. Ould Aly coordi-nated the Niger-HYCOS project forthe Niger River Basin, launched in2005 by WMO and the NBA /AGRHYMET consortium.

Mr. Ould Aly had also been en trus -ted with the chair of the Committeefor preparing the Conference of theNBA Heads of State and partners inParis in April 2004.

He carried out with competenceand devotion the presidency ofthe African Network of BasinOrganizations (ANBO) from2002 to 2006, of which he wasone of the Founder Fathers.

At the beginning of 2007, Mr. OuldAly wrote:

"the basin’s populations aregetting impatient, they observeand wait with the hope that, oneday, they can finally truly enjoythe huge resources of thisBasin".

All his life, our friend Ould Alyworked for this hope to come true!

Mr. Oumar Ould Aly

RAOB - ANBO


5th World Water Forum - Istanbul - 16 - 22 March 2009Official session 3.1: “Basin Management and Transboundary Cooperation”Analysis of the tangible progress made in basin management and transboundary cooperation

The topic of basin management andtransboundary cooperation waswidely discussed during the recentWorld Water Forum of Istanbul.

The International Network ofBasin Organizations (INBO) andUNESCO were entrusted with thetask of coordinating the five offi-cial sessions of Topic 3.1 entirelydevoted to this issue and whichhas been the subject of a broadpreparatory mobilization formore than one year:

l Several regional meetings wereorganized in 2008 with our part-ners, in Solo-Surakarta (Indone-sia), Venice (Italy), Moscow(Russia), Saragossa (Spain),Sibiu (Romania), Rio (Brazil),etc…, as well as a side eventduring CSD 16 in New York,

l More than 200 papers werereceived on the Forum websiteor directly by the coordinators.

These five sessions, which tookplace on 20 and 21 March 2009,allowed hearing 63 speeches of verydiverse organizations, representingthe main streams of opinion and thevarious parts of the World, includinga high proportion of basin organi -zations presenting their field expe -rience.

The sessions, which were held in a packed room where more than 450 participants stayed duringalmost the 12 hours planned in theofficial program of the Forum, left abroad place to debate and rich andlively discussions, sometimesheated, impassioned even!

Such questions as the "international"statute or not of transboundarywaters, the methods for financingand implementing common infra-structures, the ratification of theUnited Nations Convention of 1997or the management of transboundaryaquifers saw divergent positionsclashing, sometimes vehementlyexpressed, especially from our nu -me rous Turkish colleagues, showingthat it is still difficult to achieve realconsensus.

But a vast majority of the participantsconverged on the advantage ofnational and transboundary basinapproaches to face the great globalchallenges of water resources mana -gement.

Taking account of these many contri-butions and apart from the most ra -dical positions, the findings andrecommendations can be sum-marized as follows:

n Strong political will and long-term commitment are prere -quisites for basin managementand transboundary cooperationin the face of future changes,

n Significant progress has alreadybeen made since the 1990s withreforms undertaken in many re -gions and countries around theworld. The gained experienceallows now saying that in -tegrated water resourcesmana gement at the level ofriver and aquifer basins is areal advantage. These expe -riences allow proposing guid-ance to countries which want toim plement efficient basin man-agement and reinforce theirtransboundary cooperation.

The progress made so far is how-ever insufficient to meet the re -qui rements of a globally chan -ging world.

Adaptive strategies, focused onmaintaining the integrity of riverbasins and aquifer systems, shouldbecome the norm in national andinternational policy.

This will require:

∂ Surface water to be managedin river and lake basin unitsand groundwater to be mana -ged in aquifer systems units -where the two resources are usedtogether, they should be jointlymanaged conjunctively;

∑ Essential quantitative andqualitative information onresources, their uses, pollutingpressures, ecosystems and theirfunctions, the follow-up of theirevolution, risk assessment andfinancial challenges of the sectorshould be obtained and madeaccessible. This informationshould be used as the objectivebasis for dialogue, negotiation,decision-making and evaluationof undertaken actions, as well ascoordination of financing fromthe various donors;

∏ The participation in decision-making of the concerned Go -vern mental Administrations andlocal Authorities, the representa-tives of different categories ofusers and associations for envi-ronmental protection or of publicinterest. This participationwould be better organized inBasin Committees or Coun-cils;

π Basin management plans ormaster plans clearly statingthe long-term objectives to beachieved to guarantee waterresource integrity;

.../...

www.inbo-news.org www.unesco.org

More than 450 participants attended session 3.1

INBO Events


5th World Water Forum - Istanbul - 16 - 22 March 2009

.../...∫ Significant increase in trai -

ning and educational pro-grams for responding to theadaptation needs in coopera-tion building and basin mana -gement;

ª Mobilization of financial resour -ces to meet the needs of coun-tries in this field, taking accountof their socioeconomic, cultural,and geopolitical specificity. It isnecessary to set up every-where complementary fun -ding systems that are basedon the participation and com-mon cause of the users.Watercharges mechanisms estab-lished for basin managementcan enable the use of the pol-luter- pays and user-pays princi-ples and may have an interactiveeffect on consumption reductionand pollution control.

As global inventories of transboun -dary basins and aquifer systems andtheir technical and socioeconomicpeculiarities are now completed,through the global programs sup-ported by PCCP, World Water Assess-ment Program, ISARM, EU-WFD,EUWI, INBO-AP, the GEF and others,available conventions and agree-ments should be ratified by theriparian States concerned. Furthermore cooperation agreementsneed to be drafted at global, basinand aquifer levels to achieve neces-sary and sound cooperation.

In the same manner, institutionssuch as basin organizationsshould be created to nurturetransboundary cooperation andstrengthen communication anddialogue among partners.Existing or developing legal instru-ments as well as adapted technicaltools and gained experiences shouldbe further disseminated throughefforts of agencies and networks ofbasin organizations to promote trans-boundary water resources manage-ment.In parallel to the official sessionsof the Forum, several side eventsallowed presenting a broad rangeof field experiments and directexchanges between managers ofbasin organizations: the meetingorganized between Chinese and Euro-pean managers and experts within the"China - European Union Program forbasin management" and the meetingbetween the people in charge of the PoBasin Authority in Italy and their coun-terparts of several large rivers in othercontinents, in particular.The regional "Europe" sessionallowed presenting the imple-mentation of the European WaterFramework Directive and theUNECE Convention of 1992, cal -led Helsinki Convention.

During the Forum, the joint publi-cation by the Global Water Part-nership - GWP and the Interna-tional Network of Basin Organiza-tions - INBO of the "Handbook on integrated water resourcesmana gement in basins", whichpre sents 84 examples of practi-cal actions, allows confirmingthe realism of the recommenda-tions made:

The ministerial declaration of theForum supports "the implemen-tation of Integrated Water Re -sources Management (IWRM) atthe level of river basins andgroundwater systems, within eachcountry, and, where appropriate,through international cooperation, toequitably meet economic, social andenvironmental demands and, interalia, to address the impact of globalchange, taking into account the inte -rests of all the partners, using parti -cipatory process in decision-makingand planning, while creating linksbetween relevant sectors to achievesolutions that benefit all parties".

The ministers also declared that theywill "strengthen the prevention ofpollution from all sectors in surfaceand ground water, appropriatelyapplying the ”polluter-pays princi-ple"… that they resolve to develop,

implement and further strengthentransnational, national or/and localplans and programs to anticipate andaddress the possible impacts ofglobal changes,… that they willstrive to improve water related moni-toring systems and ensure that usefulinformation is made freely availableto all concerned populations, inclu -ding neighboring countries”.

Finally, they also declared "that theywill take, as appropriate, tangible andconcrete steps to improve and pro-mote cooperation on sustainable useand protection of transboundarywater resources through coordinatedactions of riparian States, in con-formity with existing agreementsand/or other relevant arrangements,taking into account the interests of allriparian countries concerned.

They will work to strengthen existinginstitutions and develop new ones, asappropriate and if needed, and imple-ment instruments for improved ma -na gement of transboundary waters".

Of course, some people will point outthat these formulations can be sub-ject to interpretation and obviouslyall the problems will not be miracu-lously solved, as some positions stillremain too different, but unmis -ta kably basin management andtransboundary cooperation havescored during the World WaterForum of Istanbul!

All the papers and photographs ofthese events, organized during thelast World Water Forum held in Istan-bul from 15 to 22 March 2009, maybe consulted and downloaded onINBO website.

www.worldwaterforum5.org www.inbo-news.org

A handbook forintegrated water resources

management in basins

Large and enthusiast audience

INBO Events


5th World Water Forum - Istanbul - 16 - 22 March 2009INBO - EWP: the European Regional Session

The European Regional Session,coordinated by the EuropeanWater Partnership (EWP), tookplace on 17 March 2009 at theWorld Water Forum of Istanbul.The second part of this Europeansession was devoted to the role ofEurope in the world and INBO wasentrusted with the organization of around table on basin manage-ment and transboundary coope -ration.INBO also drafted the chapter onintegrated management at basinlevel and the European WaterFramework Directive (WFD) of theEuropean Regional Document.The aim of this round table was toshow how the experience gained inEurope could benefit to other regionsin the world.

The discussions highlighted thestructuring nature of the Euro-pean Water Framework Directive(WFD) of 23 October 2000, whichgives operational tools for basinmanagement, as recalled in thespeech of Jean-François Donzier,INBO Permanent Technical Secretary.The added value of the WFD wasunderlined through the case of theDanube Transboundary River Basinshared by 19 countries, presented byPhilip Weller, Executive Secretary ofthe International Commission for theProtection of the Danube River.

The UNECE Convention (UnitedNations Economic Commission forEurope) on the protection and use oftransboundary water courses andinternational lakes signed in 1992,called the Helsinki Convention, pre-sented by Francesca Bernardini,allows developing the key principlesof basin management to a broadergeographical extent. The inputs ofthe Helsinki Convention outside theEuropean Union were illustrated inCentral Asia where it allowed develo -ping dialogue between the riparianStates concerned.

The significance of developing expe-rience sharing between Europe andother areas in the world was particu-larly highlighted, especially with theexamples of projects developed inChina and Africa.Finally, this round table led to the fol-lowing conclusions: l the river basin is the relevant

scale for water resources mana -gement;

l the WFD is a significant pro -gress;

l the great principles of the WFDand Helsinki Convention aretransferable in other areas overthe world;

l it is necessary to strengthen co o peration between Europe andother regions.

"EU-China Cooperation on Basin Management"The Yellow River Commission, INBOand the EU - China Cooperation Pro-gram for Basin Management orga -nized one day of exchanges betweenthe Basin Authorities of China andEurope.Andras Szollosi-Nagy of UNESCOpresented an introductory report onthe impact of climate change.Messrs. Van Alphen, Jacky Cottet,Jose Smitz, Pierre Roussel presentedthe situation in the Netherlands, inFrance and Wallonia.

The session dedicated to China wasjointly chaired by Messrs. FriedrichBarth, Vice-president of EWP andShang Hongqi, Director of Interna-tional Cooperation at the Yellow RiverCommission. The European sessionwas jointly chaired by Jean-FrançoisDonzier and Yang Xiaoliu, Professorat the University of Beijing.10 case studies were presentedaround two topics: climate changeand benchmarking of integratedmanagement policies in river basins.

The project led by INBO and theAfrican Network of Basin Organi-zations on the application of perform-ance indicators to the African Trans-boundary Basin Organizations, pre-sented by Messrs. Alain Bernard(IOWater) and Tamsir Ndiaye (OMVS)showed that transferring the European"acquis" to very different contexts ispossible.A round table then gathered 10 greatwitnesses representing: the UE-Turkey twinning, the InternationalCommission of the Rhine, theNational Institute of Hydrology ofRomania, the Emilia-Romagna Re -gion in Italy, the Ministries of Waterof Hungary and Spain, the YellowRiver Commission, the EU - ChinaCooperation Program, the AsianDevelopment Bank.

"THE PO RIVER BASINAND OTHER LARGE BASINSIN THE WORLD"

The objective of this session or -ganized with the regional Authori-ties of the Po Valley, was to shareexperience between several largebasins of the world.

This side event allowed compa -ring the practices used in very dif-ferent contexts: the St. LawrenceBasin, the Congo-Ubangui-San -gha Basin, the Scheldt Basin, theRhone-Mediterranean Basin andthe Po Basin.

As a conclusion, Giuseppe Bor-tone, Director General for theEnvironment of the Emilia-Roma -gna Region, underlined the role oflocal institutions in water poli-cies.La journée d’échanges entre les Autorités

de Bassins de Chine et d’Europe

INBO Events

The WFD session organized by INBO

Canada International Meeting on Integrated Water Management Sherbrooke, Canada – 1 – 3 June 2009

550 participants attended the“International Meeting on In -tegrated Water Management” whi ch took place from 1 to 3 June2009. The event was jointly organi -zed by the Council of Water Gover-

nance of the St-François RiverBasins (COGESAF) and the Environ-mental Training Center of the Univer-sity of Sherbrooke (CUFE).30 workshops gathered 95 lecturers ontopics related to planning and gover-

nance tools, the great stakes of watermanagement, action in agriculture,tools for characterization and diagnosisand information and dialogue.18 voluntary facilitators took care ofthe good organization of the work-shops. Mr. Riccardo Petrella presented aconference on the importance ofaccess to water everywhere on theEarth.Mr. Jean-François Donzier, Perma-nent Secretary of the InternationalNetwork of Basin Organizations,presented at a plenary session anintroduction to Integrated BasinManagement over the world andparticipated in a round table on themana gement of the world trans-boundary rivers in the closing ses-sion, with Mr. Oscar Cordeiro,Secretary of the Latin-American

Network of Basin Organizationsand Director of the National WaterAgen cy (ANA) of Brazil and Mr. Normand Cazelais, prefiguratorof the North-American Network of Ba sin Orga nizations (NANBO).

Jacinthe CaronCoordinator of the International Meeting on Integrated Water Management COGESAFTel. : 819-864-1033

www.cogesaf.qc.ca


INBO Events

Lebanon

The 2nd Beirut Water Week was orga -nized by the Directorate General ofHydraulic and Electric Resources incooperation with the Global WaterPartnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med).

This 2nd Beirut Water Week focusedon: n discussions on priority themes

of the Mediterranean wateragenda, including water gover-nance, climate change adapta-

tion, water demand manage-ment, water financing, educationand transboundary water resour -ces management;

n elaboration of the "Mediter-ranean Message to the 5th WorldWater Forum", which was pre-sented in Istanbul, on 19 March2009;

n presentation of the outcomes ofthe on-going MED EUWI activi-ties in Lebanon (Phase I).

The Water Week 2009 gathered200 participants, including Mr.Walter Mazzitti, MENBO President,who chaired a round table on thefinan cing of water management inthe Mediterranean area, and Mr.

Jean-François Donzier, INBO Sec-retary, who presented a progressreport on transboundary river andaquifer mana gement over theworld.

Dr. Fadi ComairGeneral Director of Hydraulic and Electric ResourcesMinistry of Energy and [email protected]

2nd Beirut Water Week - 4-7 February 2009

Audience of the President of the Lebanese Republic to the participants of the 2nd Beirut Water Week

Plenary session about Integrated Basin Management over the world


INBO Events

From 26 to 30 October 2009, theInternational Network of Basin Orga -nizations (INBO) facilitated, throughMr. Daniel Valensuela, a seminar inTunis addressed to African andMediterranean executives of BasinOrganizations and Ministries forWater and organized by the Multila -teral Institute of Africa, the AfricanWater Facility and the African Deve -lopment Bank (AfDB).

It aimed to build the capacities of theexecutives of the national andregional Administrations and BasinOrganizations as regards Trans-boundary Water Resources Ma na -gement (TWRM).

Africa, from the Mediterranean to theCape of Good Hope, is indeed cha -racterized by a great number of trans-boundary basins of aquifers and sur-face water; almost all the countriesare sharing part of their waterresources with at least a nearbycountry. Most countries share trans-boundary river basins or aquifers: theaquifers of the Sahara and Nubiainvolve all the North African Coun-tries, the Nile or Congo River Basin,for example, involves ten countries,while Guinea shares twelve riversbasins with its neighbors.

Transboundary Water ResourcesManagement seems one of thekeys to improve governance ofwater resources on the continentand the condition for the popula-

tions to have access to water formeeting both human needs andsustainable economic develop-ment.

Gathering about twenty countries andregional organizations such as theEconomic Commission for CentralAfrican States or the Sahara andSahel Observatory, and several repre -sentatives of Basin Organizations(OMVS, OMVG, NBA, VBA, CICOS,LCBC, NBI), the seminar allowedbroad experience sharing on topicssuch as: harmonization and coordi-nation of national, regional and basinpolicies; sharing of information on atransboundary scale; role of the civilsociety and water stakeholders inTWRM; joint management of surfaceand ground water; impact of climate

change on water resources and adap-tations to be considered.

Many speeches led to discussionsand group work during the five daysof the seminar, which was closed bythe speeches of Jean-FrançoisDonzier, INBO Secretary, on themana gement of transboundary waterthroughout the world, and of Jean-Michel Ossete of the African WaterFacility on the opportunities forfinancing TWRM.

Daniel VALENSUELAINBO [email protected]

Transboundary Water Management - Tunis - 26 - 30 October 2009

Seminar of the African Water Facility

Training

Birth of the North-American Network of Basin Organizations

Within the “International Confer-ence on Water Governance inthe Americas” in Quebec (Ca na -da), the Constitutive As semblyof the North-American Networkof Basin Organizations (NANBO)was held on 15 October 2009.

Affiliated to INBO, NANBO intendsto promote basin management bygathering the greatest possible

number of organizations which workin this part of the world, fromPanama to Alaska and Greenland,including the Antilles.

In Debrecen (Hungary), during thelast General Assembly of INBO inJune 2007, representatives of theCommittee for Dialogue and Deve -lopment of the Richelieu River Basin(COVABAR), Messrs. Normand

Cazelais and Hubert Chamberland,received the mandate to carry out thisextremely important operation in thelife of INBO, since, hitherto, NorthAmerica had no regional network.

On 15 October, Mr. Normand Caze-lais, coordinator of the provisionalcommittee set up with representa-tives of Cana da, France (St. Pierreand Mique lon), the United States,Mexico and Quebec to ensure thecreation of NANBO, de cla red thatthis Constitutive Assembly was a”historical event”.

On this occasion, NANBO of fi ciallyadopted its statutes and elected itsadministrators.

Mr. Hubert Chamberland be ca -me the first President of NANBO.

Operating with three official lan-guages, English, Spanish andFrench, NANBO is also calledRéseau Nord-Américain des Orga -nisations de Bassin (ROBAN) andRed de Organizaciones de Cuencade America del Norte (ROCAN).

Its secretariat is located in the city ofQuebec.

An official presentation of NANBOwill be made during the next GeneralAssembly of INBO in Dakar (Sene-gal) from 20 to 23 January 2010.

Normand CAZELAISROBAN [email protected]

www.monroban.org

NANBO Constitutive Assembly


This year, the yearly EUROPE-INBO Group conference tookplace within the World WaterWeek of Stockholm and was part of the official events of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union.

