========================
In this issue N°145 (http://www.emwis.net/thematicdirs/eflash/flash145)
========================
HEADLINE

1- Marrakesh International Summit on Water Security and 11th INBO world general assembly

In Brief

8- Supromed: New PRIMA project on sustainability of agro-ecosystem production in Med water limited environments 

9- VISCA: Showcasing the irrigation optimisation feature based on climate services at the POWER Water Best Practices

10- EdiCitNet:  Edible Cities Network meeting and training of trainers for Follower Cities, 22- 25 October 2019  in Girona (Spain)

11- HYDROUSA solutions to be presented small islands network SMILO Third Annual Meeting, 14 - 18 October, 2019, Porquerolles (France)  

12- Circular-City workshop and study visit 16 -18 September 2019, Hämeenlinna, Tampere and Forssa (Finland)

13- Med-Greenhouses: Workshop on Greenhouses production, 14 October 2019 Roquette sur Siagne, France

14- Med-Greenhouses Webinar "Agricultural clusters: tools for collaboration between actors in the agricultural sector", 01 October at 3pm

15- Mauritania: Government plans to install 300 boreholes by 2020

16- Egypt: Water supply and sanitation training centre opened  

17- Egypt: Government prepares plan for water use rationalisation

18- Malta:  A €13 Million water conservation campaign Is announced

19- Libya: The water war

20- Spain: government announces 21 measures to cut pollution in murcia’s mar menor lagoon to ‘zero’

21- Morocco: AFD allocates €51 million to Onee to secure access to water in the north

22- Algeria: $3 million to expand Beni Saf desalination plant capacity

23- France:86 million euros invested for water in the first half of 2019 in the Rhône-Mediterranean and Corsica basins

PUBLICATIONS

CALL FOR TENDERS AND PROPOSALS

CALL FOR PAPERS

TRAINING AND COURSES

EVENTS

CONTACT US / COMMENTS

=================================================
HEADLINE
=================================================

1- From 30 September till 3 October 2019, the world community of river basin management will join in Marrakech for the 11th General Assembly of the International Network of Basin Organisations (INBO), and the Marrakesh International Summit on Water Security, to tape the benefits of innovative & participative basin management. This event jointly organised by the Ministry of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water of the Kingdom of Morocco, INBO and the Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health. The conference will also include different workshops, including one on the priority cooperation INBO regional networks for the 9th World Water Forum as well as an innovation bridge for transferring innovative solutions of H2020 AfriAlliance project (Africa-EU Innovation Alliance for Water and Climate). Further information on INBO website

================================================

IN BRIEF (Full news)
================================================

2- The 8th Technical Working Group (WG) of the 5+5 Water Strategy in the Western Mediterranean will take place in Valencia, Spain, on 18 and 19 of September 2019. The main objectives of this meeting are to set out the state of play of the Initiative and take stock of the accomplished actions; Propose and discuss new actions towards the end of 2019; Address the change of the Presidency of the 5+5 and discuss the organisation of the annual meetings of the WG. The WSWM is particularly significant in a region such as the Mediterranean, subject to the adverse effects of climate change and to its impacts on the population and on the economic activities such as tourism, in particular in the coastal areas. A specific session will be organised on the coordination with the UfM water agenda. The Strategy ensures that Mediterranean countries can unite forces to defend a common objective regarding water management, with the objective to prevent conflicts, foster development and contribute to ensure the right to water and sanitation. Further information on EMWIS website 

3-  The second Cairo Water Week , will be held on the 20-24 October 2019 , in Cairo  (https://www.cairowaterweek.eg/ ),  under the auspices of H.E. Mr. Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and will be organized by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in collaboration with national, regional and international partners. The CWW became the focus of attention of every one cares about water as a basic element for life and turned to be the main and largest water event in Egypt. Thus, it has gained the interest and support of all water stakeholders at all levels. Cairo Water Week 2019 will address the main theme “Responding to Water Scarcity” through five sub-themes overarching a broad spectrum of the water scarcity. They are linked in many ways and difficult to make separation. Under each sub-theme, variety of topics could be covered. The CWW will also feature the EU-UFM-EGYPT Water Governance & Business Forum- 20 & 21 October.Further information on EMWIS website

