Breakfast at Sustainability's

On Monday the 7th of June, the Regional Representation of Istria in Brussels hosted

the workshop "Breakfast at Sustainability's" with reference to the classical "Breakfast at Tiffany's" that ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability - a series of thematic seminars organized by the ICLEI's Office in Brussels in cooperation with regional and local authorities.

The Workshop entitled "Using water more efficiently - burning issues, current approaches, new alliances at local level" brought together regional and local representatives, non-profit organizations and the European Commission aiming to exchange good practices in the field of effcient water management at the local and regional scale.

As members of Wateregio, Dino Babic, Director of the Istria Office and Juan Manuel

Revuelta, Director General of the Valencian Regional Office both based in Brussels, explained the current situation in the Mediterranean Basin countries emphasizing the need of new financial tools, the raising awareness campaings and the modernization of hydric infrastructures as key issues in facing the challenge of climate change and its impacts on water scarcity and droughts processes.

Also, Ms. Andrea Nam, expert from the European Commission, DG Environment, explained how the Water Framework Directive could be modified as result of the studies on water scarcity that the Commission is carrying out ending up with a review on the EU strategy for 2012.

Wateregio was presented in the European Youth Water Summit

A few days before the World Water Day, the first European Youth Water Summit gave the floor to young citizens aged between 15 and 25 years and coming from all 27 EU Member states, accessing and other European countries to share and discuss water community challenges, needs and priorities arising from the management of a limited and valuable resource, such as water, and their experience and activities carried out in this field.



As part of this conference, the director of the Brussels office representing the Croatian region of Istria, Dino Babic, put forward the water policies in the Istria Region and the Valencian Region as well as Wateregio, a network of regions involved in the sustainable and inclusive management of the water. Moreover, Dino Babic presented the conclusions of the Summer School organised in Valencia by the Assembly of European Regions in the summer of 2009 with the slogan "Water, for our future engagement”.


European Youth Water Partnership was organised by European Water Partnerhip and was hosted in the European Parliament on 17th and 18th March 2010.

FP7 call on environment presented in Brussels

Either the seminar was a big success or the room was too small, but the participants report that the place was packed

The Commission has organised an RTD Environment Infoday in Brussels, to present the call FP7-ENV-2010. All calls will be closed the 5th January 2010.

Documents available in:
http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/rtd/rtdenv2010call/library?l=/&vm=detailed&sb=Title

Let's start the partner hunting!

Upload your project ideas in this blog. Write to mortiz@delcomval.be

AER Summer School on TV

Hübner in “Deep Water” at AER Summer School in Valencia

L. to R.: Mr Klipp, SG of the AER, Ms Hübner, MEP Chairwoman of the Committee REGI, and Mr Ripoll, Valencian Regional Deputy Minister in charge of EU affairs

Valencia (E), 28th August 2009.

In her first speech as chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee for Regional Development, Danuta Hübner has said that water will be a “major priority” of the EU’s Regional Policy. “There are regions that will require specific responses, which will be more affected than others by droughts, floods or water scarcity,” Ms Hübner said today. “That is why, more than ever, the European regional policy 2007-2013 will be ambitious in its environmental initiatives at local and regional level.” Ms Hübner was speaking on the final day of the Assembly of European Regions’ (AER) 14th annual Summer School, hosted by the Spanish region of Valencia.

Focusing this year on water issues, the week-long event in the city of Valencia brought together around 150 regional politicians, officers and young people, along with international experts and EU officials, to address the many challenges related to water.

AER president Michèle Sabban, speaking earlier this week, said: “We are not in Valencia by accident. Spain is the European country most threatened by desertification and drought.” “By bringing young people together with experts and politicians to discuss this increasingly global problem, we hope to promote a new “water culture” in the regions. The young people here can take back to the regions what they have learnt this week, thereby raising awareness among peers who will face the consequences tomorrow of what we do today.”

The summer school featured expert speakers, roundtables and workshops, along with study visits where participants could see firsthand the Valencia region’s expertise in water management.

Valencia’s deputy minister for European affairs, Rafael Ripoll, noted that the region of Valencia, whose strong commitment to addressing water scarcity has made it a European leader in the field, is the “perfect framework to talk about promoting the better use of water across all the European regions.” Background The proper management of water plays a key role in maintaining biodiversity, human health as well as in economic and social development. The “blue” challenge is of huge importance as the world enters a water crisis. Safe access to water for all is one of the Millennium Goals, while water savings can be improved by around 40% in Europe.

By bringing together decision makers, officials and young people, the AER Summer School in Valencia aimed to provide the tools to regions to tackle the challenges of water management. Participants were able to share experiences, develop new instruments to raise awareness and define strategies to contribute to creating a water-saving culture across the regions of Europe.