Jointly organized by INBO and theSwedish District Authorities, it ga thered 131 participants from 24 countries during 3 days, with thepresence of the European Commis-sion.

The conference was opened by Mr. Björn Sjöberg (Sweden), Directorof the “Skagerrak and Kattegat” Dis-trict Authority, and by Mr. OvidiuGabor (Romania), President ofEUROPE-INBO 2008.

The conference dealt with threetopics: Management Plans, Cli -mate Change and Programs ofMeasures.

The District Authorities are indeedcurrently facing the same stakes in

all the European countries: imple-menting the very first cycle of theManagement Plans and Programs ofMeasures which must be adoptedbefore the end of the year and inte-grating climate change into waterresources management.

In addition to the introductoryspeeches, a significant part of theprogram was dedicated to exchangesin round tables.

MANAGEMENT PLANSAND PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Mr. Patrick Weingertner (Rhine-Meuse Water Agency, France) intro-duced the topic and presented theFrench participative approach andmore particularly that used in hisBasin, with the sending of one ques-tionnaire to all the French families,accompanied by a communicationcampaign (local TV, radio, newspa-pers), local information meetingsand a Website dedicated to the con-sultation.

The rate of reply however remainsrelatively low and it is thus still necessary to increase awareness.The public consultation led howeverto modify the draft ManagementPlans and the results were commu -nicated to the public.

Messrs. Kálmán Papp (Hungary),Håvard Hornnæs (Norway) andAnthony Mc Nally (Ireland) then pre-sented the approach used in theirbasins.

Work in round tables, reported by Mr. Bo Sundström, Sweden, under-lined that public participationrequires time and resources whichshould not be underestimated. TheFrench approach was often quoted asa very good practice but also as tooexpensive for some countries. Somelimit themselves to the use of Inter-net to inform and consult the public,but the participants agreed to sayingthat this is not enough: it is neces-sary to use the local newspapers andto organize public debates.

For Transboundary International Dis-tricts, the added value of Interna-tional Commissions was underlined.But it is still necessary to increasethe coordination of the measures bythe riparian countries and to agree onthe same economic model (dispro-portionate costs, exemptions, ...).

CLIMATE CHANGE:CHALLENGES FOR WATERMANAGEMENT

After a scientific introduction by Pro-fessor Sten Bergström (SwedishMeteorological and HydrologicalInstitute), three basin experimentswere presented: Mrs. Wanda Zeven-boom (Netherlands), Mr. Juan JoseMoragues (Spain) and Mr. Jean-Marie Wauthier (Wallonia, Belgium).

The round tables led to the followingconclusions, reported by Mrs. Da nie -la Radulescu, Romania: the costs ofthe adaptation to climate change will be lower than those of non- adaptation and it is important to actas soon as the Program of Measures2009-2015; the Marine Strategy, theFloods Directive and the FrameworkDirective would gain from better

coordination especially between theresponsible administrations and atthe European level (CIS); expertise islacking for taking into account cli-mate change in planning; it is neces-sary to develop meteorological mo -delling, specify orientations andcarry out case studies. Europeshould be a leader in this approach.

ECONOMIC ASPECTSOF THE PROGRAMSOF MEASURES

Mrs. Maria Brättemark of the Euro-pean Commission estimated that theeconomic analyses presented by theMember States remain rather disap-pointing: many draft ManagementPlans do not refer to the cost-effec-tiveness analysis and only 60% ofthem tackle the subject of pricing.

Three district experiments were presented by Mr. Peter Pollard (Scotland), Mr. Hans ChristianKarsten (Denmark) and Mrs. Geral-dine Aubert (France).

The discussions, reported by Mr.Mario Cerutti (Maas InternationalCommission) underlined the diffi-culty in finding the best combinationof measures, for non-point pollutionin particular.

Exemptions are often needed and notonly when there is dispropor tio natecost. The polluter-pays principleshould be better applied in agricultureand hydropower. Measures should beinitiated at governmental level.

Many Basin Organizations estimatethat their financing instruments arenot suitable and that it would be ne -cessary to develop case studies onthis matter on the European scale.

.../...

INBO Events7th EUROPE-INBO Group Conference

EUROPE-INBO

19 - 21 August 2009 - Stockholm - Sweden



INBO Events7th EUROPE-INBO Group Conference

"FOR FACILITATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE"

.../...

They fear that there is not sufficientstakeholders’ appropriation at locallevel, that the effects of the measuresare insufficient, that there are interfe -rences with other Europe an programs(renewable energies, ...): it is neces-sary to find a good balance with theother environmental objectives andto put the Programs of Measures onthe political agenda in order to solvecontroversies.

On the whole, 17 papers werepresented.

The exchanges continued in a moreinformal way during a dinner-cruisein Stockholm archipelago, offered bythe Swedish District Authorities.

During the closing ceremony,Romania transmitted the Presi-dency of EUROPE-INBO Group toSweden for the year to come.

Mrs. Ann-Louise Månsson, WaterDirector of the Swedish Ministry of the Environment was handed the EUROPE-INBO symbol by Mr. Vasile Pintilie and Mr. OvidiuGabor, respectively Director Generaland Deputy Director General of ApeleRomane (National Water Administra-tion of Romania).

During the official conclusion ofwork, Mr. Jean-François Donzier,INBO Permanent Technical Secretary,underlined the stakes for the Euro-pean Basin Organizations.

He reminded that huge work hasbeen done since 2000, but importantchallenges are remaining to achievethe objectives of the FrameworkDirective.

110 River Basin Districts have beingestablished across the EuropeanUnion, Switzerland and Norway.

40 are Transboundary River BasinDistricts which cover more than 60% of the territory of the EU, makinginternational coordination one of themost significant issue and challengefor the WFD implementation.

To conclude his speech, he declared:"The gained experience shows thatthis new basin approach has realadvantages! From now on, it is possi-ble to progress towards better basinmanagement in the European Union:we will to do it!”

Mrs. Maria Brättemark reminded theexpectations of the European Com-mission and Mrs. Ann-Louise Måns-son, Swedish Water Director, pre-sented the priorities of the SwedishPresidency of the European Union(climate, marine environment, biodi-versity, eco-efficient economy, Stra -tegy for the Baltic Sea). The conclusions of the conferencewill be reported to the StrategicCoordination Group and to the Euro-pean Water Directors.The participants thanked ourSwedish partners for their very goodorganization and their warm wel-come. This conference took place at a keymoment of the development of Ma -nagement Plans by the EuropeanBasin Organizations.

You can find all the documents onINBO website.

THE 5 SWEDISH RIVER BASIN DISTRICTS

Sweden is divided into 21 counties(“Länsstyrelsen”), each one directed bya Prefect representing the State. Beforethe WFD, water was managed on acounty scale. In 2004, Sweden adoptedbasin management and subdivided its territory in 5 River Basin Districts(“Vattendistrikt”). In each district, a county was designatedas the authority responsible for the WFD,

in charge of formulating the Management Plan and Program of Measures.The District Authorities (“Vattenmyndigheterna”) are coordinated by theSwedish Ministry of the Environment. Public participation is organized through the Water Council (“Vattenråd”)gathering the municipalities, farmers, industries, associations for environ-mental protection, organizations of fishermen. Sweden shares 3 transboundary districts with Norway and Finland. The Baltic Sea is much polluted especially by eutrophication. The imple-mentation of the Strategy for the Baltic Sea presented by the EuropeanCommission in June 2009 is one of the priorities of the Swedish Presi-dency of the EU. Sweden hopes that this step can be used as a model forother regional seas, such as the Mediterranean or the Black Sea.

Mrs. Ann-Louise Månsson, Swedish Water Director, new President of EUROPE-INBO 2009

Mrs. Maria Brättemark of the European Commission


INBO Events

110 delegates coming from 26 countries met in Beirut (Leba non),on the occasion of the InternationalSeminar on River Basin Manage-ment and Cooperation in theEuro-Mediterranean Region andthe 7th General Assembly of theMediterranean Network of BasinOrganizations (MENBO), to definethe most suitable actions needed forachieving the objectives of integratedand participatory ma -na gement ofinland surface and ground waterresources and of related coastalzones in the Mediterranean area.

This event took place at the invitationof the Lebanese Ministry of Energyand Water (Directorate General forHydraulic and Electric Resources) andof the Litani River Authority (LRA).

Mr. Fadi Comair, General Directorfor Water, Energy and ElectricResources (Lebanon), was electednew President of MENBO. The Gene -ral Assembly expressed its high gra -titude to Mr. Walter Mazzitti (Italy),MENBO President 2007-2009, forhis very successful Presidency of thenetwork.

Mr. Laszlo Kothay, INBO WorldPresident, concluded the work with Mr. Selim Catafago, LAR President.

MENBO has now 34 membersfrom 17 different Mediterraneancountries.

The Seminar was structured aroundthree main thematic round tables:Water and Agriculture in the Manage-ment Plans of the MediterraneanBasin, Adaptation to Climate Changeand Water Saving and Usefulness ofthe Tools of the WFD in Mediter-ranean non-EU Countries.

During this Seminar, the conclusionsof the Euro-Mediterranean Ministe-rial Conference on Water (December2008, Dead Sea, Jordan) wererecalled as well as the undergoingprocess of preparation of a Long TermStra tegy for Water in the Mediter-ranean, that should be approved onthe occasion of the next Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Confe -rence on Water (April 2010 in Bar ce -lona, Spain).

The delegates of the General Assem-bly requested the former Italian Pre -sident and the new Lebanese Presi-dent of MENBO, with the support ofthe Spanish Permanent TechnicalSecretariat, to report the “Declarationof Beirut” to the Water Experts Groupof the Union for the Mediterranean, incharge of elaborating the Strategy forWater in the Mediterranean.

DECLARATION OF BEIRUTThe delegates reaffirmed that fresh-water resources are limited andthreatened all over the Mediterraneanand that their better governance isone of the main keys to sustainabledevelopment.

The Millennium Goals for drinkingwater supply and sanitation can onlybe achieved with significant andsimultaneous progress made to in -tro duce Integrated Water ResourcesManagement (IWRM), organized onthe relevant scale of river basins.

In particular, more cooperationagreements have to be initiated,signed or reinforced between theriparian countries of transboundaryriver basins.

When they are in place, InternationalCommissions or similar organiza-tions allow better dialogue, theexchange of useful information, thesolving of conflicts and the sharing ofbenefits from better joint manage-ment and the strengthening of trans-boundary cooperation.

WATER AND AGRICULTUREIN THE MANAGEMENT PLANSOF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASINS

Mediterranean agriculture is subjectto strong constraints which are notlimited to the arid and semi-aridareas of the Southern and EasternCountries. Low availability of waterresources, arable land loss anddecrease in soil fertility compromisethe capacities of this agriculture tomeet the stakes of food security andquick demographic growth.

The Mediterranean basin is alsoone of the areas most vulnera-ble to the announced impacts of climate change.

Agriculture will be one of themost affected economic sectors.It is thus imperative to integrate rain-fed and irrigated agriculture in theManagement Plans of the Mediter-ranean basins. It is necessary to pro-duce better and more while usingless water.

SAVING WATER

It is necessary to identify less waterconsuming solutions: water demandmanagement, better efficiency, mo -bilization of non-conventional waterand water reuse are priorities.

Synergies between water and energyare to be promoted.

INBO recommends creating a systemfor modernizing agricultural practi-ces allowing water saving by sounddisse mination of innovations, thanksto edu cation, training, research anddevelopment.

IMPROVING WATER GOVERNANCEAND FINANCING

Transfer of the management of irri-gated lands to irrigators’ Groupsallows improving irrigation anddrainage facilities mainly their ope -ration & maintenance functions, aswell as adapting the allocated waterto the real needs.

It is necessary to support the deve -lopment of participative methods fordialogue and multiple uses of water,the reinforcement of the managementbodies for collective irrigation sys-tems and the organization of farmersin users association.

It is imperative to create national andlocal financing and equalizationmechanisms recognizing the princi-ple of common cause between thewater users in each basin. It is also asimportant to facilitate the farmers’access to micro-financing.

.../...

International Conference on River Basin Managementand Cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean Region

7th General Assembly of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (MENBO) - Beirut - Lebanon - 6 - 9 October 2009

The Presidents Comair and Mazzitti with MENBO Secretariat


INBO Events7th General Assembly of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (MENBO) - Beirut - Lebanon - 6 - 9 October 2009

.../...

PROTECTING NATURAL RE-SOURCES: WATER, LANDSAND ECOSYSTEMS

INBO recommends that agriculturalpractices be adapted to limit pollu-tion hazards in fertilizing and in usingphytosanitary products. In the Medi -terranean area, arable lands are limi -ted and have to be maintained.

ADAPTING WATER MANAGEMENTTO CLIMATE CHANGE

It is now clear that climate changewill have effects such as increase in the frequency and intensity ofextreme hydrological phenomena(floods, drought, …), with strongconsequences in the Mediterranean.

As the Mediterranean region is one ofthe areas most vulnerable, it is es -sential to adapt water resources ma -nagement policies and to quicklyassess the hydrological and agro-nomic consequences of this change,according to various scenarios.

Flood/Drought Risk ManagementPlans have to be elaborated inthe basins, to anticipate climatechange and integrate coordinatedmeasures in River Basin Manage-ment Plans.

Thinking at all levels about risk ma -nagement should be launched.

USEFULNESS OF THE TOOLSOF THE WFD IN MEDITERRANEANNON EU-COUNTRIES

For the first time in history, 29 coun-tries in Europe were committed tojointly manage their water resourcesat the level of national or transboun -dary basins.

The Water Framework Directive(WFD) can inspire other areas inthe world as it introduces theprinciples of good governancethat can be applied everywhere.

It cannot be exported as it is, but itsapproach, principles and tools aretransferable: characterization of ini-tial status and development of moni-toring, formulation of Managementand action Plans at basin level,

definition of indicators and commonrefe rence frames for data mana -gement, introduction of the cost reco very principle, participation ofthe interested parties and of the public…

In the Mediterranean Region, addi-tional human and financial resourceswill be necessary for implementingthe WFD principles in the pilotbasins.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE RESOURCEAND INVESTMENTS: TWO PRIORITIES

The initiative of a group of Mediter-ranean Countries to strengthentheir National Water InformationSystems, harmonized at regionallevel for supporting the implementa-tion of the Strategy for Water in theMediterranean, meets an overallneed of the decision makers.

The investment needs of thewater sector are significant.

Financing of the sector will requirethe right mix of taxes, tariffs andtransfers, and a persistent effort forsustainable financing strategies.

Realistic cost recovery is to belooked for. Tariffs should be differen-tiated reflecting local conditions andaffordability considerations.

Economic, fiscal as well as legalissues related to non-conventionalwater resources should be addressedin a systematic and forward lookingway.

INCREASING ACTIONAND SUPPORTING THE CREATIONOF BASIN ORGANIZATIONSIN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA!The delegates requested that Officialbi or multilateral Development Aidand the water-related programs ofInternational Cooperation Organiza-tions should be refocused to supportprojects aiming at implementing realconcerted actions, which meet theabove principles, in each basin, andexperimentations, evaluations andexchanges of know-how in theseareas.

They also underlined the advan-tages of twinning agreementsbetween Mediterranean and Euro-pean Basin Organizations as aneffective means for disseminatinggained field experience.

Katharina [email protected]

MENBO

www.remoc.org

MENBO Presidency handing over from Italy to Lebanon



INBO Events

Organized by Changjiang (Yangtze)Water Resources Commission(CWRC), EU-China River Basin Management Program (RMBP) andWWF, a high-level dialogue on riverbasin management was held inShanghai, China, on April 19, 2009,the day before the third Interna-tional Yangtze Forum, which hasbeen an important step in promotingintegrated river basin management(IRBM) in the Yangtze River Basinand in China. High-level experts and officials fromEU and China attended the confe -rence, coming from CWRC, YRWCC,Pearl River Water Resources Com-mission, Taihu Lake Authority, Inter-national Commission for the Protec-

tion of the Danube River and RhineRiver Commission. The Secretaries of INBO, Mr. Jean-Francois Donzier, and of GWP, Mr. Martin Walshe, were invited toaddress this conference. This Dialogue Conference placedemphasis on sharing experience andlessons gained in promoting IRBMboth in EU and China and in imple-menting the Water Framework Direc-tive (WFD) in European Union Mem-ber States. A consensus was been reached inthis conference to declare that IRBMis a vital approach to ensure watersecurity, ecosystem security and thesustainable economic and socialdevelopment in the world, and that

its implementation requires politi-cal will, high-level commitment, co operation between economic sec-tors, participation by all stakeholdersand support with legal framework. All the participants of the conferencealso appealed to strengthen interna-tional cooperation to promote RiverBasin Management and to addressclimate change.

Dr. Yang, GuoweiInstitutional Specialist of EU-China RBMP (RBMP) [email protected]

www.euchinarivers.org

European Union - Yangtze Dialogueon River Basin Management in Shanghai

China

The 4th International Yellow RiverForum took place in Zhengzhou,China, from 20 to 23 October2009, on the theme: "EcologicalCivilization and River Ethics".

The Forum was organized aroundtechnical sessions on the followingtopics:

l social and environmental impactof climate change; sustainablewater resources management;

l watershed rehabilitation;

l scientific meanings of ecologi-cal civilization; modern riverbasin management and restora-tion;

l river ethics and sanitation;

l application of experiences andnew technologies of waterresour ces management;

l sediment management of highsilt-laden rivers and reservoirs;

l water right transfer, water sa fety,water environment, water marketand water saving.

The International Network ofBasin Organizations (INBO) wasinvited to organize an “officialsession” on IWRM implementa-tion in the River Basins of theworld, with two topics:

n role of Regions/Provinces, LocalAuthorities and users in basinmanagement;

n financing of the Basin Manage-ment Plans, of their InvestmentPlans and Programs of Mea su res.

At the closing ceremony of theForum, a partnership agreementwas signed by Mr. Laszlo Khotay,World President of INBO, and Mr. Li Guoying, Commissioner ofthe Yellow River ConservancyCommission (YRCC).The papers of the special session ofINBO and the photographs of theForum are available on the website:

Yellow River [email protected]

www.riob.org

www.yellowriver.gov.cn

4th International Yellow River Forum (IYRF)

Huge participation in the 4th IYRF

Participants in the UE-China Dialogue

Signing of INBO / YRCC partnership agreement


INBO EventsMekong River Commission

Forum of the MRC partners - Chiang Rai 15-16 October 2009For the second time, this initiative ofthe Mekong River Commission(MRC) gathered, in Chiang Rai, Thai-land, a hundred participants comingfrom the four Member States: Cam-bodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

A very reactive Chinese delegationalso participated.

INBO Technical Secretary was repre-sented by IOWater’s Director of Inter-national Cooperation, Mr. Jean-LouisMillo.

The objectives of this meetingwere to ensure transparency onthe preparation of the 2011-2015development programs.

Three topics were dealt with:

l impact of hydropower,

l development of irrigation,

l climate change.

