From i.brugnon@unesco.org Sun Dec 5 15:13:11 2004
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:32:11 +0100 (CET)
From: i.brugnon@unesco.org
To: wwap-news@lists.unesco.org
Subject: [wwap-news] Newsletter from the World Water Assessment Programme -
WWAP
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Currents ^Ö news from the World Water Assessment
Programme (WWAP)
Issue n°12, November 2004
Thank you for your response to ^ÑCurrents^Ò!
This newsletter is also available in French
and Spanish. You can subscribe or unsubscribe
directly from our website:
http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/news/currents/
or send us an email at currents@unesco.org.
----------------------------------------------
CONTENTS:
In Focus: Water and Sanitation initiatives at
WWAP partners
- UN-Water meeting in Rome,
28 September ^Ö 1 October 2004
- WHO issues revised Guidelines for
Drinking-water Quality to help prevent water-related
outbreaks and disease
- UNESCO-IHE to train Iraqi engineers to lead
reconstruction efforts
What^Òs happening at WWAP?
- Meeting to create a Water Cooperation
Facility- Erratum
- Conclusions of the ^ÓWater as a Catalyst
for Peace^Ô conference
- CD-Rom version of the first WWDR available
to the public
WWAP partnerships:
- ^ÓA Dream for Water^Ô, an educational documentary
under the auspices of UNESCO / WWAP
- CHARM presented during IHP Intergovernmental council
- Master in Territorial Protection and Maintenance
----------------------------------------------
In Focus: Water and Sanitation initiatives at WWAP partners
UN-Water meeting in Rome, 28 September ^Ö 1 October 2004
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO[http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/partners/index.shtml#fao])
hosted the UN-Water meeting in its Rome headquarters.
During these sessions, UN-Water examined its modalities of
work, including arrangements for progressive participation
of non-UN actors in the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD [http://www.un.org/jsummit]) follow up on water related
issues, and report on ongoing activities. A detailed work
plan will be prepared to develop UN-Water further, with the
upcoming International Decade for Action, "Water for Life"
2005 ^Ö 2015 [http://daccess-ods.un.org/TMP/4755652.html]
(PDF format, 28KB), in mind.
Progress and inter-agency collaboration for the second
World Water Development Report was discussed during the
first session of the meeting on 28 September.
UN-Water is now the interagency mechanism that promotes
coherence and coordination of UN system actions towards
reaching the water related Millennium Development Goals
(MDG [http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/]).
WHO issues revised Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality
to help prevent water-related outbreaks and disease
The World Health Organization (WHO [http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/partners/index.shtml#who])
advises national and local drinking water regulators,
as well as the enterprises and organizations, which
actually provide drinking water to five billion people
around the world, that the challenge of providing safe
drinking water is growing. WHO's updated Guidelines for
Drinking-water Quality (GDWQ [http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3/en/])
will help regulators and water service providers the world
over maintain and improve the quality of their drinking
water, with new recommendations which will help pre-empt
drinking water contamination. Traditionally, drinking water
regulations have relied on a remedial rather than preventive
approach. The updated Guidelines represent a paradigm shift
in advice on how to manage the provision of drinking water,
both in the developed and developing world, in large urban
settings and in the rural areas or villages.
WHO was the lead agency for the chapter dedicated to meeting
basic needs [http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/targets/basic_needs]
in Water for People, Water for Life [http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/index.shtml], the first
World Water Development Report (WWDR).
Access "Basic Needs and the Right to Health" [http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/pdf/chap5.pdf] a chapter
from the WWDR. [PDF format - 1.5 MB]
Read the full press release
[http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2004/pr67/en]
Access WHO's Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality
[http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3/en]
UNESCO-IHE to train Iraqi engineers to lead reconstruction efforts
UNESCO-IHE [http://www.unesco-ihe.org] Institute for Water
Education, based in The Netherlands, will provide postgraduate
education and training to 16 Iraqi professionals in Hydrological
Engineering, Water Resources Management and River Basin Management,
selected by the Iraqi Ministries of Water Resources, Public Works and
Environment as the front-line professionals to lead the country's policy
development and reconstruction efforts in the water sector.
Read the full press release
[http://www.unesco-ihe.org/vmp/articles/News/NEW-20041019-12-52-5.html]
What^Òs happening at WWAP?
Meeting to create a Water Cooperation Facility: ERRATUM
The meeting organized by the World Water Council (WWC
[http://www.worldwatercouncil.org]) and UNESCO, through
its programme dedicated to shared waters, From Potential
Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PC-CP [/water/wwap/pccp/index.shtml])
for all of the institutions interested in participating
in the creation of the World Cooperation Facility will
be held at the UNESCO-IHE [http://www.ihe.nl/vmp/contentsHomePage.html]
Institute for Water Education, in Delft, The Netherlands,
on 25-26 November 2004.
We had mistakenly announced it for the following year
in our last issue.
