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