The exchanges alternated betweentechnical presentations and partici-pative workshops, including:

n MRC presentations of its com-prehensive and structured plan-ning methods,

n many very relevant addresses oflocal groups, in particular onenvironmental and social issuesand about fishing,

n a request for increased collabo-ration, presented by the Chinesedelegation.

Some figures give the extent of thechallenges: in Laos, 70 dams areplanned to produce electricity and inThailand projects are planned totransfer water towards the North-Eastern areas.

The current water storage capacityupstream (China) is 25 km3; down-

stream in the 4 MRC Countries, theprojects relate to 23 km3 in newreservoirs.

It is planned to increase irrigatedlands by 500,000 ha, i.e. 36% of thecurrent surface area.

Fishing accounts for 15% of theworld production out of fresh waters,i.e. 2.6 million tons each year.

The Commission insisted on two ofits current concerns: necessary inter-State coordination and impact of cli-mate change, on the Mekong delta inparticular.

Jeremy BirdExecutive SecretaryMekong River Commission [email protected]

www.mrcmekong.org

A hundred participants coming from the four Member States

Mekong River Commission

Launching of the pilot project of Dong Nai River Basin

Vietnam

Vietnam experiences a fast economicdevelopment which implies signifi-cant environmental challenges.

In such a context, a cooperationmemorandum was signed in June2007 by the French and VietnameseMinisters in charge of sustainabledevelopment.

Year 2009 allowed the materia -lization of an ambitious bilateralcooperation project on IntegratedWater Resources Management(IWRM), which deals with theDong Nai pilot Basin.

It aims at providing:

∂ An institutional assistance to theNational Authorities in charge ofIWRM coordination, financed by

the French Loire-Brittany andSeine-Normandy Water Agen-cies (€ 400,000) according tothe "Oudin-Santini" Law ondecentralized cooperation.

∑ A technical assistance financedby the French Ministry of Econo -my, Finance and Employment forthe development of surface watermonitoring in the Dong Nai pilotbasin (€ 800,000). It will beimplemented by SCE consultingfirm and ASCONIT Consul tants atthe beginning of 2010.

The first step of the project wasthe kick-off seminar held on 20 and 21 October 2009 in Hanoi,which allowed an exchange on theapplication of integrated water mana -gement in both countries.

The concepts of the European WaterFramework Directive are used as reference for the analysis of Decree120, new Vietnamese legislationdirecting IWRM since its publicationin December 2008.

The project implementation isplanned over two years and will bethe subject of many papers, on the“institutional assistance” part in par-ticular.

Michel STEIN In charge of International AffairsLoire-Brittany Water [email protected]

www.eau-loire-bretagne.fr

Opening of the Kick-off Seminar


“Meeting of Basin Organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean” Foz do Iguaçu - Paraná - Brazil - 18-21 November 2009

Latin American Network of Basin Organizations (LANBO)

The Latin American Network ofBasin Organizations (LANBO) wasestablished in August 1998 inBogotá, Colombia. It is one of theregional networks of the InternationalNetwork of Basin Organizations(INBO). It gathers administrationsand institutions in charge of waterresources management in water-sheds and multilateral cooperationagencies involved in water resourcemanagement.

At the initiative of the National WaterAgency (ANA) of Brazil, the lastLANBO General Assembly tookplace in Rio de Janeiro in November2008 and brought together 106 dele-gates representing 67 institutionsfrom 21 countries. The Meeting of Basin Organiza-tions from Latin America and theCaribbean, organized by LANBO,took place in Foz do Iguaçu(Paraná - Brazil), on November18 - 21, 2009.

It was supported by Itaipu Binacional,the State Government of Paraná, theState Secretariat for Environment andWater Resources (SEMARH), COPEL,SANEPAR, the National Water Agency(ANA), the International Network ofBasin Organizations (INBO), the Bra zi -lian Network of Basin Organizations(REBOB), the National Forum of RiverBasin Committees (FNCBH) andIUCN.

This Meeting was held at the sametime than the 6th Cultivating GoodWater "Cultivando Agua Buena" andthe 7th Iberoamerican Meeting onSustainable Development (EIMA).

This event contributed to strengthe -ning Integrated Water ResourcesMana gement in Latin America andthe Caribbean through the knowledgeand exchange of national and inter-national experiences of river basinagencies.

The 1st Meeting of the GoverningBoard of LANBO also took place onthis occasion to draft a proposedwork schedule of the Network for thecoming years.

Edgar Bejarano MéndezPresident of LANBO [email protected] Somarriba Vice President of [email protected] Favero BrochiTechnical Secretary of LANBO [email protected]

www.ana.gov.br/relob

LANBO

INBO Events

The Brazilian Network of BasinOrganizations (REBOB), establi shedon July 1, 1998, is a regional as -sociation of watershed organiza-tions.

Its main objectives are to representits members in matters of commoninterest and promoting the ex changeof experiences among them.

It is also supporting cost recoveryfor water use and the creation of

truly decentralized systems of waterresources management.

In 1998, the National Water Re sour -ces Council (NWRC) was crea ted inBrazil, and REBOB took a seat as repre sentative of the River BasinAgencies.

The goals proposed by REBOB wereachieved: the system for WaterResources Management in Brazilhas existed since 1997; the creation

of REBOB motivated the BasinCommittees to organize nationally in1999, in Ribeirão Preto city, SãoPaulo State, Brazil. With the full sup-port of REBOB, the National Forumof River Basin Committees was cre-ated, and the partnership betweenthe two orga ni zations has beenstrengthe ning over the years.

The institution is a member of theInternational Network of BasinOrganizations (INBO) and of theLatin American Network of BasinOrganizations (LANBO).

Since its foundation REBOB hasparticipated in national and interna-tional events and has sponsoredregional meetings for strengtheningexisting organizations and the crea -tion of new ones in the States of São

Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais,Santa Catarina, Bahia, Rio Grandedo Sul and the Federal District.

It participated in Expo Zaragoza,which was held in 2008 in Spain.

In 2009, REBOB worked to streng -then the networks (REBOB, LANBO,INBO) and help promote IntegratedWater Resources Management tothe civil society to lead to the con-stitution of new River Basin Com-mittees.Francisco Carlos Castro Lahóz President of REBOB [email protected]

www.rebob.org.br

Brazilian Network of Basin OrganizationsBrazil

The Araruama Lagoon

2.500 Delegates participated in the Opening Ceremony!


Our publications

For Integrated Water Resources Mana -gement (IWRM) to be effective andpractical, it is essential that it is imple-mented on a basin scale, whethernational or transboundary. The basin ofa river, a lake or an aquifer is indeed thegeographical area most relevant todeal, in an integrated way, with theproblems of water resources and im -pacts of regional planning on these

re sources. Many expe -riments of integratedbasin ma nagement wereini tiated in the worldthese past years.

The International Net -work of Basin Organi-zations (INBO) and theGlo bal Water Partner-ship (GWP), with thefinancial support ofthe French Ministryfor Fo reign and Eu ro -pean Affairs, havejoined to produce the"Handbook for IWRMin Basins", based onthese experiments andknow-how, practices andknowledge ac quired

sometimes for several decades.

This handbook is intended for profes-sionals of water resources manage-ment of the public and private sectors.

It is also addressing representatives oflocal authorities, economic sectors andNGOs, involved in basin management.

The handbook aims at providing themwith examples of tools and practicaladvice to facilitate their decision- making regarding the governance andmanagement of water resources, eitherfor the creation of new basin organiza-tions, or for improving and moderni -zing already existing basin manage-ment bodies.

After introducing fundamental notions,then problems and challenges encoun-tered by the managers, the documentanalyzes the tools and mechanismsavailable for establishing basin mana -gement systems as well as the types ofpossible basin organizations and theirroles, according to the situation.

The handbook deals, in a pragmaticway, with mechanisms used for anequitable share of the resourcebetween the various uses (domestic,agriculture, energy, industry, transport,tourism, fishing, environment), withinstruments for conflict prevention andresolution or protection against risks,especially those caused by climatechange.

The aspects of financing the water sec-tor, stakeholders’ involvement, long-term strategy and action plans, com-munication and development of follow-up and information systems are ana-lyzed while focusing on the practicalelements, dealing both with theimprovement of institutional arrange-ments and working practices.

More than fifty experiments or casestudies implemented in the five conti-nents are used to illustrate the varioustopics and are references likely to helpdecision-makers in their search forsolutions to their problems.

Designed for providing practical assis-tance to catalyze the changes towardssustainable development, this hand-book, published in English and French,aims to be a dynamic document. The first version of which, presented on 20 March 2009 at 19:00 at the5th World Water Forum in Istanbul -Sutluce Conference Center, will beregularly updated thereafter.

A handbook forintegrated water resources

management in basins

The Technical Committee (TEC) ofthe Global Water Partnership(GWP) and the International Net-work of Basin Organizations(INBO), in collaboration with “theGlobal Evaluation of Water Manage-ment in Agriculture (CA)” have pu - blished, in English and in French, a“Brief” on the issue of water manage-ment at basin level. This brief analyzes basin gover-nance in the context of increasingcompetition for water betweenagriculture and the other uses, ofimpacts of water pollution anddeterioration of ecosystems.

This analysis shows that, to face all thechallenges, it is necessary to createarrangements for governance whichtake into account the various geo-graphical scales. The basin is a particularly relevantlevel for the field implementationof integrated management asso -ciating all the stakeholders relatedto water.The note gives an overview of the va -rious functions which must be fulfilledon this scale, advisable institutionalarrangements for effective governance,roles which the Basin Organizationscan play according to the natio nal con-text, to criteria which determine thequality of the ope ration of Basin Orga -nizations.

The “brief” also emphasizes the needfor a preliminary institutional characte -rization, so that the type of BasinOrganization to be created issuited to the challenges to faceand is consistent with theactions of all the other Institu-tions which usually alreadyexist in the same area. The new body should be a pri -vileged place for coordinationand dialogue.

Download the document file on:www.inbo-news.orgwww.gwpforum.org

A "Brief" for better basin management

"Handbook for IWRM in Basins"The result of an effective collaboration between INBO and GWP


Our publications

Groundwater accounts for 98 to 99%of the total volume of freshwater onEarth. It runs in aquifer systemswhich can extend over tens, hun-dreds or even thousands of kilome-ters.

More than half of the populationin the world currently depends ongroundwater.

On a worldwide scale, 65% of theabstracted groundwater is used tomeet the needs for agriculture, 25%for domestic uses, and 10% forindustry, mining and energy activi-ties. However, this distribution variesfrom one area to another: in manydeveloped countries, groundwaterrepresents a significant resourceused for drinking water, as in Europewhere it covers 70% of the needs. Inarid areas, it also represents the maindrinking water resource, as in SaudiArabia and Libya, in Yemen, Pakistanand Chad, in India or in Algeria and inNiger.

This strategic resource, necessary forsocioeconomic development, mustrequire special attention and its sus-tainable management must be a target to aim for.

This is even more the case whenthe aquifers are transboundary.

The management of transboundarywater resources shared by varioussovereign States remains indeed adelicate problem.

Nowadays, many efforts have alreadybeen made with regard to the mana -gement of transboundary surfacewater, which allowed, on the onehand, the establishment of Trans-boundary River Basin Organizationsand, on the other hand, launchingthoughts and experience sharing, ascarried out within INBO.

On the contrary, relatively few actionsrelated to transboundary aquifershave been yet carried out, except forthose implemented in a restrictednumber of projects for some largeaquifers. The fact that groundwater isinvisible and has complex operatingmodes, undoubtedly does not allowthe decision-making authorities totake fully into account their vulnera-bility, their real potential and the truestakes they represent for the society.

And yet, to date more than 270transboundary aquifers world-wide have been assessed by theISARM program of UNESCO/IHP.

These aquifer systems undergoincreasing pressures, linked to thedevelopment of human activities,agriculture in particular, and to

clima te change. In addition, in mostarid and semi-arid zones, thesegroundwater resources are “fossil”,i.e non-renewable or hardly rene -wable.

Their rational use is indeed cru-cial.

To avoid the degradation of theseaquifers and not to deprive futuregenerations of an heritage to whichthey have the right to claim, and alsoto prevent conflicts between Statesover the shared exploitation of theseresources, it is of great impor-tance to establish lasting dia-logue and collaboration betweenall interested parties.

This requires the definition of com-mon objectives and adapted strate-gies, but also, more specifically, theestablishment of management bo -dies with transboundary responsibili-ties. Good knowledge of the charac-teristics and functioning of theaquifer systems is also imperative,without it, no sound decision can bemade.

This was acknowledged in the UnitedNations General Assembly Resolu-tion of December 2008.

In order to contribute to the suitablemanagement of transboundary aqui -fers, the French Development Agen -cy with its partners, BRGM, UNESCO,IOWater, INBO and the Water Aca -demy, launched a methodologicalstudy which aims at drafting anoperational guide book for themanagement of shared ground-water, intended for the politicaland administrative authoritiesconcerned.

This guidebook will especially high-light the problems linked to the mana -gement of these resources, will give aprogress report on the state of the artand ongoing practices, will presentexamples of transboundary aquiferson several continents and the stakesthey represent, and will suggest a setof recommendations to set effec-tive management of transboundaryground water. The guidebook will bepresented at the INBO GeneralAssembly planned in Dakar from20 to 23 January 2010.

AFD - French Development [email protected] - [email protected]

UNESCO [email protected] - [email protected]

BRGM [email protected] - [email protected]

IOWater / INBO [email protected] - [email protected]

Water Academy [email protected] - [email protected]

www.afd.fr

www.unesco.org

www.brgm.fr

www.inbo-news.org

www.academie-eau.org

L'ENTREPRISE AU SERVICE DE LA TERRE

BRGM

A guidebook on transboundary aquifer management

"Management and Hydro-diplomacy "of Water in the Middle East"How to limit theeffects of climatechange in the Medi -ter ranean area?

How to sustainablymanage the scarce

water resources of the region? How toprovide water to the populations in suf-ficient quantity and quality? How toaccustom users to water-saving beha-viors? How to remove the possibility ofa water war in the Middle East by inci-ting Governments to adopt participa-tive policy? What are the new regional

hydro-diplomatic facts? How to ensureequitable water use among the coun-tries of the area?

The book that Fadi Georges Comair,Director of Water and ElectricResources of Lebanon and newMENBO President, has just publi-shed, tries to answer these questions,by highlighting the urgency of establi-shing a new world order based on theculture of water, to preserve peace andfood security in this area of the world.

For launching this book, on the occa-sion of the French-speaking Book

Exhibition in Beirut, a Conferencegathered more than 250 leaders of theArea on 25 October 2008, with the par-ticipation of FAO, the Arab League, theUnion for the Mediterranean area, aswell as Jean-François DONZIER, INBOPermanent Technical Secretary.

Editions "L'Orient - Le Jour"Imm Kantari Corner - B.P. 11-2488 Beyrouth - Liban

www.lorient-lejour.com

33Progress report 2007 - 2009TWINBASINXN

TWINBASINXN

The International Network of BasinOrganizations (INBO) has acquiredexperience in fostering twinning agree-ments, in managing the TwinBasinproject (2004-2007) financed by theEuropean Commission.In 4 years, the project has obtainedvery interesting results: 41 techni-cally and financially supportedtwinning agreements, more than100 missions for the exchange ofexperience, involving 70 BasinOrganizations from 42 countries.The representatives of the two largestbasins in the world in particular -those of the Amazon and CongoRivers - met, thanks to the projectsupport, and signed a twinningagreement.It is clear that twinning agree-ments are a powerful tool toimprove the operation of BasinOrganizations and to developtrue and effective IntegratedWater Resources Management.Twinning agreements allow for thecapacity building on technical andinstitutional issues needed by BasinOrganizations.The decision-makers should beaware of this relevance to mobilizethe resources needed for implemen -ting effective exchanges.The lessons learned from the projectare summarized on line on the web-site: www.twinbasin.org

The TwinBasin project demon-strated the real added-value ofdeveloping twinning agreementsbetween River Basin Organiza-tions for improving IntegratedWater Resources Management.

By exchanging field experience,Basin Organizations can:

n strengthen participation of stake-holders and civil society in deci-sion- making processes;

n improve methodologies for mid -term and long-term planning;

n set up the data bases required toorganize Information Systemsand decision-making supportingtools;

n build staff capacity;n design sustainable financial

mechanisms.The TwinBasin project:

l gave strong credibility to theTwinning process;

l proposed a framework for agree-ments between partners;

l organized calls for proposals forselecting the best and moreadapted Twinning arrange-ments;

l required technical reports withspecific added value after therealization of experts’ missions.

It is worth saying that average sup-port made by TwinBasin has been of4,000 Euros for each twinning, co -vering less than 40% of the directexpenses. For such a reasonableinvestment, benefits have beenmuch higher!

Thus, for any future Twinning project,INBO proposes a 3-steps methodo -logy:

∂ Explaining the needs, whichdepend on the topics to be tackled with (institutional, legal,economical, technical, commu-nication) and the practical me -thods used for exchanges(awareness, training, capacitybuilding) as well as the contactsto establish (political people incharge, representatives of theeconomic sectors, managers ofbasin organizations, technicians,

specialists, etc.).

∑ Identifying the most compati-ble "Twins", in particular thanksto the regional networks of BasinOrganizations.

∏ Proposing a precise content fortwinning agreements speci -fying the objectives, expectedoutputs, missions’ duration,foreseen period, expert(s) pro-file(s), local counterparts, per-formance indicators, financialarrangements, etc.

Under these conditions, twinningagreements have more chance tobe truly effective and to becomegenuine tools for sharing expe -rience and know-how.

The RochehautseminarEconomic component of the WaterFramework Directive

With TWINBASINXN support, animportant seminar, held in Roche -haut (Belgium) in April 2007, ga -thered repre sentatives of BasinOrganizations from 6 countries(Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Malta,Walloon Region and France) parti -cularly motivated by the economicdimension of IWRM and Manage-ment Plans. They worked on the economiccomponent of the European WaterFramework Directive and drafted a"guide", avai lable on the TWIN-BASINXN project and the FrenchArtois-Picardy Water Agency web-sites. This seminar allowed the drafting ofa proposal for the implementationof Programs of Measures in Bul-garia, within an institutional coope -ration between the Bulgarian WaterAuthorities and the French Artois-Picardy Water Agency.The program especially focused onthe following main topics:l input of the cost-effectiveness

analysis in the development ofthe Program of Measures,

l potential derogations, l cost-recovery.This seminar has also given to theparticipants the opportunity to per-form a session on "ECO WHAT?",which allows, under interactive and"real" conditions and using the eco-nomic analysis, justifying a RiverBasin Management Plan towardsdecision-makers.Arnaud CourtecuisseArtois-Picardy Water AgencyTel.: +33 3 27 99 90 [email protected]

www.eau-artois-picardie.fr

42 Countries involved in TwinBasin

INBO Action Plans

For promoting twinning between Basin Organizations

www.twinbasin.org


INBO Action PlansTwinning between Murrumbidgee and Davao

This twinning agreement was signedin 2006 within the TWINBASINXN

project.

It aimed at the transfer of innovativetools and smart technologies for irri-gation and urban water use from Mur-rumbidgee River Basin, Australia, toDavao River Basin, Philippines.