4- The ENI SEIS South II Support Mechanism organised on 9-10 July in Marseille (France) a technical workshop to review and provide guidance on assessment of the H2020 water cluster indicators at national and regional level (monitoring progress on Mediterranean Sea depollution); and  to make progress on the overall water thematic assessment of the H2020 indicator-based assessment report.  ENI SEIS South II aims at implementing the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) principles and practices in South and Eastern Mediterranean countries. It is jointly managed by the European Environment Agency and the UN environment Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP). The aim is to produce in 2020 the 2nd Horizon 2020 indicator based assessment report. Country representatives were provided with a guidance on water indicators assessment and an overview of the national assistance provided and planned by the support mechanism. Each country presented its status and progress of Mediterranean initiatives were presented: Mediterranean Water Knowledge Platform and UfM SDG6 initiative, EC Water and Environment Support mechanism, OECD water governance indicators, MSSD indicators (UNEP/MAP). The next important events will be the meeting of the Horizon 2020 review and monitoring group followed by the 10th meeting of the Horizon 2020 Steering Group on 25 September in Athens organised back to back with the 1st Steering Committee meeting of the new Water Environment Support (WES) project -follow-up of SWIM-H2020 support mechanism (26-27 Sept.) Further information on EMWIS website

5- Organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the World Water Week is an annual focal point for international community to discuss about water issues and present concrete potential solutions, case studies and ideas. This year, the event took place from 25-30 August 2019 under the theme ‘Water for society: Including all.’ Around 4,000 participants from 138 countries including researchers, practitioners, decision-makers, business innovators and young professionals from a range of sectors, countries and regions joined the event. SEMIDE participated at the event at different sessions focusing on the Mediterranean region as well as at the Booth for Young Mediterranean Water Professionals to introduce the MedYWat network. Further information is found on SIWI website. Further information on EMWIS website 

6- To tackle desertification, the 14th session of Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) took place from 2-13 September 2019 in New Delhi, welcoming over 3,000 participants, under the theme “Restore land to sustain life”. The Union for the Mediterranean collaborated to the side event “Regional initiative to counter land degradation in the Mediterranean, Near East and Eastern Europe, LANDMEDNET” with FAO and CIHEAM, which took  place on September 5th. The side event drawn attention to the need to identify the main challenges to sustainable land resources use and management and to map out regional actions to counter land degradation, enhance resilience and promote sustainable production landscapes in the Mediterranean, Near East and Eastern Europe. A short leaflet highlighting key aspects of the UfM-UNCCD partnership was  disseminated during the side event. Further information on EMWIS website 

7-  The Blue Green City project is making its's official start on 24-25 September 2019 in Nice, France by organizing the kick-off meeting. Blue Green City is an Interreg Europe project started on 1 Aug 2019 with a duration of 3 years, the lead partner of blue Green City is the Metropolis Nice Côte d'Azur. The overall objective of the project is to improve policies that promote the GBI as an integral part of a local/regional natural heritage preservation strategy.  The project will increase individual, organizational, stakeholder and external knowledge of the concept of ecosystem services and the value of GBI through project events, workshops and training. This will be done through interregional Policy learning process and collaboration in finding common solutions to common challenges posed by climate change adaptation, and by sharing experience and exchanging good practices. Further information on Blue-green-city website

9- VISCA project (Climate services for agriculture) has been showcased at the POWER best practice repository which serves as an umbrella providing an overall view to the outside world and a central entry point to the POWER water communities with its instances in the pilot cities. VISCA project submitted its profile as a candidate for POWER Best Practice Award for innovative water sustainability solutions in the ‘extreme weather events’ category by highlighting on the irrigation optimisation feature within VISCA DSS tool. Three projects will be distinguished with the award and invited to present their work at the POWER conference, on 9 -10th October in Brussels to a highly regarded audience of water sustainability and innovation experts and representatives of local municipalities that are interested in implementing sustainable water solutions in their cities. Further information is found on POWER best practice repository and VISCA website.

10- The systemic use of urban landscapes for food production is a major step towards more sustainable, liveable and healthier cities. EdiCitNet (H2020 project started on September 2018)  will leverage the substantial benefits that Edible City Solutions effect today at local level and catalyse their replication EU- and world-wide by launching a fully open and participatory network of cities, empowering their inhabitants a) to systematically explore the wealth and diversity of existing Edible City Solutions, and b) to adapt, plan and implement successfully proven Edible City Solutions in their specific urban context. To make this happen, EdiCitNet will close knowledge gaps in the effective implementation of Edible City Solutions and their transformation into sustainable, innovative business models.  The project annual meeting will be held in Girona from 22-25 October when the 1st feed-back from Front Runner Cities will be provided. Back to back to the annual meeting, from 19 to 22 October, a training of trainers for Follower Cities will be organized. Further information here.