The UNESCO Director General, M. Koïchiro Matsuura, proposed
the creation of a Water Cooperation Facility, which would be
an alliance of institutions that are active in the management
of shared water resources, during the third World Water Forum.
Read more [/water/wwap/pccp/events.shtml]
Conclusions of the ^ÓWater as a Catalyst for Peace^Ô conference
The conference ^ÓWater as a Catalyst for Peace^Ô was initiated
by the UNESCO-IHP/WWAP programme dedicated to shared waters,
>From Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PC-CP
[http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/pccp/index.shtml]),
which focuses conflict resolution in transboundary water
management. Its aim and structure differed from traditional
conferences in the sense that interactive role-play sessions
formed the core part of the gathering.
The conference was organized in four sessions, each representing
a river basin, namely the Chu-Talas basin, the Nahr-el Kabir
basin, the Incomati basin and the Pedernalis basin.
Each session evolved along a role-play where participants
were introduced to specific issues of a basin while improving
their conflict resolution skills. As a result, water professionals,
diplomats, representatives of water related Ministries and students
formed working groups to represent the diverging positions of
countries and other stakeholders in a negotiation process, under
the guidance of professional trainers.
The positive comments participants and trainers alike made at
the closing session bring us to the conclusion that there is
both a need and room for an alternative conference approach
in which multi-level communication and capacity building are
intertwined with the process of thematic knowledge transfer.
A comprehensive report about the outcomes of the conference
is being developed and will be made available on the PC-CP
website soon. [http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/pccp/index.shtml]
Read more [http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/pccp/events.shtml#zaragoza]
CD-Rom version of the first WWDR available to the public
[http://publishing.unesco.org/details.aspx?Code_Livre=4245]
An interactive version of Water for People, Water for Life -
The United Nations World Water Development Report
[http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/index.shtml],
the most comprehensive assessment of the world's freshwater
resources, is now available on CD-ROM. Based on the collective
input of twenty-three United Nations agencies and convention
secretariats, the global picture is complemented by the
presentation of seven pilot case studies of river basins
representing different social, economic and environmental settings.
Order the CD online [http://publishing.unesco.org/details.aspx?Code_Livre=4245]
WWAP partnerships:
^ÓA Dream for Water^Ô, an educational documentary under the
auspices of UNESCO and WWAP
The Pro-Expo Zaragoza 2008 Consortium
[http://www.zaragozaexpo2008.es/EN/index.asp]
financed a 55 minute Bausan Films educational documentary
under the auspices of UNESCO and WWAP, ^ÓA Dream for Water^Ô,
to spread awareness on the sustainable uses of water
resources within the framework of the upcoming International
Decade for Action, ^ÓWater for Life^Ô, 2005-2015
[http://www.unesco.org/water/water_celebrations/decades/index.shtml].
The documentary is a prototype for a series, which, if
produced, would be used as part of awareness campaigns on
the problems generated by water mismanagement, and would be
distributed to different public broadcast services around
the world.
To prepare it, Bausan Films shot in a diversity of locations
across the planet, such as Holland, Chile, Israel, Benin and
India. Each place takes us through different aspects of water
issues, commented by water experts and personalities. Mikhail
Gorbachev, Chairman of Green Cross International, William
Cosgrove, President of the World Water Council, Jean-Michel
Cousteau, President of Ocean Futures Society, and many others
were interviewed.
The documentary will be presented to water experts and country
delegations at UNESCO Headquarters around the beginning of December.
CHARM presented during IHP Intergovernmental council
The proposal for the establishment of the International
Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management under the
auspices of UNESCO (CHARM [http://www.unesco.pwri.go.jp/en/indexf-e.htm])
was presented and discussed at the IHP Intergovernmental
Council [http://webworld.unesco.org/ihp_db/events/index.asp]
held in Paris on 20-24 September. Twenty-five countries,
IAH and IAHS expressed their strong support, and a resolution
for CHARM^Òs creation was adopted. CHARM will support WWAP
activities in the field of risk management, it should be
established in the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI
[http://www.pwri.go.jp/eindex.htm]) of Japan.
PWRI is contributing to the chapter on managing risks and
to Japanese case studies for the next World Water Development
Report, (WWDR).
Access the previous WWAP Greater Tokyo case study
[http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/case_studies/tokyo/index.shtml]
Access the previous WWDR, Water for People, Water for Life
[http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/index.shtml]
Master in Territorial Protection and Maintenance
The University of Padova, together with the World
Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), the Institute of
Research on Geologic-Hydraulic Hazards in Southern
Italy and the Italian - Latino American Institute,
is organizing a Master in Territorial Protection and
Maintenance.
The purpose of this master is to train professionals
in the fields of territorial planning and water-related
risk. To this end, the master provides indispensable
tools to allow professionals to apply risk reduction
strategies and create territorial planning and protection
programmes in an environmentally sustainable way. The
master will take place from 11 January until 9 September
2005 at the University of Padova.
Read more (in Italian) [http://www.tesaf.unipd.it/dmt]