One of the innovative tools is thehydrological model, SWAGMAN(Salt Water and Groundwater MANa -gement), which is already being usedboth as an educational and manage-ment tool by environmental officersand farmers in the MurrumbidgeeRiver Basin, Australia. This twinningagreement aims at adapting it to theDavao River Basin, Philippines.

Professor Shahbaz Khan fromUNESCO HELP, Australia, and Dr RuthGamboa from PCEEM Davao Foun-dation, Inc, Philippines, are workingtogether to develop this twinning withthe main actors, which include theCity Government of Davao, Depart-ment of Agriculture, National Eco-nomic Development Authority, Uni-versity of the Philippines, PCEEM,CRS and KFI.

The institutions within the Philip-pines are generally better establishedfor managing water supply for the

demands of the various drivers(popu lation, industrial, agricultural,irrigation etc.) as opposed to mana -ging water in an integrated sustai -nable approach. Under this twinbasin cooperation, theinvolved institutions are beingengaged to learn from the policiesand laws adopted in the Mur-rumbidgee Catchment to help con-serve the Davao River Basin.The TWINBASINXN missions provedto be an opportunity to acquire andshare best practices and lessonslearned. This twinning brings newideas and innovative strategies andapproaches in environmental andeconomic management. It has been acknowledgedthrough the Australian Govern-ment’s Eureka Water Prize.Prof. Shahbaz KhanUNESCO HELP, CSIRO/CSUFax: [email protected]

www.csiro.au

Stakeholders’ training on water management, Davao, Philippines

In accordance with the Joint Declara-tion signed in November 2001 by theMinistries of the Environment ofHungary and Spain that dealt with themain environmental and water pro-tection problems, a first cooperationmeeting was held in Debrecen, Hun-gary, in June 2007, between theNational Directorate for Water and theEnvironment of Hungary and theSpanish General Directorate forWater (DGA) to define future coope -ration objectives for Water Frame -work Directive implementation,transboundary management and pre-vention of extreme pheno mena, suchas floods and droughts.

Within this cooperation framework, afirst visit of a Hungarian Delegationto the Spanish DGA was organized on10-12 September 2007.

The Hungarian Delegation wasreceived by the Spanish Water Direc-tor, Jaime Palop, who presented thePrevention and Drought ManagementPlans, Hydrologic Automatic Infor-mation Systems, national legislation

and the Water Framework Directiveimplementation in particular.

The Hungarian Delegation gave infor-mation on the multilateral coopera-tion system between Hungary and thenumerous countries sharing theDanube River basins and sub-basins.

During the visit of the Atazar dam,different topics were discussedincluding the emergency and func-tioning plans for large dams.

The Delegation also met the staff fromthe Tagus River Basin Authority, inMadrid, where details on the closecooperation between Spain and Portugal in the Albufeira agreement framework were shared. It was alsoable to directly observe the functio -ning of the Hydrologic AutomaticInformation System (SAIH) and itsbenefits over available waterresources control.

Miguel Antolín MartínezCoordinator of International Affairs,Directorate General for WaterFax: +34 91 453 53 [email protected]

The Hungarian Delegation and their Spanish hosts

The Atazar dam

Spanish-HungarianCooperation

TWINBASINXN


INBO Action Plans

The Mediterranean - Black Sea

From 24 to 28 September, a Bulgariandelegation, made up of the Director ofthe Black Sea Basin Agency in Varna,Mr. Ventsislav NIKOLOV, of two of hiscollaborators and a representative ofthe Water Directorate of the Bulgarian

Ministry of the Environment andWater, stayed in Lyons, Marseilles andToulon at the invitation of the Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica WaterAgency, within the European TWIN-BASINXN arrangements.

After 2 days spent in Lyons to ex -change on water taxes – what tax -payers and how they are identified,which type of taxes and how pollutantemissions are measured, the mea -surement networks and public con-sultation planned for by the WFD -the delegation went to Marseilles, fora presentation of the Agency’s littoralpolicy, of the 9th Action Program andthe Master Plan for Water Develop-ment and Management. The Bulga -rian delegation could attend a mee -ting of the Basin Committee’s Geo-graphical Commission on Littoral inAix-en-Provence.

On the last day, our Bulgarian col-leagues met the IFREMER staff in

Toulon who presented their activityrelated to the measurement of marineenvironmental quality, especially theNautile, a pocket submarine for greatdepths, and then they visited thewaste management unit of the harbor.

Jean FAURE-BRACIn charge of External and International RelationsRhone-Mediterranean and Corsica Water AgencyFax: +33 4 72 71 26 [email protected]

The french Water Agency RM&C received the Bulgarian Black Sea Basin Agency

Visit of the waste management unit of Toulon harbor

www.eaurmc.fr

The contacts esta -blished since 2003between the Basinsof Sebou in Moroc -co and Seine-Nor-

mandy in France have led to thesigning of a twinning agreementin 2005.

Exchanges increased and theEuropean Union chose Sebou asa "pilot basin" to test an adapta-tion of the principles of the WaterFramework Directive.

The first exchanges between theSebou River Basin Agency and theSeine-Normandy Water Agency(AESN) started in 2003: a missionallowed identifying some major to -pics for cooperation.

In 2005, a cooperation agreementwas signed and dealt with the stakesof the Sebou River Basin: establish-ment of water taxes, communicationtools, aquifer contracts, managementof water abstraction for agricultureand agricultural pollution.

In 2006, an engineer of Sebou ABHstayed one week at the AESN to workon water quality and an AESN engi-neer participated in the Sebou waterusers’ awareness on the manage-ment of aquifers and agricultural pol-lution. He testified on the occasion ofthe Moroccan national debate on theestablishment of aquifer contracts.

In March 2007, a Moroccan delega-tion came to Paris to visit the Interna-tional Agribusiness Show (SIMA),and met the Minister for Ecology andSustainable Development as well as

farmers and irrigators of the Seine-Normandy Basin. In April, a new mis-sion took place in Fez and Meknès,where the National School of Agri-culture organized discussions. Dia-logue with farmers is continuing!

Sanitation is not forgotten. Fez isbuilding a wastewater treatment plantwith European financial support. On asmaller scale and in rural areas, theSebou ABH requested AESN tofinance the installation of a viableand effective system for wastewatertreatment in a human settlement ofSefrou Province.

This project fits in the solidarity pro-gram of the French Water Agencies(Oudin-Santini Law of February2005).

THE SEBOU, A WFD "PILOT BASIN"… In coordination with the MoroccanWWF, the Sebou ABH requestedSeine-Normandy to receive threeengineers for one week at the end ofJune 2007 in Paris. Their stay, focu -sing on the WFD economic analysis,was the occasion of many meetingsand visits, and is likely to be followedby other actions…

CALLE MyriamSeine-Normandy Water Agency (AESN)Fax: -33 01 41 20 16 [email protected] MyriamAgence de l’Eau Seine-NormandieFax : (33) 01 41 20 16 [email protected]

www.abhsebou.ma

www.eau-seine-normandie.fr

A most active twinning!

Sebou - Seine-Normandy


INBO Action Plans"Apele Romane"

TWINNING COOPERATION WITH SOUTH AFRICA AND SWAZILAND

In 2007, Romania, Swaziland andSouth Africa started a close collabo-ration based on the cooperationagreement between the Komati BasinWater Authority (KOBWA) and theNational Administration "ApeleRomane" - Olt River Basin.This "Olt-Komati" twinning agree-ment was developed within theTwinbasin project.The first mission of the project tookplace in Swaziland between Marchand April 2007 and included practi-cal information exchanges throughmeetings at the KOWBA departmentsand technical field visits. The project focuses on several spe-cific areas of interest:‰ Administrative and legal

framework:v At regional level: the Southern

African Development Commu-nity (SADC) and the EuropeanCommunity (EU).

v At national level: the RiverBasin Organizations such as Oltin Romania, the Komati RiverBasin Authority in Swaziland andthe Catchments ManagementAgencies (CMA) in South Africa.

v At transboundary level: theDanube River Commission inEurope and the Komati JointWater Commission betweenSouth Africa and Swaziland.

‰ Dam operation, monitoringand maintenance: SANCOLDin South Africa and CONSIB inRomania play a similar role.

‰ Improvement of monitoringnetworks for water quantity andquality (biological and physical-chemical parameters).

A final meeting took place in Mba-bane between both Basin Authoritiesand Swaziland Authorities involved inwater management.

Participation in international twinning agreements

TWINNING WITH UZBEKISTAN

The twinning agreement between the National Administration "ApeleRomane" and the Scientific Informa-tion Center of the Interstate WaterCoordination Commission of CentralAsia (SIC-ICWC), developed withinCEENBO, is in line with the EuropeanTwinbasin project.This twinning project allowedexchanges to take place between Mayand September 2007, dealing withcommon topics:n Monitoring of resources;n Assessment of water quality;n Informational networks;n Financing approach.

The Twinning Project consisted in twomissions: the first one began with thevisit of four Romanian specialists inUzbekistan, in May 2007.The second mission of 3 Uzbek spe-cialists in Romania started in August2007. "Apele Romane" presented itsactivities and organized visits at fourWater Directorates (Jiu, Arges-Vedea,Buzau-Ialomita and Dobrogea-Litoral) and two Water ManagementUnits (Mehedinti and Tulcea). Serban IliescuNational Administration "Apele Romane" Fax: +40 (2) 13 [email protected]

www.rowater.ro

French-Hungarian twinning between Basin OrganizationsCooperation between France andHungary is flourishing along theDanube. The first agreement signed in1994 was renewed several times and amulti-party agreement was signed on8 December 2008 between 2 FrenchWater Agencies (Seine-Normandy andLoire-Brittany) and 5 Hunga rian WaterDirectorates (Central Directorate, Mid-dle Danube, Upper Tisza, Trans Tisza,Western Transdanubian).Among the priority actions there aretopics related to the WFD implemen-tation. A workshop devoted to theEconomic Analysis was thus heldon past 25 and 26 May 2009 inBudapest, with the presence of LaszloKhotay, State Secretary in charge ofWater and World President of INBO.It gathered about 40 people: on theHungarian side, the Ministry for the

Environment was represented as wellas 11 of the Regional Directorates; onthe French side, economists of theSeine-Normandy and Loire-BrittanyAgencies took care of the technicalprocee dings of this workshop.The 2 French Agencies had alsoasked Pierre Strosser and ArnaudCourtecuisse, European experts, forhaving a view of the economic pro -blems in the other countries of theEuropean Union.The seminar was divided into 5 topics:l cost recovery through the water

utilities;l impact of the social, economic

and environmental situations onthe costs;

l the economic justification ofexemptions;

l incentive pricing for the applica-tion of the development plans;

l financing of the WFD Program ofMeasures.

These two days highlighted the chal-lenges that Hungary must face toachieve "good status". 19 countries share the Danube RiverBasin, 14 of which are Members ofthe International Commission for theProtection of the Danube River(ICPDR). This specificity makes thedevelopment of a Management Planrather complex. The main problems encountered inthe basin are associated with organicpressures, with the difficulties relatedto wastewater treatment, with floodand irrigation. In Hungary as inFrance, there is real integration of thetools for economic analysis in thedevelopment of Management Plansand yet the insufficiency of their useas decision-making supporting toolsis striking. It thus appears necessary

to better integrate economics into theother disciplines to meet the WFDrequirements!Finally, this French-Hungarian col-laboration leads to exchanges ofyoung professionals eager to widentheir horizons and to see other prac-tices on same topics. The Seine-Nor-mandy and Loire-Brittany Agencieswill thus receive two young Hungari-ans from the Western Transdanubianwhile two young French people willgo to Hungary...English languagebeing a must! Myriam CALLESeine-Normandy Water [email protected]

Michel STEIN Loire-Brittany Water [email protected]



It set a stage for further collaborationon drought and flood mitigationstrategies.

The mission of a Swaziland delega-tion in Romania took place in August2007 and included a meeting at the

Head Office of Olt Water Directorate,in Ramnicu Valcea.

Maria Manolescu / Chris KeevyFax : + 40 (2) 13 [email protected]@mweb.co.za


INBO Action Plans

Nine executives of the seven Moroc-can Agencies and of the State Secre-tariat in charge of water participated ina one-week study, in Toulouse, in June2008, at the invitation of the Adour-Garonne and Rhone-Mediterraneanand Corsica Water Agencies. Thismeeting mainly dealt with the calcula-tion and recovery of water taxes andthe allocation of aids to water users.

Indeed, the French Agencies have a40-year experience in this matter.

In Morocco, the application of thewater law of 1995 is progressive to bebearable and the taxes on water, irriga-tion, electricity and supply are nowgeneralized and those on domesticand industrial pollution are beingestablished.

The French specialists underlined thenew requirements of the EuropeanFramework Directive of 2000, inte-grated into the French Law on Water and

Aquatic Environments of December2006.

Following a seminar on concertedgroundwater management, which hadtaken place in Beni Mellal in April2007, another seminar was held inLyons in December 2008 on measure-ment tools and networks.

There are frequent cooperation con-tacts between the Adour-Garonne,Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsicaand Seine-Normandy Water Agencies,on the one hand, and the Oum er Rbia,Loukkos, Tensift, Souss Massa andSebou Agencies, on the other hand,bound by twinning agreements.

Julien MARTINEZAdour-Garonne Water [email protected] DEBLAIZERegional Delegate of MontpellierRhone Mediterranean and Corsica Water [email protected]

www.eaurmc.fr

Les 9 Responsables Marocains en visite à Toulouse

Collaboration betweenPoland and the Ukraine

A cooperation agreement on the BugRiver Basin was signed on 11 May2006 between the Regional WaterManagement Authority in Warsaw andthe Western Bug River Basin Authorityin Lutsk.

The agreement takes into account:

l UNECE Convention on the Protec-tion and Use of Transboun daryWatercourses and InternationalLakes in Europe,

l EU Water Framework Directive(WFD),

l Agreement between the Polishand Ukrainian Governmentsregarding cooperation on watermanagement on transboundaryrivers.

As a part of this agreement, missionswere co-funded by the internationalTwinBasin program that aims atincreasing bilateral cooperationbetween River Basin Organizations forintegrated water resources manage-ment.

A Workshop dedicated to the Polishexperience in WFD implementationwas held at the home office of theLublin River Basin Authority.

It mainly focused on the delimitationof water bodies in the Bug River Basin.

The seminar in Lutsk allowed the fol-lowing issues to be discussed:

n progress of WFD implementationin the Ukrainian part of the basin;

n typology and identification of sur-face water bodies - metho dologyand implementation results inthe Ukrainian part of the BugRiver Basin;

n significant problems of watermanagement in the basin.

The cooperation plan for the next twoyears was ratified in November 2008,in Lutsk.

Magdalena KrawczykRegional Water Management Authority RZGW - in [email protected]

www.rzgw.warszawa.pl

Cooperation betweenthe French and MoroccanBasin Agencies

La rivière Bug


INBO Action PlansSigning of a cooperation agreementbetween the Niger River Basin Agency (Mali)and the Loire-Brittany Water Agency (France)

The Niger River Basin Agency in Maliand the Loire-Brittany Water Agencyin France have maintained for yearsregular and profitable exchangesespecially within the UNESCO Loire-Niger project.

Both agencies wished to consolidatetheir partnership by signing a co -o peration agreement for the develop-ment of joint actions in the field ofintegrated water resources manage-ment and decentralized cooperation.

This signing took place on 16 July2009 in Bamako (Mali) under thepresidency of Professor TiémokoSANGARE, Minister for the Envi -ronment and Sanitation of Mali, andin the presence of Mr. BrunoDETANGER, Vice President of theLoire-Brittany Basin Committee, andHis Excellency the Ambassador ofFrance in Mali.

This protocol signed by Messrs.Hamadou DIAKITE and Noël MA -THIEU, Directors of the 2 Agencies,defines the practical provisions ofthis cooperation (field of compe-tences, actions considered, follow-up of the protocol…) on the basis ofa principle of equality and mutualbenefit.

A Malian Director was received inOrleans in autumn 2009 to familia -rize himself with the French basin taxsystem, a French expert will carry outa mission in Bamako for dealing withthe problem of treating dyeing liquidwaste and the Angers-Metropolis willfinance the water supply project inMoribabougou.

An evaluation of the commitmentsand actions of this partnership will bemade at the end of the first 2 years.

Michel STEIN In charge of International AffairsLoire-Brittany Water [email protected]


Signing of the agreement

Twinned with the HungarianUpper Tisza Basin Directorate,the Seine-Normandy WaterAgency (France) took the oppor-tunity of INBO General Assemblyin Debrecen in June 2007 tomake a visit to its counterpart.

The Seine-Normandy Water Agency(AESN) has been linked by a coope -ration agreement with the HungarianWater Authorities since 1994. Theagreement was renewed in 1997,then in 2005 at Mount St Michel.

Regular exchanges are fed by currenttopics.

Contacts have multiplied since 2000and common understanding of theobligations of the European Frame-work Directive is achieved throughexperience sharing between the 2 basins: communication, stakehol -ders’ mobilization, flood control andmanagement or definition of sensi-tive areas, etc.

The discussions mainly focused onthe development of flood protectionon the Tisza (too frequent floods),forecasting and warning systems, thebuilding of dikes and devices foranticipating floods. Water quality andpublic consultation were alsoincluded in the discussions.

The coming to France of a Hungariandelegation is planned for April 2008and topics such as quality reco veryin the Seine, pollution cau sed by theChampa gne wine industry, publicconsultation and wetland protectionshould be discussed.

CALLE MyriamSeine-Normandy Water Agency Fax: +33 01 41 20 16 [email protected]


The Seine-Upper Tisza twinning

The Tisza river

39Progress report 2007 - 2009Institutional support

INBO Action PlansInstitutional support

NBA: Towards the achievementof the "Shared Vision"

In 2003, the World Bank and theNiger Basin Authority (NBA) com-pleted an Audit, carried out by IOWa-ter, INBO secretariat, aiming at pro-posing institutional and organiza-tional reforms for the Authority.

Various meetings of the Niger BasinAuthority (NBA) bodies have sinceconfirmed the will of the nine MemberStates (Benin, Burkina Faso, Came -roon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali,Niger, Nigeria) to make this organiza-tion a tool for regional coo perationand economic development.

Thus, a "clear and shared Vision"of the Niger Basin was formu-lated to create an "environmentfavorable" to cooperation and to drawup a "Sustainable DevelopmentAction Plan (SDAP)" accepted by allthe basin stakeholders.

The Declaration of Paris on "The prin-ciples of management and good go -vernance for sustainable and shareddevelopment of the Niger Basin" wassigned in April 2004 by the nineHeads of State and Government.

The Niger Basin Authority is fi nan -ced by the Water Facility of theEuropean Union to implement a pro -ject entitled "Formulation and Imple-mentation of an Investment Program",which deals with the following topics:n Drafting a Water Charter;n Consistency of the SDAP with the

national and regional processesof Integrated Water ResourcesManagement (IWRM);

n Preparation of the investmentprogram and methods for imple-menting the projects.