12- Nature Based Solutions for Cities, the Cost Action Circular City (CA17133) community is preparing for the upcoming workshop which will take place on 16 -18 September 2019 in Hämeenlinna, Tampere and Forssa in Finland. The aim of this COST Action is to build an interdisciplinary platform for connecting city planners, architects, system designers, circular economists, engineers and researchers from social and natural sciences that develop systems allowing cities to cope with the current challenges.You can follow the Action on Social Media channels, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, all accessible from Circular City website

14- In addition to the above mentioned workshop 3 webminars will beorganised by the end of 2019. The 1st will be on on "Agricultural clusters: tools for collaboration between actors in the agricultural sector", with the collaboration of terralia-pass and Neayi cluster. The webinar will take place on October 1st at 3pm in French for one hour. To register please send  an email to Maroua Oueslati: m.oueslati@semide.org. Further information on Med-greenhouses website

15- Mid-July 2019, Mauritania announced that the objective to build 300 boreholes by 2020. The Mauritanian Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation announced this during an ordinary session of the National Assembly. The boreholes will provide water to several Mauritanian localities, especially populations located in pasture areas. The project will cost the State 250 million Ouguiya MRU, just over six million dollars. The construction of these boreholes follows a programme contract signed between the Mauritanian government and the National Drilling and Well Corporation (SNFP), which will be responsible for the implementation of the project. Further information on EMWIS website 

17- Egypt is preparing to embark on an important project: the rationalisation of water consumption in the country. The ultimate objective is to preserve surface water resources that are depleting with the country’s development, as well as population growth. This is the case with the Nile. This river has long provided drinking water to the population and irrigated plantations in Upper Egypt. Its flow is now severely affected by water projects upstream, including the construction of the 6,000 MW Great Renaissance hydroelectric dam in Ethiopia. The government’s new policy will also impact households with the use of special rooms on taps to save water. It will also focus on raising public awareness of this issue. Rationalisation also concerns public administrations. All ministries and their affiliated institutions will benefit from technology developed by the Arab Industrialization Organization (AOI). It is used to control the flow of water and its pressure in a water system. A pilot project incorporating this technology has already been implemented in several public administrations. This experience shows that it saves about 45% of consumption… Further information on EMWIS website

18- A new €13 million plan aimed at teaching Maltese people how to use their water more efficiently has been launched in September 2019 and will include all houses being given a free water-kit as well as a three-year travelling educational road show. The Minister for Energy and Water Management Joe Mizzi announced the ‘Water Be The Change’, an educational and awareness building drive focused on the optimisation and more efficient use of water resources meant to facilitate a cultural shift in people’s behaviour towards water conservation on the Maltese islands. Further information on EMWIS website

19- Tripoli is thirsty. Valves are increasingly running empty and load shedding is increasing. The cuts highlight the territorial fragmentation of the country. In the land of black gold, water no longer flows. Since the beginning of the summer, the Libyan capital has experienced no less than five major water cuts. The resource war has invaded Tripolitan homes. In fact, the problem has been endemic since 2011, due to the inevitable degradation of infrastructure. “Foreign technicians no longer dare to set foot here for security reasons, and all modernization contracts – such as the project to build three desalination plants between Tripoli and Misrata – remain blocked despite the huge investment opportunities,” says Farraj al-Amari, former Director of Planning at Tripoli’s Ministry of Electricity and Water. Further information on EMWIS website

20- SPAIN’S Ministry for Ecological Transition has announced 21 measures to reduce pollution and runoff into the Mar Menor lagoon to ‘zero’. The measures will tackle dung from cattle farms, runoff from old mines and water treatment in an effort to stop nitrates and nitrites reaching the biodiverse salt-water lagoon. It comes as environmental campaigners have spent years fighting the ‘poisoning’ and ‘green-coloured waters’ at the World Heritage Site. The 10-year project will cost €430 to €615 million with the national Ministry working closely with Murcia’s councillor for agriculture, Antonio Luengo. The most expensive parts of the project include construction of a drainage network around the shore of the lagoon. Murcia’s Hydrographic Confederation of Segura (CHS) will also work to clear up floodwater channels known as ‘ramblas’. Citizens’ action groups have been very critical of the local authorities’ inability to properly maintain these ramblas that drain the land into the sea, as slow-flowing water collects more chemicals destined the lagoon. Further information on EMWIS website 