Find more information about initiatives in the field of water at:
http://www.uegva.info/fundacioncv/dinweb/index.php?pagId=328

http://www.uegva.info/fundacioncv/bbdd/index.php

Find more information about AER’s 14th Summer School at:

http://www.aer.eu/en/events/summer-school/2000-2009/aerss2009.html

Meeting next Thursday 25th June

Date: 25th June 2009. 17h30.

Venue: Room JDE53 - Committee of the Regions. Rue Belliard 99-101 Brussels.

Provisional Agenda: (version 1, as proposed the 18th May)

The meeting will be hold simultaneously to the Zero Plus conference.
Please check the agenda of the Zero Plus seminar, as the speakers may be of your interest.

17:30 - 18:00 Welcome and project forum corner.

Round Table about new answers for water treatment in the industrial sector; future collaboration and new sustainable project ideas.

Moderator: Mr Alfonso Alcolea
Proposals. ENPI project on water management “Water communities”.
LIFE+ project - Wateregio. FP7 on conductions of water

18:00 Closed-door meeting.

§ Approval of the record of activities.
§ Report about legal personality of Wateregio.
§ New steering committee.
§ Other business

Commission organises workshop on climate change 17-18 June

The European Commission, DG Environment, is organizing a two-days workshop on Regional Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Climate Change Vulnerability Indicators, to be held on 17 - 18 June 2009 in Brussels, Belgium.

The European Commission recently presented a White Paper outlining the framework for adaptation measures and policies to reduce the European Union's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change:
(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/adaptation/index_en.htm).

Two key elements of the action plan proposed for the first phase 2009-12 are the development of vulnerability and adaptation indicators, and the capacity building of regional and local authorities.

On the first day (Wednesday 17 June, 9:30-17:30), regional climate adaptation strategies will be discussed. The objectives are 1) to present and discuss the current EU situation with regard to the regional climate adaptation strategies; and 2) to present and discuss guidelines or toolbox to support regions to develop climate adaptation strategies.

On the second day (Thursday 18 June, 9:30-16:00), the discussion will be about assessing and developing vulnerability indicators for the EU. The objectives are 1) to present and discuss the findings of the literature review and data scoping exercise; and 2) to review and discuss a set of options for the further development and elaboration of vulnerability indicators at regional or sectoral level.

This workshop is organized in co-ordination with EEA’s 3rd EIONET workshop on Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation (Copenhague, 30 June – 1 July 2009) and EEA’s Expert workshop on Vulnerability mapping adaptation indicators (Copenhagen, 2-3 July 2009). The focus of the present workshops will on the "end-user" perspective at EU, regional, local and sectoral level.

Participants to the workshop are representative from national, regional and local authorities as well as experts from European Commission services. Participation is free of charge, no reimbursement of travel expenses is foreseen.

The deadline to confirm participation is Wednesday 3 June 2009 to Stefanie Wurm by e-mail (climate_adaptation@ecologic-events.de). A detailed agenda and background documents will be available shortly on: http://www.ecologic-events.eu/climate_adaptation

For further information:

Mr Jacques Delsalle

European Commission

DG Environment Unit D.2. Protection of Water and Marine Environment

Email: Jacques.Delsalle@ec.europa.eu

SAVE THE DATE: 18th May, general meeting

Wateregio will celebrate its general meeting next 18th May in the afternoon in Brussels.

Please, save it in your agendas.

Topics:

1. Open calls and project opportunities: Ecoinnovation, LIFE+, ENPI.
2. Project forum corner: Bring your project ideas!
3. Positions and policy papers: Open working groups, work of the European Commission.

The event will be followed by a Wateregio closed door meeting.

More information to follow via e-mail.

AER Summer School 2009 on Water

The Summer School of the AER will take place next 24-28 august 2009 in Valencia, Spain, organised jointly by the AER and the Fundación Comunidad Valenciana - Región Europea.

By bringing together decision makers, officials and young people, the Summer School intends to provide the tools to be able to cope with the challenges of water management.

The members of Wateregio are invited to participate actively via:

• Proposition of speakers and activities.


• Participation of politicians and young people.


• Dissemination of projects in the School plaza (exhibition area).

The Summer School is oriented to regional decision-makers, elected politicians and experts from the different regional and local administrations who are interested in developing solutions for the water issues. Simultaneously, the Youth Summer School will bring young people from all Europe to work together in this issue, to promote sharing of experiences, expressing their opinion and better awareness to act as “water ambassadors” when back in their home regions.

The contents of the Summer School are grouped in four pools:

• Pool 1. Water management: Regions need to provide innovative strategies to ensure safe water and sanitation for all. The workshops in this pool will tackle the problems faced by policy makers when they define plans and implement infrastructures.