With the formulation of the SDAP, thedevelopment of the Investment Pro-gram at the end of 2007 and theSummit of the Heads of State andRoundtable of Donors planned in2008, the Niger Basin Authoritywill be able to achieve practical andlasting outcomes for ensuring thefuture of the basin users and citizens.

ABNFax: +227 20 72 42 [email protected]

www.abn.ne

OMVS is an outstanding tool forcooperation, having a tested and sta-ble legal and institutional framework,with practical results, benefiting froma strong political commitment. Itespecially developed two commoninfrastructures:u The anti-salt Diama dam to

allow the development of irri-gated crops in the valley;

u The Manantali Dam for floodmanagement, flow regulationdownstream, for energy produc-tion, irrigated crops and water-way navigation.

OMVS has proven its capacity tomobilize its partners to design andcarry out projects on a great scalethat no State could have imple-mented alone.

But it has also a potential to do moreand must face new challenges suchas the integration of Guinea, theimplementation of the Declaration ofNouakchott, of the Water Charter andof true Integrated Water ResourcesManagement (IWRM), as well as thedevelopment of navigation and newhydropower projects of second ge -neration.

With financing from the World Bankand on OMVS's request, the Interna-tional Office for Water (IOWater),INBO Secretariat, is making rec-ommendations for an institutionalreform, starting from a completefunctional analysis. The proposalfocuses on:v increasing the governance of the

OMVS System, at the level ofthe High Commission and of theDam Management Companies;

v the search for a better institu-tional, organizational and eco-nomic consistency;

v improving human resources ma -nagement.

The proposed reform allows: better adequacy between re sour -

ces and the tasks to be carriedout;

reducing the costs and loads fordecreasing the pressure on thePublic Treasuries of the States;

self-capacity building for invest-ment in the priority sectors transparent and coherent ma na -gement of the financial re sour -ces of the Organization.

In addition, the reform complies withthe constitutive texts of the Organiza-tion and can be quickly and easilyapplicable and potentially imple-mented in 12 months with an entirelyacceptable economic and social costand with an evolution according tothe technical, economic and institu-tional developments of the comingyears.OMVS

[email protected]

www.omvs.org

OMVS :An institutional reform to face the future challenges


INBO Action Plans

The VBA Web Portal

The Volta Basin Authority (VBA)committed itself in April 2007 tocrea te an information system in orderto guarantee communication withinthe cooperation framework of thetechnical and financial partners.For this purpose, the VBA requestedin 2009 IOWater, INBO Secretariat,to prepare and design the VBAmulti-lingual French / English Web portaland the catalogue of the data sourcesof the basin.The VBA portal allows disseminatinginformation to the public and sharingworking papers between the various

VBA partners, eachpartner being able toconsult and/or feedand up date the vari-ous headings of theportal according tothe rights of access .The catalogue of theinformation sources,accessible via theportal facilitates theidentification of theexisting data whileallowing each dataproducer/manager of

the basin to present the data availableat his level.Following this first phase, it is nowplanned to install the portal on aserver directly managed by the VBApersonnel, and to provide them trai -ning on the administration and main-tenance of these tools.

Charles A. BineyVolta Basin Authority Fax: + 226 [email protected]

www.abv-volta.org

Volta Basin AuthorityThe International Commission ofthe Congo-Ubangui-Sangha Ba sin(CICOS) requested the InternationalOffice for Water (IOWater), INBOSecre tariat, to prepare the Terms ofRefe rence of an institutional audit,which is a priority for both the CICOSSecretariat Gene ral and the MemberStates.The study will propose ad hoc modi-fications for this purpose so that theinstitutional framework and institu-tion are operational and long-termperforming, with an orientationtowards the sustainable deve lopmentof the basin for the well being of theriparian populations.The Terms of Reference, which werevalidated at the session of the Minis-ters’ Committee in November 2009,define the framework of the study andthe specific objectives:u Analyzing the primary causes of

the institutional difficultiesencountered by CICOS duringits last two fiscal years;

u Identifying several scenariosrelated to the links with the Eco-nomic and Monetary Communityof Central Africa (CEMAC), ofwhich CICOS is a specializedagency;

u Proposing a sustainable financialmechanism for the entry into

force of the new reform of theCEMAC in 2013;

u Examining the possibilities oflinking CICOS to the EconomicCommunity of Central Afri canStates (ECCAS) due to the pre -sence of the Democratic Repu -blic of Congo and possibleaccession of new countries;

u Allowing the operational imple-mentation of the Additive toCICOS mandate extending itsresponsibilities to IWRM (Inte-grated Water Resources Mana -gement), including institutionaldevelopment and capacity buil -ding;

u Identifying the appropriatenessand place of a Basin InformationSystem;

u Proposing an increasing andresponsible involvement of allthe basin stakeholders (publicauthorities, private operators andsocio-professional organiza-tions, users, NGOs, organiza-tions of the civil society).

The results of this study are expectedin the first half of 2010.

www.cicos.info

The Organization for the Developmentof the Gambia River (OMVG) carriedout an institutional reorganization in1991, which allowed a new approach,the starting of true basic studies andthe concretization of a good-will forregional integration (1991-1997). The following decade (1997-2006)allowed the maturation of priority pro -jects, especially a strategic "Energy"project consistent with the WAPP(West African Power Pool).In the current economic and environ-mental context, the benefits expectedfrom this Energy Project are very inte -resting:

l Production of 1,350 GWh/year ofclean energy to contribute to meetingthe increasing demand in the area;

l Exploitation of renewable naturalresources with a concern for sus-tainable development with thereduction of CO2 emissions;

l Cost price of the energy quitelower than the alternative thermalsolutions;

l Improvement of the total reliabilityof the electric sector thanks to anambitious interconnection.

More than 550 MEuros were alreadygathered for dams, hydropower unitsand interconnections, nearly 65% ofthe total budget of 857 MEuros. This Energy project is strategic for thesub-region. However, OMVG has not

yet an overall and integrated vision ofwater resources management in itsriver basins in order to:l better guarantee management sus-

tainability, especially of the plan -ned structuring works;

l prepare the future actions to becarried out in the short, mediumand long term, beyond the alreadyidentified projects.

In such a context, the French Ministryfor Foreign Affairs mandated IOWater,INBO Secretariat, to provide strate-gic support to the Organization for theDevelopment of the Gambia River(OMVG).The analysis made by IOWater showedthat it is very important to supportOMVG in its institutional and technical

capacity building, and 2 priority linescan be retained for 2009/2010:v thorough assessment of gover-

nance at the national and trans-boundary basin level, in synergywith the studies already under-taken by NBA (case of Guinea) andOMVS (case of Senegal);

v development of a true MasterPlan for Water Developmentand Management and of amedium-term Investment Plan.

It is also important to reinforce theinstitutional structure of OMVG, todevelop monitoring and decision- making supporting tools, to train staffs,to increase participative approach, etc.

OMVG: Organization for the Development of the Gambia River

CICOS : Institutional Audit


INBO Action Plans

Hungary and Romania, are membersof the European Union and apply, in aconvergent way, the same commu-nity legislation.

The project, started in 2005, ex -ceeded its initial objectives with thefinalization of one of the very firstManagement Plans for the DanubeBasin, as required by the WFD for2009.

Jointly financed by the FrenchGlobal Environment Facility(FFEM) with one million Euros, thisproject, being carried out at the coreof the Tisza Basin, shared by Hun-gary, Romania, the Ukraine, Slovakia,and Serbia, is of major interest to thisregion.

The methodological and practicalcontribution of the French experts ofWater Agencies was useful todevelop the new practices necessaryfor the Water Framework Directiveimplementation.

This project, carried out under theaegis of the International Commis-sion for the Protection of theDanube River (ICPDR), by IOWa-ter, INBO Secretariat, with helpfrom experts of the French WaterAgencies, allowed true cooperationbetween Hungary and Romania for

the creation of a management body,coordinating the work of the twonational parts of the basin.

In a first phase, "organizationalblocks" were created for data mana -gement, the introduction of mecha-nisms for regional dialogue, the har-monization of the delimitation ofground Water Bodies and the moni-toring of ground and surface waters,the economic analysis, from theanalysis of cost recovery to thechoice of the best measures to betaken, the projection of the trends upto 2015, and the organization of acci-dental pollution control.

This preliminary work allowed theprogressive drawing up of two inter-national documents showing thehigh level of coordination reached bythe two basin’s countries at the endof the project, i.e.:

n A Management Plan for theKörös / Crisuri, in accordancewith WFD requirements;

n A plan for the prevention ofaccidental pollution, whichwas tested during an interna-tional exercise in June 2007.

After 2 years of work and manyassignments, the following exem-plary results can be underlined:

l Development of a catalogue ofshared metadata;

l Creation of a website, hosted byICPDR (www.icpdr.org) enti -rely devoted to the project, withthe various experts’ reports;

l Checking that the Objectivesof Good water Status wouldbe achieved in 2015, accor -ding to the implementation of theProgram of Measures proposedthrough modeling;

l Implementation of joint workaiming at harmonizing themethods for sampling fishand invertebrates for the rea -lization of a Biological QualityIndex;

l Training on quality manage-ment in the laboratories analy -zing the basin water and imple-mentation of a blank qualityaudit;

l Testing a public consultationon significant basin issues inthe two countries for preparingthe national phase;

l Drafting of a detailed eco-nomic analysis of the mea -sures planned for the project;

l Drafting of a guidance docu-ment on the implementation ofthe various stages of the plan-ning process necessary for thedevelopment of the ManagementPlan;

l Presentation of the projectresults during various inter-national meetings and designof a brochure for disseminatingthe obtained results.

At the end of this particularly pro -fitable project, we deplore the deathin May 2007 of one of its craftsmen,Mr. Petru Serban, Romanian WaterDirector in Apele Romane, initiator ofCEENBO, who led his country on theway to Integrated Water ResourcesManagement and widely contributedto the success of the project by hisdirect personal involvement in theactivities and his active participationin the Steering Committee.

www.icpdr.org

The Water Framework Directive implementation in the Körös/Crisuri Transboundary Basin

Hungary-Romania

Electrical fishing for harmonizing the measurement methods

Web application for sharing metadata between the various institutions


INBO Action Plans

The twinning agreement signed bythe Bulgarian Ministry of Water andthe Environment and the French Ministry of Ecology (MEESDS)started in March 2009.

Seconded for 18 months by theArtois-Picardy Water Agency, ArnaudCourtecuisse took his position ofResident Adviser of the twinning inSofia, at the Bulgarian Water Direc-torate.

This project is led by IOWater, man-dated by the MEESDS and INBOSecretariat, for following up thetwinning arrangements in the field ofwater.

A launching phase to adapt the work plan to the local context

The beginning of the project wasmarked by exchanges with the Bul-garian partners to take into accountthe work started by the Basin Direc-torates on the development of Pro-grams of Measures; indeed to be inconformity with the WFD timetable, afirst version of these documents hadbeen presented for public consulta-tion at the end of 2008.

A kick-off seminar for the projectwas held on 7 April 2009; it wasopened by Mrs. Lubka Katchakova,Bulgarian Vice-Minister in charge of

water. Experts of the Rhone-Mediter-ranean & Corsica, Rhine-MeuseAgencies and of IOWater also partic-ipated in this seminar.

Assistance to the BulgarianBasin Directorates for the preparation of the Programs of Measuresand Management Plans

The important capacity building pro-gram for the Bulgarian Water Mana -gement Authorities began with thecreation of the Technical Coordina-tion Group. Composed of expertsfrom the Mi nistry and each BasinDirectorate, this group participates inall the training activities; it is incharge of coordinating the projectactivities with work for drafting theBasin Mana gement Plans.

A delegation of 12 Bulgarianexecutives of the Ministry and ofthe 4 Basin Directorates wasreceived in Lyons in July 2009.

The Rhone-Mediterranean & CorsicaWater Agency organized meetings forexperience sharing on the prepara-tion of the Programs of Measures andwater tax systems, as well as fieldvisits. The Bulgarian delegation alsoparticularly appreciated being invitedto a session of the Rhone BasinCommittee on 2 July 2009.

Several assignments were carried outby French experts of the Water Agen-cies (Artois-Picardy, Rhone-Mediter-ranean & Corsica, Rhine-Meuse andSeine-Normandy), BRGM and IOWa-ter for:

n jointly analyzing with the Bulga -rian experts the progress reporton the Programs of Measures ofthe 4 basins and identifyingadditional needs;

n reminding the expectations ofthe European Commission asregards reporting;

n presenting the methods that canbe used for estimating the effec-tiveness of measures, identifyingand justifying exemptions, miti-gating the lack of data;

n refocusing the work to be carriedout on the priorities.

Development of economic instruments

The second objective of the projectaims at helping with the revision ofthe water tax calculation system, tomake it coherent with the recentmodifications of the Bulgarian WaterLaw.

The interventions of French experts(François Guerber of the Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica Agency,Delphine Passé of the Artois-PicardyAgency and Paul Haener of IOWater)dealt with the definition of the taxes(pollution parameters, rate), and withthe improvement of the informationsystem linked to the recovery of the-ses taxes.

Today these taxes are recovered bythe Basin Directorates and trans-ferred to the National EnvironmentFund; the use of the product of thesetaxes for financing the Programs ofMeasures of the WFD is also at thecore of the discussions.

Mrs. Lubka Katchakova, who left herfunctions after ministerial reorgani -zation, played an important partthroughout the implementation ofthis French-Bulgarian twinning.

The Bulgarian Project Leader is nowMrs. Zvetanka Dimitrova, Director ofthe Water Management Department.

Zvetanka DimitrovaMinistry of Water and the [email protected]

www.moew.government.bg

An institutional twinning in Bulgaria: Programs of Measures and economic instruments of the WFD

Bulgaria

The kick-off seminar of the project

Mrs. Lubka Katchakova and Messrs. Poncins and Rivaud


INBO Action PlansMalta :Twinningon the WFDMalta has to provide, like the otherMember States of the EuropeanUnion, its first Management Planunder the Water Framework Direc-tive at the beginning of 2010.Under the aegis of the FrenchMinis try of Ecology, the Interna-tional Office for Water, INBO Se -cretariat, and the French Rhone-Mediterranean & Corsica, Rhine-Meuse, Loire-Brittany and Adour-Garonne Water Agencies and alsothe French Water Agencies Bureauin Brussels, have conducted, withEuropean finan cing, a 6-monthTwinning with two Maltese institu-tions to prepare the documentsnecessary for the Mana gementPlan of Malta. In fact, Malta has theoriginality to have two competentAuthorities: the Malta ResourcesAuthority (MRA) for groundwaterand the Malta Environment andPlanning Authority (MEPA) for sur-face water.Close work with these two institu-tions has been carried out to pro-duce a common ManagementPlan which is dealing with allissues of the Directive, the draft-ing of a strategy for the participa-tion of the public and partners,and the creation of a website.Two study visits from Malteseexperts in France were organizedwith the French Rhone-Mediter-ranean & Corsica Water Agency toillustrate the proposed solutionsin the management of groundwa-ter and coastal waters. All theMaltese personnel have beentrained in using the tools andinstruments produced during thetwinning.The further implementation of theDirective seems thus on a goodpath in Malta.Jean FAURE-BRAC Rhone-Mediterranean Corsica Water Agency Fax: 33 (0)4 72 71 26 06 [email protected]

www.eaurmc.fr

A Program of Measures for Maltese groundwater

A PHARE twinning agreement onthe definition of the Program ofMeasures planned by the Euro-pean Water Framework Directive(WFD), signed by the FrenchMinistry of Ecology and Sustain-able Development (MESD) andthe Malta Resources Authority(MRA), was carried out from January to August 2007 andmanaged by IOWater, INBOSecre tariat, as project operator.

STRONG STAKESFOR GROUNDWATERMANAGEMENT

Historically, the Maltese populationalways had to face a relative scarcityof freshwater resources, but theincrease in groundwater abstractionled to a fragile balance betweenrecharge and withdrawal.

While technical solutions weredeveloped (building of desalinationplants), they did not allow abatingthe pressure on groundwater, causedby population growth, but also by thehigh increase of illegal boreholes.

The characterization, required bythe WFD, thus classified 10 out ofthe 16 Groundwater Bodies "atrisk of not achieving the quantita-tive objectives in 2015".

It showed a significant increase inconcentrations of nitrates and chlo-rides, up to values sometimesexceeding 5 times the limits relatingto drinking water. 15 out of the 16 Water Bodies were thus identifiedat risk or potentially at risk of notachieving Good Chemical Status.

To these stakes should be added significant needs with regard to watercontrol and management by theinstitutions, but also huge require-ments in terms of knowledge of theseaquifers and public awareness towater management issues.

The Framework Directive demands tothe Member States to develop a Pro-gram of Measures, to achieve theenvironmental objectives. The deve -lopment of such a program, in col-laboration with the Maltese experts,was thus the paramount objective of this twinning, which mobilized,during 32 assignments, 12 expertscoming from French Water Agen-cies (Artois-Picardy, Loire-Brittany,Rhine-Meuse and Seine-Norman -dy), BRGM and IOWater.

The Program of Measures, developedduring a 6-month cooperationbetween French and Maltese experts,thus attempted to provide answers tothese great stakes, using a logicaland participative approach. In a firststep, it consisted in revising the riskassessment carried out in 2005 andin identifying the great challenges ofwater management.

On this basis, an identification of allthe possible measures to be takenwas carried out and technical andeconomic information on theirdescription and their implementationwas gathered in a catalogue ofmeasures.

An economic analysis, dealingwith cost/effectiveness criteria, wasthen carried out with 3 differentscenarios and thus allowed propo -sing a selection suited to the Maltesesituation.

Finally, the work aimed at analyzingthe financial consequences ofthis Program of Measures for thevarious water stakeholders andusers, as required by article 9, oncost recovery, of the FrameworkDirective.

The development of such a programover a short period was a great chal-lenge for the Maltese and Frenchexperts.

The participative approach usedwas a significant element of suc-cess of this project: indeed, a"panel" of interested parties, repre-senting various State administrationsor water users (companies, agricul-ture, etc.), was involved from thestart of the project, then in 3 feed-back seminars at the importantstages and allowed the taking intoaccount of the opinions and remarkson the work.

In addition, regular sectoral meetingsgathered the French and Malteseexperts in order to propose relevantmeasures suited to Maltese realities.

To supplement the assignments inMalta, 3 study tours in Franceenabled the Maltese people incharge to exchange, with their Frenchand European counterparts, theirexperience in WFD implementationbut also to discover precise exam-ples of groundwater managementbodies (Syndicates for Alsace, Rous-sillon and Astien aquifers).

John MangionWater DirectorMalta Ressources [email protected]

www.mra.org.mt

Malta


INBO Action Plans

Turkey

With the prospect of Turkey’s possibleaccession to the European Union, atwinning agreement, called "CapacityBuilding Support to Turkey for theWater Sector" started in October 2007.

The Netherlands, the United King-dom and Slovakia will assist Turkeyin water management in line with theEU water legislation, the WaterFramework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 in parti -cular, the Urban Wastewater Treat-ment Directive 91/271/EEC of 21May 1991 and the Dangerous Sub-stances Directive 76/464/EEC of 4May 1976 and daughter directives inorder to enable the implementation

of the EU community water "acquis"before Turkey’s accession.

The project lasted 27 months andhad four components: a legal andinstitutional gap analysis, implemen-tation plans, a pilot project in a Tur -kish river basin and a communicationplan.

The progress report of this projectwas presented in "INBO special ses-sion" during the International YellowRiver Forum, in October 2009 inChina.Henk Sterk

Resident Twinning Advisor

Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality

[email protected]

Capacity building in the water sector

Master Plans for the Rio Manoel Alves and Rio Palma BasinsThe Government of the TocantinsState is the contracting authority fortwo studies on the formulation ofMaster Plans for the Rio ManoelAlves and Rio Palma Basins,financed by the World Bank.

Both rivers are born in the buttressesof the Serra Geral, are fed by thehuge Urucuia aquifer and run fromEast to West to the Rio Tocantins,

itself tributary of the Amazon. Thisyear, a state of emergency wasdeclared in several communities ofthe study area because of drought.The Master Plans of the Rio ManoelAlves and Rio Palma Basins will haveto allow for better mobilization of theavailable water … or better organiza-tion of the human activities accord-ing to water availability.

IOWater, as INBO Secretariat, par-ticipates in these studies with theBrazilian consulting firm GamaEngenharia. The first stage of the study consistedof a "social mobilization" in eachconcerned community, inviting thewater stakeholders and the popula-tion to actively think about the cha -racterization and analysis of the current situation.The participants were numerous andproductive in the meetings, thusconfirming the Brazil’s reputation of"participative democracy".In the second stage, the same stake-holders will be invited to proposescenarios for the future, then todeliberate on the choice of one ofthese scenarios, which will be usedas a basis for an action plan.At the end of the study, mid-2008,the creation of a Basin Committee isplanned, as there are already morethan a hundred in Brazil, to sustain alocal management body.

For the Government of the TocantinsState, implementing a Basin MasterPlan means the possibility of orien-tating the economic development insuch a way to be sustainable andrespectful of the environment.

There are large dam projects for irri-gation purpose in the Rio ManoelAlves and Rio Palma Basins. Severalhydropower stations are being built,others are planned. The area is favo -rable to the cultivation of sugar canefor the production of ethanol. At thesame time, there is a great potentialfor the development of ecotourism.

Among all these possibilities, thestake of the Master Plans is to enablethe local stakeholders to collectivelysay what they wish for the future oftheir area in the short, medium andlong terms.

www.recursoshidricos.to.gov.br

Rio Manoel Alves, county of Rio da Conceição

Tocatins State

45Progress report 2007 - 2009Knowledge management

INBO Action Plans

The MELIA Project (Mediter-ranean Dialogue for IntegratedWater Management) is a coordi-nated INCO-Med action financed by the European Union within its 6th FPRD.

Led by CSIC, Spain, it gathers 45 organizations from 16 Mem-ber and non-Member States ofthe European Union. The gatheringof bodies of different nature (publicauthorities, international organiza-tions, NGOs, universities, etc.) is afundamental feature of this project. Itstarted in September 2006 and willbe completed in 2010.

MELIA aims at evaluating the meth-ods for Integrated Water ResourcesManagement (IWRM) in the Mediter-ranean countries, using the regula-tions of the European Water Frame-work Directive (WFD) to harmonizewater policies in the MediterraneanBasin.

Its objectives are to:

u build a knowledge base forplanning IWRM, based on theintegration of the widest possiblecontributions;

u develop awareness on social(cultural and participative), eco-nomic and technical issuesrelated to water management onthe Mediterranean scale;

u propose participation mecha-nisms and prevention tools toavoid competition for the alloca-tion of the resource between theregions and the various waterusers;

u support sustainable waterpolicies, provide the institu-tions with criteria accepted bya broad representation of thesocial, economic, scientific andpolitical stakeholders of the va -rious countries;

u provide indicators to imple-ment benchmarking of IWRM inthe Mediterranean region;

u facilitate the development ofa common language to con-tribute to water-related negotia-tions.

In the MELIA project, the Interna-tional Office for Water, as INBO Sec-retariat, and MENBO lead the"Water Policy" working group, whichaims at analyzing the water policiesof the various countries representedin the project, using a common con-ceptual framework.

The project allowed the identificationof the main problems related to waterpolicies application in the region:pricing policies, groundwater man-agement, water scarcity or develop-ment of non-conventional waterresources…

Good practices and exemplary exper-iments were then identified. Theywere summarized in the document:“conceptual analysis of the waterpolicies in the Mediterranean area”.

These elements will support one ofthe objectives of MELIA project: theformulation of recommendations tosupport the application of the princi-ples of the Water Framework Direc-tive in the Mediterranean area.

This means identifying the main fac-tors which direct and condition thedevelopment and implementation ofthese policies (conditions of resour -ce scarcity, sustainable -or non sus-tainable-development approaches,etc.), how they are effectivelyapplied, and furthering dialoguebetween decision-makers, lawyersand researchers in order to improvethe water policies, by basing them onthe example provided by the WFD,but by paying special attention to thelimits of using the WFD or its princi-ples in the Mediterranean Countries.

The MELIA Project has a website atthe address:

www.meliaproject.eu

MEditerranean diaLogue on Integrated water manAgement - "MELIA"Strengthening Euro-Mediterranean dialogue for improving water management

Knowledge management

www.inbo-news.org


www.inbo-news.org


IWRM-Net is an ERA-Net (EuropeanResearch Area) project aiming atundertaking joint transnationalresearch programs related to Inte-grated Water Resources Manage-ment.

IWRM-Net is financed by the Euro-pean Commission and coordinatedby the International Office for Water,INBO Secretariat. It is now madeup of 20 research program man-agers from 14 Member States.

The ambition of this project, of a 5-year duration (2006-2010), is toset up new research programs,financed by the network membersand meeting the national andregional challenges resulting fromthe evolution of the European contextafter the adoption of the WaterFramework Directive.

The promotion of research, as a sci-entific support to the implementationof public water policies, requires:

n The involvement of the variousstakeholders (decision-makers,managers, researchers, users,etc.) throughout the process, foridentifying the scientific con-tents of the research activitiesinitiated by the network;

n Access to the information onongoing or recently completedprograms.

This is why, during the first 18months, the IWRM-Net partnersstarted:

v assessing the needs forwater-related research, with ashort-term prospect, based on ascientific review and workshopsinviting the various stakeholdersto express their needs;

v facilitating access to theinformation and analyzingexisting programs;

v drafting procedures for finan -cing, launching and following-up the research activities of thenetwork.

2008 : LAUNCHING OF THE FIRSTIWRM-NET PROGRAM

The Network members participatedin a meeting, held in Vienna on 8 and9 October 2007, on the financing ofthe first IWRM-Net research pro-gram, divided in two parts:

l Pressures/hydrological andmorphological impacts,

l Water governance.

The objectives of this meeting wereto validate the scientific contents ofthe program as well as the proce-dures for its financing, the selectionand follow-up of the research pro -jects.

The program was launched in Janu-ary 2008.

The donors of the first joint programmet in Berlin in May 2008 to selectresearch projects among the submit-ted seventeen.

Two projects called FORECASTER(Facilitating the application of theCase STudies on Ecological Res -ponses to hydro-morphological Out-put from Research degradation andrehabilitation) and RIPFLOW (Ripa -rian vegetation modeling for theassessment of environmental flowregimes and climate change impactswithin the WFD) were retained for thetopic "Hydro-morphological pres-sures/impacts on good ecologicalstatus" and a project named I-FIVE(Innovative Instruments and Institu-tions in Implementing the WaterFramework Directive) was adoptedfor the topic "Water Governance".Research began during the last quar-ter of 2008.

IWRM-Net: a networkwhich sees far…Using this first experiment, IWRM-Net prepared its second call for pro -jects for 2009.

Again, the method of identifyingresearch needs was based on aseries of regional workshops throughEurope. The workshops aimed atdrawing up the list of research priori-ties for each regional area consi -dered:

‰ Valencia, Spain in June 2008, forthe Mediterranean area;

‰ Sibiu, Romania, in October2008. This workshop joined theGeneral Assembly of theEUROPE-INBO Group of Euro-pean Basin Organizations forWFD implementation;

‰ Stockholm, Sweden on 18 and19 November 2008, for theBaltic countries;

Within IWRM-Net, the French Mi -nistry of Ecology organized a confe -rence in May 2008 on the prospec-tive stakes related to water in Europe.

The progress report of IWRM-Netactivities and the program of the sec-ond call for projects were presented atthe international conference, whichtook place on 10-11 February 2009 in Brussels.

A work for convergence of short andlong-term topics for drawing up the2nd joint research program was fina -lized in a meeting of the donors inMay 2009.

The call for project was launched inAutumn 2009.

Simultaneously to these activities,IOWater initiated a cycle of mee -tings with the other ERA-Netsdealing with water (CRUE,SPLASH, SNOWMAN, CIRCLE) inorder to plan a common strategy forthe sustainability of the various net-works after 2010.

PLEASE JOIN THE IWRM-NETCOMMUNITY!A knowledge and information mana -gement tool for water-related re -search programs has been availablesince October 2007.

It is possible to join the IWRM-Netcommunity by making yourselfknown on our website:

www.iwrm-net.eu

The European network of managers of Integrated Water Resources Management research programs

INBO Action Plans


INBO Action Plans

INSTITUTIONAL AND ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

INECO, "Institutional and EconomicInstruments for sustainable watermanagement in the MediterraneanRegion" is a coordinated project,supported by the European Commis-sion (6th RDFP), with specific mea -sures for international cooperation(INCO Program) with the Mediter-ranean Partner Countries (MPCs).INECO gathers 14 institutionsfrom 10 Mediterranean countries(Greece, France, Italy, Cyprus,Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Alge-ria and Morocco), including public,private and international organiza-tions. The project, which extendedover 3 years, began on 1st July 2006and was completed in June 2009.It was led by the School of Che -mical Engineering of the NationalTechnical University of Athens(Greece).It aimed at presenting an interdisci-plinary approach to water manage-ment, which integrates three main

aspects: environment, economy andsociety.INECO dealt with the various prob-lems encountered in the decision-making process and with the difficul-ties of the current governance struc-tures in the Mediterranean Basin.Research focused on the alternativeinstitutional and economic instru-ments which allow promoting equity,economic effectiveness and environ-mental sustainability in water resour -ces management.The main goal of INECO is to deve -lop the stakeholders’ skills and con-structive commitments in IntegratedWater Resources Management.The project focuses on three chal-lenges:l Water sharing, with (institu-

tional, regulatory, legislative andeconomic) mechanisms to becreated for allocating waterresources in river basins;

l Giving a value to water, withcost assessment, maximizationof economic effectiveness,implementation of cost recoveryand of the "user-pays" and "beneficiary-pays" principles;

l Improving the governance ofwater and institutional environ-ment which allows the imple-mentation of Integrated WaterResources Management.

In a first step, an inventory was madeof the best practices and institutionaland economic instruments used inthe European Union, the UnitedStates, Japan, Australia, Israel,Argentina, Chile and Canada…

The project then sought to see howsome of these measures could beadapted in the Southern Mediter-ranean countries. It then organized,with its various partners, nationalworkshops to analyze the water-related problems and to proposesolutions.

It finally organized a Conference forsummarizing this work.

INBO more particularly dealt with:

u the analysis of the current prac-tices used by developed coun-tries in arid zones, other than EUMember States,

u the role of women in IntegratedWater Resources Management inthe Mediterranean countries,

u the organization of workshopsand exchange activities.

INECO was a "social experiment" fordeveloping skills and political struc-tures.

INECO aimed at providing expe -rience and enabling local societies tochange their perceptions and, conse-quently, their water managementpractices and at providing completeand adaptable recommendations.

http://environ.chemeng.ntua.gr/ineco

"INECO"

SPI-Water

Usually, the research outcomes arenot easily available to the decision-makers and water managers and, onthe contrary, researchers lack visibilityof the users’ needs.

The SPI-Water project (2006-2008)financed by the 6th EU Framework Program for Research and Develop-ment gathers 16 European and non-European partners. It proposes practi-cal actions to fill the gaps by develo -ping a "science/policy" interface,focusing on a mechanism for impro -ving the use of the research outputsresulting from the implementation ofthe Water Framework Directive (WFD).

For two years, the SPI-Water projecthas been:

u Evaluating the projects andinitiatives developed in riverbasins for WFD implementa-tion. The scientific knowledge,research outputs and demonstra-tion projects thus collected wereentered into the WISE-RTD know -ledge base;

u Analyzing water policies innon-European countries forfacilitating the implementation ofthe principles of Integrated WaterResources Management.

u Assessing the needs in the twoMediterranean basins of Sebou(Morocco) and Litani (Leba -non), while complying with theWFD methodological framework;

u Studying the applicability ofWFD practices in non-Euro-pean countries and identifyingconditions for their implementa-tions in these countries;

u Producing recommendationsto improve the appropriation anddissemination of the obtainedresearch outputs in non-Europeancountries.

MENBO, in particular, and its partnersreviewed the existing water policies inMediterranean non-European coun-tries and compared those with the cur-rent Water Framework Directive (WFD)practices in the European Union.

The recommendations were discussedat a final conference organized inBrussels in October 2008.

In a public report and a summarizingleaflet the partners explain how IWRMknowledge can be transferred within aresearch program to water managers:how these principles shall be adaptedto regional specificities and how thecommunication between Europeanand non-European researchers andwater managers may be improved.

It is especially recommended to pro-mote international networks and twin-ning agreements between waterresources management organizationsto facilitate the knowledge transfer.

Visits in Spain and in France wereorganized for experts of pilot riverbasins from Lebanon and Morocco.They allowed the elaboration of pro-posals for future projects in the Sebouand Litani river basins.

Maria Serneguet i BeldaMENBO Permanent Technical SecretariatJucar River Basin Authority [email protected]

www.remoc.org

Facilitating the transfer of IWRM principles

48Progress report 2007 - 2009Information and data

INBO Action Plans

Performance indicators are nowregu larly used in the management ofdrinking water supply and sanitationutilities. For a few years, experimentshave been made for their use byBasin Organizations to define criteriafor the evaluation of Integrated WaterResources Management.

In order to propose an approach tothe adaptation and integration ofAfrican specificities in this field, theInternational Network of BasinOrganizations, through the Afri -can Network of Basin Organiza-tions (ANBO), with the support ofthe International Office for Waterand Ecologic, launched a projectaiming at developing, testing andcomparing Performance Indicatorsfor the African Basin Organizations.

This project, financed by the Euro-pean Water Facility and the FrenchMinistry for Foreign Affairs, is lasting3 years and involving ten Africanriver basins during 2 test phases. Thefirst phase for testing the use of theseindicators was launched in Novem-ber 2007. It involved the Senegal,Niger, Congo, Orange-Senqu andOkavango River Basins.

After a seminar organized in Oua-gadougou in November 2007, a firstlist of indicators was proposed.

These indicators belong to two cate-gories:

l the first one (Governance) aimsat describing the operation of thebodies in charge of implement-ing integrated management on atransboundary basin scale,

l the second one (Technical) ga -thers indicators related to thefield practical outcomes of thisbasin management approach.

The testing of this first list of indi-cators in the Niger, Congo, Sene-gal, Lake Victoria and Orangebasins allowed analyzing theirrelevance and usefulness.

A seminar for the presentation andanalysis of the first results wasorganized in Kinshasa in October2008, then in Istanbul in March2009.

The table of indicators thus could berefined for better describing:

l the governance and opera-tion of the organizations incharge of integrated mana -gement on a transboundarybasin scale,

l the status, pressures andevolution of transboundaryriver basins.

The last testing phase is been carriedout at the end of 2009 and at thebeginning of 2010 in 10 trans-boundary basins to refine theresults and to lead to a final list ofperformance indicators.

It will then be advisable to make thisexperiment and this tool known inother African basins and worldwide.

For further information:

http://aquacoope.org/PITB

Performance Indicators for the African Basin Organizations

Per

form

ance Indicators

for Transboundary B

asin

s

Eastern Europe - Caucasus - Central Asia

With more than 50% of their territorycovered by transboundary basins, thecountries of Eastern Europe, Cauca-sus and Central Asia strongly dependon shared water resources: it is thusof prime importance to developeffective management policies inthese basins for managing theseresources while respecting naturalwater balances, more especially asregards climate change.

The implementation of these policiesimplies above all having a completeand detailed assessment of the waterresources, based on homogeneousand consistent information.

However, apart from some specificcases, access to the information necessary for water resources mana -gement remains often problematic inthe area as in many other areas of theWorld.

In such a context, the Secretariat of”the UN Convention on Protectionand Use of Transboundary Rivers andInternational Lakes” carries out waterresources assessments in this area.

A pilot project could be implementedin 2010 in 2 pilot transboundarybasins. It will include:

n A component aiming at buildingthe data administration and sha -ring capacities of the nationaland local Authorities involved ineach of the 2 basins, by usingmethodologies that can be repli-

cated in other transboundarybasins of the region.

n Regional actions aiming at usingthe results obtained in these 2 pilot basins and at dissemina -ting the defined methodologiesin the other transboundarybasins and countries of theregion.

For each pilot basin, the project pro-posed:

l Characterization of the existingdata sources with joint produc-tion of catalogues;

l Development of “Water DataMaster Plans” at basin level;

l Recommendations on rules forsharing data among the compe-tent authorities;

l Specification of the needs forstrengthening the data producersand managers’ abilities;

l Capacity building for the produc-tion of synthetic information(maps, indicators) on prioritytopics.

The French Ministry of Ecology(MEESDS) supports this initiative asregards the preliminary design andfeasibility studies, carried out byIOWater, Permanent TechnicalSecretariat of INBO, which shouldallow the pilot project to be financedby the French Global EnvironmentFacility (FFEM) in 2010.

www.unece.org

Management of data on transboundary water resources

UNECE: United Nations Convention of 1992

Information and data


INBO Action Plans

AWIS is a project financed by theWater Facility of the European Unionand the French Ministry for Foreignand European Affairs. It is managedby a consortium of partners fromNorthern and Southern Africa: theAfrican Network of Basin Organi-zations (ANBO) and its secretariat,the Organization for the Developmentof the Senegal River (OMVS), theRegional Center for Drinking WaterSupply and Sanitation (CREPA), theInternational Office for Water, INBOSecretariat, the Solidarité-Eau pro-gram (PS-Eau) and the Water Engi-neering Development Centre(WEDC).

The project aims at testing the feasi-bility of an African Water InformationSystem. The major objective of theproject is to offer an instrumentwhich allows sharing African exper -tise, information and abilities.

The first meetings of AWIS SteeringCommittee were held in Paris atIOWater in April 2007 and in October2007 in Dakar at OMVS head office.

The consortium, which managesAWIS, carried out, from the start, asurvey involving about twenty bodiesdistributed throughout the Africancontinent to identify the interest ofthe African stakeholders in this pro -ject, their needs and their expecta-

tions, their technical potential to col-laborate.