• Pool 2. Water and climate change. The availability of water will change and be affected by the climate. Draughts and floods will be more severe and recurrent. This will affect not only the economy and human life, but also the ecosystems and the biodiversity. The participants will work on research, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, preserving the natural environment.

• Pool 3. Governance and communication. The social involvement is essential to manage water in a sustainable way. The participants will work on legislative and political measures, public participation, education and training, aiming to develop a new water culture in Europe.

• Horizontal workshops: The horizontal workshops will invite the participants to propose their ideas in joint projects dealing with water, global issues and co-operation, and instruments to be developed by the AER in order to promote better water management all over Europe, such as a water award and a European Regional Charter for Water.

The Summer School will gather experts from all over Europe in each of the topics, organising roundtables and dynamic workshops. The program includes also daily activities, and study visits, discovering the Valencian experience in water management

If you are interested in receiving more information, please contact jpascual@delcomval.be with your name, region and country and e-mail adress.

http://www.aer.eu/en/events/summer-school/2000-2009.html

Summary of the EU conference on Water, 2-3 April 2009

Notes from the EU conference on Water, held last 2nd and 3rd April:

• The conference has done a review about the public participation in the draft River Basin Management Plans requested by the Water Framework Directive. Publication of the document COM (2009) 156 final, Report on art. 18.3 of the WFD on programmes of monitoring of water status.
  
• Some questions: How to promote more and better participation? How to integrate the input of the public participation into the RBMP? Effective participation or participation pro forma?
  
• Publication of the Communication COM (2009)147/4 White paper on adaptation to climate change.
  
• The White paper on adaptation to climate change comes with the document SEC (2009) 386 Policy Paper on Water, Coasts and Marine issues.

Peter Gammeltoft (Head of Unit of Water, DG Environment, 2nd right) in the crossfire debate organised by Friends of Europe the 2nd April in the evening. Significant phrase: 'Prevention and combat of climate change has to do with energy and emissions; adaptation to climate change will have to do with water'.

More information:

• See the speech of the Commissioner Stavros Dimas.
  
• Website of the conference:
  http://water.europa.eu/participate
  
• Website of the Commission on adaptation to climate change:
  http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/adaptation/index_en.htm

European Conference on Water

Commissioner Dimas during his intervention.
Radio café says that he will be Commissioner again, but not for environment.

Organised by the European Commission, the conference can be followed online via the link:
http://www.ewc2009.eu

The documentation will be published in the website:
http://water.europa.eu/participate

Members of WR currently attending: Region of Murcia, Emilia Romagna and Valencian Region.

Water infoday in Istria

The Istrian Region organised last 23rd April an information day on water in the framework of Wateregio. The information will be available soon in www.istra-istria.hr

The event was chaired by President of the Region, Mr Ivan Jakovčić, and counted on the presence of Mr Oriano Otočan, Regional Minister in charge of international collaboration and European integration, and Mr Juan Manuel Revuelta, General Director of the Fundación Comunidad Valenciana - Región Europea, who intervened as guest speaker.

A project forum corner in the end of the Infoday raised several project ideas in the following fields:

• Possibility of TAIEX cooperation with Istrian region http://www.ec.taiex.eu/


• Agriculture: Prevention of burning of agricultural waste, and valorisation as energy (IEE call).


• Urban water supply: European network of cities for sustainable water consumption, including water saving and safety of drinking water in buildings.


• Improving of quality of waste water that is spilled into water bodies.


• Toursim: Standardization and greening processes in golf pitches.


• Irrigation and other water uses: Capacity building and organizations of water users in the Mediterranean (Interreg and ENPI call).


• Nature protection: Prevention of uncontrolled waste disposal and remediation of ecosystems such as wetlands and karstic caves


• Nature protection: Project Eko Teens on awareness among youg people about the karstik ecosystems.

During the infoday, various topics on water in Istria were treated, together with EU programmes. The following themes were presented and discussed during the event: EU Funding strategies; European funding opportunities in the field of water (FP7, INTERREG); the INTERREG program; the FP7 program; best practices in water projects; tips for good participation in the EU water projects; support services in the field of EU programmes and cooperation activities; water Management.

From the political point of view, the network Wateregio was presented as a way to improve the participation of Mediterranean regions in EU water policy.

Contact person:

Dino Babić
Professional collaborator for the development of international projects
Department for International cooperation and EU integration
Istarska županija – Regione istriana
Region of Istria
Flanatička 29
HR-52100 Pula

Tel: +385 (0)52 372 177
Fax:+385 (0)52 372 178
www.istra-istria.hr