AWIS principle relies on two largecomponents:

u A network of partners locatedon the entire African continent,made up of information manage-ment organizations, public orprivate documentation centers,basin managers, NGOs, engi-neering firms, etc.

u An information system in theform of a website, "AWIS por-tal", including articles, biblio-graphical notes, tools for inte-grated water resources manage-ment, links to other websites,etc. Its update is carried out bythe partners’ network.

AWIS activities aim at facilitating:

l lthe sharing of experience andaccess to the information onknow-how in the African watersector;

l lthe translation of key documentscoming from the French-, Portu -guese- and English-speakingcountries;

l lthe dissemination of researchresults to the end-users for bet-ter dialogue between stakehol -ders and researchers, as well asa better integration of researchresults to meet the needs andrequests coming from people inthe field.

The AWIS process does not aim atreplacing the existing informationcenters, but, on the contrary, atdeveloping them and facilitatingaccess to the information they mana -ge, at referencing high quality infor-mation on the Africa water sector,and at proposing free access to thisinformation via an Internet portal.

A partners’ network

AWIS steering committee iden -tified 12 partners, called FocalPoints - FPs, distributed overFrench and English-speakingAfrica. A Focal Point is a body withits network specialized in the field ofwater (drinking water supply, sanita-tion, IWRM, basin management,etc.). It contributes to feeding AWISportal and participates in the deve -lopment of products of commoninterest on topics predefined byAWIS community: topical newslet-ters, guidance documents, topical orgeographical summaries, confe -rences, etc.

The project is training the people incharge of these Focal Points on thepractical methods for informationmanagement and on all the skillsrequired for feeding AWIS portal.

Sub-networks may be created todevelop AWIS products.

The information system

"AWIS portal" is a window of Pan-African information; it does not crea -te information but directs towardsinformation. It identifies and indexesthe information available with itspartners having the information (FPs)and sends the visitor towards theirwebsite.

A knowledge base is at the core ofthe system. It consists of documen-tary notes filled up by the FocalPoints; a search engine allows ma -king an inventory of the studies avai -lable with the partners.

The AWIS system entered a fieldtesting phase during a kick-off work-shop held from 27 to 30 October inOuagadougou for launching andtraining the FPs. For 6 months, theFocal Points have tested the tool andmade comments to improve the sys-tem.

The core of AWIS strategy is its Inter-net portal: www.african-wis.orgoperational since January 2009.

This portal proposes:v a search engine which identifies

the information available at thevarious partners,

v electronic conferences,

v forums of exchanges,

v current events of the sector,

v a directory of the African waterstakeholders,

AWIS products: news bulletin,bibliographical syntheses, technicalsheets…

Today, the portal has entered about60 current events, 174 referenceddocuments, 93 websites indexed byAWIS Focal Points.

www.sadieau.org

African Water Documentation and Information System (AWIS)Towards an African Water Information System for better regional integration of knowledge on local water management

Meeting of AWIS Steering Committee at IOWater head office in Paris

O f f i c eInternationald e l ' E a u

RAOB - ANBOInternationalO f f i c efor Water


INBO Action PlansEMWIS: 20 National Focal Points exchange their information on water

Operational since the end of1999, the Euro-MediterraneanWater Information System (EM -WIS) is an essential tool for dia-logue and institutional exchangebetween the concerned Countriesof the Euro-Mediterranean Part-nership.

It fits in with the decisions madeby the Ministers at the Confe -rences of Marseilles (1996) andTurin (1999) on local water mana -gement.

The significance of the completedwork was underlined by the Part-nership Countries, which alsoreaffirmed their will to continuecooperating on the bases alreadydefined during the Euro-Mediter-ranean Conference of Athens inNovember 2006.

EMWIS and INBO are bound by a Partnership Agreement signeddu ring MENBO General Assemblyin Marrakech in May 2004.

SYNTHESIS AND KNOWLEDGETRANSFER

Two working groups, led by EMWISwithin the EU Water Initiative in theMediterranean and Water FrameworkDirective joint process, are sharingexperience and gathering informationon:

u Water monitoring networksand programs, for which a sur-vey-based inventory was pre-pared and discussed during aworkshop organized as a sideevent of MENBO General As -sembly in Beirut in October2009. This inventory contributesto the work of the monitoringsub-group of Horizon 2020 Ini-tiative aiming at removing pollu-tion in the Mediterranean Seaand of the experts’ group onwater of the Union for theMediterranean;

u Drought and water scarcity,for which a workshop was orga -nized in November 2009 inSpain to evaluate the indicatorsused by the Partner Countriesand those proposed at the Euro-pean level and to analyze casestudies on the mitigation mea -sures planned by the countries.This work will result in a regionalsynthesis in 2010.

A Web portal in full expansionThe new international portal of EMWISreceives about 50,000 monthly visitson the average: about 1,000 news andmore than 500 events are publishedevery year.

Its thesaurus on water is now availablein 5 languages (Arabic, English,Spanish, French and Italian).

These actions will be supplemented in2010 by the updating of the waterthesaurus accessible on line in 7 languages (English, Arabic,Spanish, French, Italian, Greek andTurkish) on EMWIS website in orderto take into account the vocabularyspecific to water accounts, the Horizon2020 Initiative and some conceptssuitable for water management in Arabcountries.

The electronic flash (e-Flash) issent every month to more than 14,000readers in Arabic, English and French.It not only allows incorporating theinformation provided by the NFPs andvarious topical websites, but also pro-viding flows of information in real timefor other websites (e.g. Alliance forwater monitoring, INBO, etc.).

It is a reference media for water infor-mation in the Euro-Mediterranean areaand a collaborative working tool for theworking groups of the WFD/Med-EUWIJoint Process.

Thanks to a toolbox based on free soft-ware, which enables to generate verypowerful Web portals in a simple way,Jordan launched its new bilingual

(English-Arabic) EMWIS portal in May2007, in cooperation with the mainnational stakeholders.

NATIONAL WATERINFORMATION SYSTEMS

EMWIS has 16 national websiteswith the launching of the Egyptian web-site.

The 20 National Focal Points (NFPs) donot spare their efforts to revise their siteand produce contents useful for thenational stakeholders of the water sec-tor. The know-how acquired by Algeria,Spain and France in the technical andorganizational implementation of theirNational Water Information Sys-tems enables to facilitate the actionsof the other countries.

TOWARDS THE CREATIONOF A MEDITERRANEANWATER INFORMATIONMECHANISM

According to the mandate given toEMWIS by the Euro-MediterraneanMinisters during the Turin Conferenceon Local Water Management, the Euro-Mediterranean Water Directors agreedto study, with the voluntary countries,the feasibility of "a Water Informa-tion Mechanism in the Mediter-ranean".

This study is coordinated by EMWISTechnical Unit and the Water Direc-torate of the French Ministry of Ecologyand Sustainable Development, and carried out with the technical supportof IOWater, INBO Secretariat, owingto its expertise in the field of sharedwater information systems.

.../...

SEMIDEE M W I SE M W I S


INBO Action PlansEMWIS: 20 National Focal Points exchange their information on water

.../...The first phase of the study, aiming atidentifying the objectives and themain prospects of such a mecha-nism, was carried out in 2006 and itsfirst results were presented duringthe Water Directors’ Conference inAthens (November 2006).

A second phase, which was com-pleted at the end of 2007, enabled toidentify detailed proposals for theimplementation of this mechanism.

The study results were presented du -ring the Water Directors’ meeting inBled (December 2007) and enabledto specify:

u The objectives and overall prin-ciples of the mechanism;

u The main common measures tobe adopted for promoting theproduction and enhancement ofinteroperable water data;

u The possibility of building thenational capacities of data ser -vices, especially for the produc-tion of data of common interest,which meet national expecta-tions while being compatiblewith the expectations at theregional level;

u The priority topics such as theproduction of "Millennium WaterIndicators", the indicators of theMediterranean Strategy for Sus-tainable Development, etc.;

u A program for the mechanismimplementation with an esti-mated budget.

A pilot project for harmonizingdata for the implementation ofthe Tunisian National WaterInformation System (SINEAU)began in June 2009. It is based onthe System of Economic and Envi-ronmental Accounting for Water -SEEAW - defined by the UnitedNations, and on the work undertakenin this field in the MEDTSAT II pro -ject with the Statistic Institutes ofeach country.

This action prepares the implementa-tion of ”SINEAU” which will start atthe beginning of 2010 thanks to afinancial support from the AfricanWater Facility. It allowed preparing adraft-agreement between the stake-holders to identify the basic data tobe integrated into ”SINEAU” to feedthe “Water Accounts” and to use thedata produced by the variousTunisian parties. A second pilotactivity is being analyzed in Lebanon.

FOR HARMONIZINGWISE AND EMWIS

Thanks to the support reiterated bythe DG Environment of the EuropeanCommission, two series of actionswere carried out by EMWIS to helpthe Mediterranean Partner Countriesorganize their water data, to facilitatetheir access and to acquire theknowledge necessary for goodmana gement. This project is basedon the good practices resultingfrom the Water Information Sys-tem for Europe (WISE).

First of all a generic model at threelevels (entity, variables, attributes)was defined to represent and manageinformation on water. This modelsupplements the technical recom-mendations of the WISE system toguarantee communication possibili-ties with the National InformationSystems and the comparison ofdata. A drafted technical guidancedocument based on this model waspresented to EMWIS National FocalPoints and is available for the coun-tries to build their own system.

A prototype catalogue of thesources of water information inthe Mediterranean area was thenimplemented after analysis of theexisting experiments, of the toolsavailable in open source software, ofthe requirements of the EuropeanINSPIRE Directive on spatial infor-mation and of the WISE system.

This catalogue is a kind of inventorywhich allows easy search by keywords or on a map and gives accessto descriptive sheets of the datasources (maps, data bases, reports,online services), and even directaccess to the data when the ownerallows it. The use of internationalstandards and common rules by allthe interested parties will allow anautomatic collection of these sheets.

www.emwis.net

SEMIDEE M W I SE M W I S

Workshop in Beirut in October 2009

www.worldwaterforum5.org

ÈÍÔÎÐÌÀÖÈÎÍÍÛÉ ÁÞËË Å Ò Å Í Ü

äåêàáðü 2008 – ÿíâàðü 2009 - ¹ 17

Óïðàâëåíèå ðå÷íûì áàññåéíîì

ðàáîòàåò!

Â 2008 ãîäó îðãàíèçàöèè-÷ëåíû ÌÑÁÎ è èõ ïàðòíåðû ìîáèëèçîâàëèñü äëÿ

ïîäãîòîâêè ê ñëåäóþùåìó 5-ìó Âñåìèðíîìó âîäíîìó ôîðóìó, êîòîðûé

äîëæåí áûë ñîñòîÿòüñÿ â Ñòàìáóëå â ìàðòå 2009 ãîäà. Îíè èçó÷èëè óðîêè,

êîòîðûå èçâëåêëè èç ñâîåãî îïûòà áàññåéíîâîãî óïðàâëåíèÿ è òðàíñãðàíè÷-

íîãî ñîòðóäíè÷åñòâà äëÿ òîãî, ÷òîáû áûòü èíôîðìèðîâàííûìè çàðàíåå è

ïðåäëîæèòü ðåàëüíûå ðåøåíèÿ ïðîáëåì íà ïðåäñòîÿùèå ãîäû.

Ýòè ýêñïåðèìåíòû ïîñëóæàò îñíîâîé äëÿ îáñóæäåíèé âî âðåìÿ Ôîðóìà â

Ñòàìáóëå íà 5 îôèöèàëüíûõ ñåêöèÿõ ïî òåìå 3.1 «Áàññåéíîâîå óïðàâëåíèå

è òðàíñãðàíè÷íîå ñîòðóäíè÷åñòâî» ïîä ðóêîâîäñòâîì ÌÑÁÎ è ÞÍÅÑÊÎ,

êîòîðûå ñîñòîÿòñÿ â ïÿòíèöó 20 ìàðòà è â ñóááîòó 21 ìàðòà 2009 ãîäà â

Ñòàìáóëå – â Ñóòëóñå. Âñå çàèíòåðåñîâàííûå ñòîðîíû ïðèãëàøàþòñÿ äëÿ

àêòèâíîãî ó÷àñòèÿ.

Çà 15 ëåò áûë äîñòèãíóò îãðîìíûé ïðîãðåññ âî âíåäðåíèè ýôôåêòèâíîé

áàññåéíîâîé ïîëèòèêè íà âñåõ êîíòèíåíòàõ. Òàêèì îáðàçîì, ñåãîäíÿ áàññåéíîâîå

óïðàâëåíèå ïðåäñòàâëÿåòñÿ ïîäõîäîì, çàñëóæèâàþùèì äîâåðèÿ, äëÿ îðãàíèçà-

öèè óïðàâëåíèÿ ïî-íîâîìó âîäíûìè ðåñóðñàìè è âîäíûìè ýêîñèñòåìàìè, êîòîðîå

íàèëó÷øèì îáðàçîì îòâå÷àåò çàäà÷àì ýêîíîìè÷åñêîãî è ñîöèàëüíîãî ðàçâèòèÿ,

êîíòðîëÿ çàãðÿçíåíèÿ è ïðåäîòâðàùåíèÿ ïðèðîäíûõ è íåïðåäâèäåííûõ ðèñêîâ.

Íà áàññåéíîâîì óðîâíå ìû ñìîæåì òàêæå ýôôåêòèâíî äåéñòâîâàòü ïî ïðåä-

óïðåæäåíèþ ïîñëåäñòâèé èçìåíåíèÿ êëèìàòà äëÿ ãèäðîëîãèè ðåê. Îðãàíèçàöèÿ íà

óðîâíå áàññåéíà â öåëîì ÿâëÿåòñÿ îñîáåííî âàæíîé äëÿ ñîãëàñîâàííîãî è

óñòîé÷èâîãî óïðàâëåíèÿ òðàíñãðàíè÷íûìè ðåêàìè, îçåðàìè è âîäíûìè èñòî÷íè-

êàìè äëÿ îáùåé ïîëüçû âñåõ ñòðàí-ñîñåäåé. Ñèëüíàÿ ïîëèòè÷åñêàÿ âîëÿ è

ó÷àñòèå âñåõ çàèíòåðåñîâàííûõ ñòîðîí ÿâëÿþòñÿ êëþ÷îì ê óñïåõó íàðÿäó ñ

ðàçâèòèåì ôèíàíñîâûõ ñèñòåì, ñîîòâåòñòâóþùåãî ïëàíèðîâàíèÿ è ñðåäñòâ

êîíòðîëÿ. Ýòè ïîëó÷åííûå óðîêè ñîáðàíû â «Ðóêîâîäñòâå ïî Èíòåãðèðîâàííî-

ìó Óïðàâëåíèþ Âîäíûìè Ðåñóðñàìè â áàññåéíàõ», êîòîðîå ÌÑÁÎ è ÃÂÏ

ïðåäñòàâÿò ïóáëèêå â Ñòàìáóëå 20 ìàðòà âå÷åðîì.

Ñàðàãîñà – èþëü 2008 – MENBO

Ñèáèó – îêòÿáðü 2008 – Åâðîïà - INBO

Ðèî-äå-Æàíåéðî – íîÿáðü 2008 – LANBO

Ñòàìáóë – ìàðò 2009 – 5ÂÂÔ

Äàâàéòå â Ñòàìáóëå âñå âìåñòå ïîääåðæèì óïðàâëåíèå ðå÷íûìè áàññåéíàìè!

ÈÍÔÎÐÌÀÖÈÎÍÍÛÉ ÁÞËË Å Ò Å Í Ü

5-é Âñåìèðíûé Âîäíûé Ôîðóì:

Âñå â Ñòàìáóë äëÿ

óëó÷øåíèÿ áàññåéíîâîãî

óïðàâëåíèÿ!

Âñå â Ñòàìáóë äëÿ

óëó÷øåíèÿ áàññåéíîâîãî

óïðàâëåíèÿ!

www.inbo-news.org


äåêàáðü 2007 ã. - ÿíâàðü 2008 ã., ¹ 16

5-é Âñåìèðíûé Âîäíûé Ôîðóì áóäåò ïðîõîäèòü â Ñòàìáóëå ñ 16 ïî 22 ìàðòà 2009 ãîäà ïî ïðèãëàøåíèþ òóðåöêîãî ïðàâèòåëüñòâà è Âñåìèðíîãî Âîäíîãî Ñîâåòà.

Ýòî êðóïíîå ìåðîïðèÿòèå, êîòîðîå íåëüçÿ ïðîïóñòèòü!

Ìåæäóíàðîäíàÿ ñåòü áàññåéíîâûõ îðãàíèçàöèé (ÌÑÁÎ)

Ôîðóì â Ñòàìáóëå äàñò íàì âîçìîæíîñòü äîëîæèòü îá ýòîì ïðîãðåññå, à òàêæå î òðóäíîñòÿõ, êîòîðûå îñòàþòñÿ, è çàäà÷àõ, êîòîðûå âñå åùå ïðåäñòîèò ðåøèòü.

îáðàùàåòñÿ ê ñâîèì ÷ëåíàì è íàáëþäàòåëÿì ñ ïðèçûâîì ìîáèëèçîâàòüñÿ è ïðèåõàòü â Ñòàìáóë, ÷òîáû ïîäåëèòüñÿ ñâîèì îïûòîì, îáìåíÿòüñÿ èíôîðìàöèåé è îáñóäèòü ïðîáëåìû ñ öåëüþ ðàçâèòèÿ è óëó÷øåíèÿ áàññåéíîâîãî óïðàâëåíèÿ è òðàíñãðàíè÷íîãî ñîòðóäíè÷åñòâà â ìèðå.

Êàêîé ïðîãðåññ áûë äîñòèãíóò ñ íà÷àëà 90-õ!

Óïðàâëåíèå íà óðîâíå áàññåéíîâ ðåê, îçåð èëè âîäîíîñíûõ ãîðèçîíòîâ áûñòðî ðàçâèâà-åòñÿ âî ìíîãèõ ñòðàíàõ, ÷òî ñäåëàëî åãî îñíîâîé çàêîíîäàòåëüñòâà ñòðàí èëè îáåñïå÷èëî åãî âíåäðåíèå íà óðîâíå ïèëîòíûõ ðå÷íûõ áàññåéíîâ.

Ê ïðèìåðó, Åâðîïåéñêàÿ Âîäíàÿ Ðàìî÷íàÿ Äèðåêòèâà 2000 ãîäà óñòàíàâëèâàåò öåëü õîðîøåãî ýêîëîãè÷åñêîãî ñîñòîÿíèÿ íàöèîíàëüíûõ èëè ìåæäóíàðîäíûõ ðå÷íûõ áàññåé-íîâûõ ðàéîíîâ â 27 ñòðàíàõ-÷ëåíàõ ÅÑ è ñòðàíàõ, íàìåðåííûõ ïðèñîåäèíèòüñÿ ê Ñîþçó.

Óïðàâëåíèå òðàíñãðàíè÷íûìè áàññåéíàìè 263 ðåê è ñîòåí âîäîíîñíûõ ãîðèçîíòîâ âñå áîëüøå ïðèíèìàåòñÿ âî âíèìàíèå Êîìèññèÿìè, Óïðàâëåíèÿìè èëè Ìåæäóíàðîäíûìè áàññåéíîâûìè îðãàíèçàöèÿìè, êîòîðûå ñîçäàþòñÿ è óêðåïëÿþòñÿ íà âñåõ êîíòèíåíòàõ.

Ìåæäóíàðîäíûé ðóêîâîäÿùèé êîìèòåò Ôîðóìà ïîäòâåðäèë íàçíà÷åíèå ÌÑÁÎ è ÞÍÅÑÊÎ â êà÷åñòâå êîîðäèíàòîðîâ òåìû 3.1 ïî áàññåéíîâîìó óïðàâëåíèþ è òðàíñãðà-íè÷íîìó ñîòðóäíè÷åñòâó â ïàðòíåðñòâå ñî âñåìè äðóãèìè çàèíòåðåñîâàííûìè îðãàíèçà-öèÿìè.

Íàøè èäåè ïðîäâèãàþòñÿ, äàâàéòå ìîáèëèçóåì ñèëû, ÷òîáû î íàøèõ ðåçóëüòàòàõ

óçíàëè â ìàðòå 2009 ãîäà â Ñòàìáóëå!

La carta de la

Diciembre de 2007 - Enero de 2008 - n°16

El V Foro Mundial del Agua tendrá lugar en Estambul del 16 al 22 de marzode 2009 por invitación del Gobierno turco y del Consejo Mundial del Agua.¡Es un encuentro mayor que no se debe faltar!La Red Internacional de Organismos de Cuenca - RIOC llama a sus Miem-bros y Observadores que se movilicen para ir a Estambul y presentar sus expe-riencias, intercambiar y discutir para desarrollar y mejorar la gestión por cuencay la cooperación transfronteriza en el mundo.¡Qué progresos se han hecho desde los años 1990!La gestión por cuenca de los ríos, lagos o acuíferos ha experimentado un desa-rrollo rápido en muchos países que la han utilizado como base de su legislaciónnacional o la han experimentado en cuencas piloto.La Directiva Marco europea del Agua de 2000 fija, por ejemplo, un objetivo debuen estado ecológico en las Demarcaciones Hidrográficas nacionales o inter-nacionales de los 27 Estados Miembros actuales y de los Países candidatos a laadhesión a la Unión Europea.Se toma más y más en cuenta la gestión de las cuencas de los 263 ríos ycentenares de acuíferos transfronterizos en el seno de Comisiones, Autoridadesu Organizaciones Internacionales de Cuenca que se crean o se refuerzan entodos los continentes.El Foro de Estambul será para nosotros la ocasión para informar de estosprogresos, pero también de las dificultades que se encuentran todavía ydel camino que permanece ser hecho.El Comité Internacional de Pilotaje del Foro ha confirmado la RIOC y la UNESCOcomo coordinadores del tema 3.1, dedicado a "la gestión de cuencas y a lacooperación transfronteriza", en asociación con todas las otras Organizacio-nes interesadas.¡Nuestras ideas progresan, debemos movilizarnos para dar a conocer

nuestros resultados en Estambul en marzo de 2009!

www.rioc.org


VV FFoorroo MMuunnddiiaall ddeell AAgguuaa::¡¡TTooddooss eenn EEssttaammbbuull

ppaarraa uunnaa mmeejjoorr ggeesstt iióónn ddeell aagguuaa ppoorr ccuueennccaa!!

La lettre du

Décembre 2007 - Janvier 2008 - n°16

Le Vème Forum Mondial de l’Eau se tiendra à Istanbul du 16 au 22 mars 2009à l’invitation du Gouvernement turc et du Conseil Mondial de l’Eau.C’est un rendez-vous majeur à ne pas manquer !Le Réseau International des Organismes de Bassin - RIOB appelle à lamobilisation de ses Membres et Observateurs pour venir présenter à Istanbulleurs expériences, échanger et débattre pour développer et améliorer la gestionpar bassin et la coopération transfrontalière dans le monde.Depuis les années 90, que de progrès ont été réalisés !La gestion par bassin des fleuves, des lacs ou des aquifères a connu un dévelop-pement rapide dans de nombreux pays, qui en font la base de leur législationnationale ou l’expérimentent dans des bassins pilotes.La Directive-Cadre européenne sur l’Eau de 2000 fixe, par exemple, un objectifde bon état écologique dans les Districts Hydrographiques nationaux ou interna-tionaux des 27 Etats-Membres actuels et des Pays candidats à l’adhésion del’Union Européenne.La gestion des bassins des 263 fleuves et de centaines d’aquifères transfronta-liers est de plus en plus prise en compte au sein de Commissions, d’Autoritésou d’Organisations Internationales de Bassin, qui se créent ou se renforcent surtous les continents.Le Forum d’Istanbul sera pour nous l’occasion de faire le point de cesavancées, mais aussi des difficultés qui subsistent et du chemin qui resteà parcourir.Le RIOB et l'UNESCO ont conjointement proposé au Secrétariat du Forumd'animer, en partenariat avec les autres Organisation intéressées, le thème 3.1 du Forum, consacré à la gestion de bassin et à la coopérationtransfrontalière.

Nos idées progressent, mobilisons-nous pour faire connaître nos résultats à Istanbul en mars 2009 !

www.riob.org


VVéémmee FFoorruumm MMoonnddiiaall ddee ll’’EEaauu ::TToouuss àà IIssttaannbbuull

ppoouurr uunnee mmeeii ll lleeuurree ggeessttiioonn ddee ll ''eeaauu ppaarr bbaassssiinn !!


Communication strategyINBO Newsletter

December 2007 - January 2008 - n° 16

Newsletter

The 5th World Water Forum will take place in Istanbul from 16 to 22 March2009 at the invitation of the Turkish Government and the World WaterCouncil.It is a major meeting not to be missed!The International Network of Basin Organizations - INBO calls its Membersand Observers to get mobilized and come to Istanbul to present their expe-riences, to exchange and discuss in order to develop and improve basin mana-gement and transboundary cooperation in the world.What progress has been made since the 1990s!Management at the level of basins of rivers, lakes or aquifers experienced a quickdevelopment in many countries, which made it the basis of their national legis-lation or tried it in pilot river basins.The European Water Framework Directive of 2000 sets, for example, an objectiveof good ecological status in the national or international River Basin Districts ofthe 27 current Member States and the Countries applying for accession to theEuropean Union.The management of the transboundary basins of the 263 rivers and hundreds ofaquifers is taken more and more into account within Commissions, Authorities orInternational Basin Organizations, which are being created or strengthened on allthe continents.The Forum of Istanbul will give us the opportunity of reporting on theseprogresses, but also on the difficulties which remain and the way still to go.The International Steering Committee of the Forum confirmed the nomination ofINBO and UNESCO as coordinators of topic 3.1, dealing with basin manage-ment and transboundary cooperation, in partnership with all other interestedOrganizations.

Our ideas are progressing, let’s get mobilized to make our results known in Istanbul in March 2009!

www.inbo-news.org


55tthh WWoorrlldd WWaatteerr FFoorruumm::EEvveerryyoonnee iinn IIssttaannbbuull

ffoorr bbeetttteerr bbaassiinn mmaannaaggeemmeenntt!!

La carta de la

Enero y Febrero de 2009 - n°17

Durante todo el año 2008, los Organismos Miembros de la RIOC y sus asociados se movilizaron para preparar el próximo 5o Foro Mundial del Aguaen marzo de 2009 en Estambul.

Aprendieron las lecciones de sus experiencias en la gestión de cuenca y lacooperación transfronteriza, con el fin de hacer progresar la concienciacióncolectiva y proponer soluciones realistas para enfrentar los desafíos de lospróximos años.

Desde hace quince años, se realizaron progresos considerables en la implementa-ción de políticas de cuenca eficaces en todos los continentes.

La gestión por cuenca aparece hoy como un enfoque creíble para organizar unanueva gobernabilidad de los recursos hídricos y de los ecosistemas acuáticos, quepermite responder mejor a los desafíos del desarrollo económico y social, de lalucha contra las contaminaciones, de la prevención de los riesgos naturales y accidentales.

Es también en las cuencas que se podrá actuar eficazmente para anticipar las consecuencias probables del cambio climático sobre la hidrología de los ríos.

Es indispensable una organización por cuenca, en particular para garantizar una gestión coherente y duradera de los ríos, lagos y acuíferos transfronterizos, benefi-ciándose a todos los Países ribereños.

Una fuerte voluntad política y la participación de todos los actores concernidos sonlas claves del éxito, con la creación de sistemas de financiación duraderos y deherramientas de planificación y control apropiados.

Estas lecciones aprendidas están reunidas en "el manual de la gestión porcuenca", que la RIOC y el GWP han preparado por la ocasión de Estambul.

Estas experiencias permitieron preparar los debates de las cinco sesionesoficiales del tema 3.1 del Foro Mundial del Agua de Estambul sobre la "Gestión de Cuenca y la Cooperación Transfronteriza", coordinadas por laRIOC y la UNESCO.

¡Debemos movilizarnos para promover la gestión por cuenca!

www.rioc.org


¡La gestión por cuenca va bien!

Zaragoza - julio de 2008 - REMOC

Sibiu - octubre de 2008 - EURO-RIOC

Rio de Janeiro - noviembre de 2008 - RELOC

Estambul - marzo de 2009 - 5o WWF

La lettre du

Décembre 2008 - Janvier 2009 - n°17

Durant toute l’année 2008, les Organismes-Membres du RIOB et leurs parte-naires se sont mobilisés pour préparer le prochain 5ème Forum Mondial de l’Eaude mars 2009, à Istanbul. Ils ont tiré les enseignements de leurs expériences de la gestion de bassin etde la coopération transfrontalière, afin de faire progresser la prise deconscience collective et proposer des solutions réalistes pour affronter lesdéfis des prochaines années.Des progrès considérables ont été réalisés, depuis quinze ans, dans la mise en œuvrede politiques de bassin efficaces sur tous les continents. La gestion par bassin apparait donc aujourd’hui comme une approche crédible pour orga-niser une nouvelle gouvernance des ressources en eau et des écosystèmes aquatiques,permettant de mieux répondre aux enjeux du développement économique et social, de lalutte contre les pollutions, de la prévention des risques naturels et accidentels.C'est aussi au niveau des bassins que l'on pourra agir efficacement pour anticiper lesconséquences probables du changement climatique sur l’hydrologie des cours d’eau. Une organisation par bassin est indispensable, en particulier pour assurer une gestioncohérente et durable des fleuves, lacs et aquifères transfrontaliers au bénéfice de tousles Pays riverains.Une forte volonté politique et la participation de tous les acteurs concernés sont lesclés de la réussite, avec la mise en place de systèmes de financement pérenne et d'ou-tils de planification et de monitoring appropriés.Ces enseignements sont réunis dans "le manuel de la gestion par bassin", que leRIOB et le GWP présenteront à Istanbul, le 20 mars prochain. Ces expériences alimenteront les débats des cinq sessions officielles duthème 3.1 du Forum sur la "Gestion de Bassin et la Coopération Transfronta-lière", coordonnées par le RIOB et l’UNESCO, et qui se tiendront le vendredi etle samedi 20 et 21 mars 2009 à Istanbul - Sutluce. Tous les partenaires inté-ressés sont invités à y participer activement.

Mobilisons-nous pour promouvoir la gestion par bassin à Istanbul !

www.riob.org


La gestion par bassin ça marche !

Saragosse - juillet 2008 - REMOB

Sibiu - octobre 2008 - Euro-RIOB

Rio de Janeiro - novembre 2008 - RELOB

Istanbul - mars 2009 - 5ème WWFDecember 2008 - January 2009 - n° 17

Newsletter

In 2008, INBO Member Organizations and their partners mobilized them-selves to prepare the next 5th World Water Forum of Istanbul in March 2009. They learned the lessons from their experiments in basin management andtransboundary cooperation, in order to make collective awareness advanceand to propose realistic solutions to face the challenges of the comingyears.Huge progress has been made for 15 years in the implementation of effective basinpolicies on all continents.Basin management thus seems today a credible approach to organize a new gover-nance of water resources and aquatic ecosystems enabling to better meet the stakesof economic and social development, pollution control, and natural and accidentalrisk prevention.It is also at basin level that we will be able to act effectively to anticipate the proba-ble consequences of climate change on the hydrology of rivers.An organization at the level of the whole basin is especially essential for consistentand sustainable management of transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers to thebenefit of all the riparian Countries.Strong political will and the participation of all the stakeholders concerned are thekeys to success, with the development of financing systems and suitable planningand monitoring tools.These lessons learned are gathered in a "Handbook for IWRM in Basins" that INBOand GWP will present in Istanbul on next 20 March in the evening. These experiments will feed the discussions during the Istanbul Forum inthe five official sessions of topic 3.1. on "Basin Management and Trans-boundary Cooperation", coordinated by INBO and UNESCO, and which willbe held on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 March 2009 in Istanbul-Sutluce. All the interested partners are invited to actively participate.

Let’s get mobilized to promote river basin management in Istanbul!

www.inbo-news.org


River BasinManagement It works!

Saragossa - July 2008 - MENBO

Sibiu - October 2008 - Europe-INBO

Rio de Janeiro - November 2008 - LANBO

Istanbul - March 2008 - 5th WWF

La carta de la

Diciembre de 2009 - n°18

www.rioc.org

Adaptar a las consecuenciasdel cambio climático

Estambul - Turquía - marzo de 2009 - 5o WWF

Estocolmo - Suecia - agosto de 2009 - EURO-RIOC

Zhengzhou - China - octubre de 2009 - 4o IYRF

Beirut - el Líbano - octubre de 2009 - REMOC

El calentamiento global ya no se puede evitar.Una de las primeras consecuencias será una modificación de los cicloshidrológicos.Los recursos de agua dulce se verán afectados directamente en los próximosaños, con consecuencias en particular, y según las regiones: � perturbaciones en la intensidad y frecuencia de las inundaciones y sequías,� desregulación de los caudales en los ríos que nacen en las montañas,

debido a la fundición de los glaciares y la reducción del manto de nieve,� erosión incrementada debido a la modificación de especies de plantas y de

la cubertura del suelo,� fuerte evapotranspiración de los cultivos que implica cambios en la pro-

ducción agrícola, en particular para el riego,� modificación de los flujos a la desembocadura de los ríos, así como intru-

siones de agua salada en las tierras y acuíferos costeros debido al incre-mento del nivel de los océanos…

Las consecuencias demográficas, económicas y ecológicas serán muy signifi-cantes y requerirán una movilización mundial para preparar rápidamente progra-mas de adaptación indispensables en cada cuenca. Esta necesaria adaptación a los efectos del cambio climático sobre losciclos hidrológicos estará en el centro de los trabajos de la próxima 8a Asamblea General Mundial de la RIOC, que tendrá lugar del 20 al 23 de enero de 2010 en Dakar (Senegal), por invitación de la Organiza-ción para el Aprovechamiento del Río Senegal (OMVS).

¡Inscriben para participar!

La lettre du

Novembre 2009 - n°18

www.riob.org

S’adapter aux conséquences du changement climatique

Istanbul - Turquie - mars 2009 - 5ème WWF

Stockholm - Suède - août 2009 - Euro-RIOB

Zheng zhou - Chine - octobre 2009 - 4ème IYRF

Beyrouth - Liban - octobre 2009 - REMOB

Le changement climatique apparaît désormais inéluctable.Une des premières conséquences en sera une modification des cycleshydrologiques.Les ressources en eau douce en seront directement affectées dès les toutes pro-chaines années, avec pour conséquences, notamment, et selon les régions :� des perturbations dans l’intensité et dans la fréquence des inondations et

des sécheresses,� une dérégulation des débits des fleuves prenant leur source en montagne,

du fait de la fonte des glaciers et de la réduction de l’enneigement,� une érosion accrue du fait de la modification des espèces végétales et de la

couverture des sols,� une plus forte évapotranspiration des cultures entrainant des changements

dans la production agricole, en particulier pour l’irrigation,� une modification des écoulements à l’embouchure des fleuves, ainsi que

des intrusions salées sur le littoral et dans les aquifères côtiers, du fait dela remontée du niveau des océans ...

Les conséquences démographiques, économiques et écologiques risquent d’êtretrès importantes et nécessitent une mobilisation mondiale pour préparer rapide-ment les programmes d’adaptations indispensables au niveau de chaque bassin. Cette nécessaire adaptation aux effets du changement climatique surles cycles hydrologiques sera au coeur des travaux de la prochaine 8ème Assemblée Générale Mondiale du RIOB, qui se tiendra du 20 au 23 janvier 2010 à Dakar (Sénégal), à l’invitation de l’Organisa-tion pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS).

Inscrivez-vous dès maintenant pour participer !November 2009 - n° 18

Newsletter

www.inbo-news.org

Adapting to the consequences of climate change

Istanbul - Turkey - March 2009 - 5th WWF

Stockholm - Sweden - August 2009 - Europe-INBO

Zhengzhou - China - October 2009 - 4th IYRF

Beirut - Lebanon - October 2009 - MENBO

Global warming now seems to be unavoidable.One of the first consequences will be a change in the hydrologicalcycles.Freshwater resources will be directly affected in the coming years, with forconse quences, in particular and according to the regions:� changes in the intensity and frequency of floods and droughts; � modification of the flows of rivers coming from mountains, because of the

melting of glaciers and reduction of the snow cover; � increased erosion caused by the modification of plant and soil cover; � higher plant evapotranspiration leading to changes in agricultural produc-

tion, regarding irrigation in particular;� changes in the flows to the river mouths, as well as salt water intrusion

inland and in coastal aquifers, because of the increase of sea and oceanlevel…

The demographic, economic and ecological consequences are likely to be veryimportant and require a worldwide mobilization to quickly prepare the adapta-tion programs necessary in each river basin. This necessary adaptation to the effects of climate change on thehydrological cycles will be at the core of the work of the next 8th WorldGeneral Assembly of INBO, which will be held in Dakar (Senegal)from 20 to 23 January 2010, at the invitation of the Organization forthe Development of the Senegal River (OMVS).

Register now to participate!


Communication strategy

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Secretariat: International Office for Water 21, rue de Madrid - 75008 PARIS - FRANCETel.: +33 1 44 90 88 60 - Fax: +33 1 40 08 01 45Mail: [email protected] N° ISSN : 1265-4027

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Publishing Director: Christiane RUNELEditing - Translation: Gisèle SINEProduction: Frédéric RANSONNETTEPrinting: GDS Imprimeurs - Limoges

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gwpforum.org / iowater.org / emwis.net unesco.org / water.europa.eu

The International Network of Basin Organizations

INBO World General AssemblyDakar - Senegal - 20 - 23 January 2010

The Regional Networks of Basin Organizations: • Africa - ANBO • Asia - NARBO• Latin America - LANBO • North America - NANBO • Brazil - REBOB• Central Europe – CEENBO• Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia - EECCA - RBO• The Mediterranean – MENBO

"EUROPE-INBO": European Water Framework Directive implementation

The Network of International Commissions and Transboundary Basin Organizations

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