21- The National Electricity and Water Board (ONEE) of Morocco has received new funding to improve drinking water supply in Morocco. This 51 million euros funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) is composed of a € 50 million loan and a grant of 1 million euros for studies and institutional capacity building. The funds will be used to secure access to safe drinking water in the northern provinces of Morocco, Al Hoceima, Driouch, Nador and Taounate. “Water supply cuts will be reduced and the quality of the resource improved. It will also help to preserve water resources by reducing leaks, improve network efficiency and mobilising renewable resources,” says Mihoub Mezouaghi, AFD’s Director in Morocco. The improvement of ONEE’s services will take place in both urban and rural areas. Further information on EMWIS website

22- The capacity of the Spanish Beni Saf desalination plant will soon be increased. Funds have already been allocated to this project. José Minguillon Fouteza, CEO of Beni Saf Water Company, talks about a $3 million envelope. The aim is to increase the installation’s capacity by 20,000 m3 of water per day. The extension is expected to start by the end of September 2019 for a period of nine months. The goal, according to José Minguillon Fouteza, is to “reduce technical shutdown problems and maintain production at 200,000 m3/day year-round”. The desalination plant is owned by Beni Saf Water Company, a majority-owned business of the Spanish group Cobra. Further information on EMWIS website

23- In the first semester of 2019, the Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency supported 895 projects led by local authorities, companies, farmers and associations to improve the water quality and aquatic environments, in Rhône-Mediterranean and Corsica basin. It granted them with € 86 million to support the dynamics of the local economy. In addition, the water agency is strengthening its partnership policy with local authorities by signing multi-year (3 to 5 years) and multi-thematic contracts to better target actions with regard to the priorities of its 11th program 2019-2024 called "Save the water". Further information on EMWIS website

================================================
NOMINATIONS and VACANCIES
================================================

24- At the General Assembly of the Mediterranean Water Institute (IME), beginning of July 2019, Mr. Alain Meyssonnier was appointed President of the IME. He replaces Ms Milagros Couchoud Gregori who has held the position of President of the IME since 2011. Mr Meyssonnier is the Deputy General Manager and Partnerships of the Société des Eaux de Marseille (SEM). Further information on EMWIS website

25- Elisabeth Borne,  has been appointed Minister of the Environment and Energy Transition on 16 July 2019. She is replacing Francois De Rugy, who had  resigned. Further information on EMWIS website

26-  Barcelona, 10 September 2019. In accordance with the unanimous decision by the 43 Member States of the Union for the Mediterranean, Marisa Farrugia (Malta), Isidro Antonio González Afonso (Spain) and Grammenos Mastrojeni (Italy) have taken office as Deputy Secretary Generals of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).  Mr. Isidro González Afonso is the new Deputy Secretary General for Water, Environment and Blue economy. He is a Spanish career diplomat who has served the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation for the past eighteen years, holding positions as Counsellor and Senior Adviser in several Foreign Affairs Minister´s Cabinets in Madrid, and, lately, as Counsellor at the Embassy of Spain in Rabat, Morocco. Further information on EMWIS website

================================================
PUBLICATIONS
================================================

27- "Transboundary Hydro-Governance From Conflict to Shared Management ". A comprehensive book on the governance of transboundary waters, written by Ganoulis Jacques & Fried Jean, introducing the comparison between ideal and actual transboundary water governance, and how to implement it in real cases. Further information on EMWIS website

28- "Towards a new generation of policies and investments in agricultural water", a new study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Further information on EMWIS website

29-  New Water Europe Publication Launched: Atlas of European Water Oriented Living Labs. Water Europe is pleased to launch the first edition of the “Atlas of the European Water-Oriented Living Labs” which contains a first-ever mapping and categorisation of European WoLLs (Water-oriented Living Labs). WoLLs are a key tool for the implementation of Water Europe’s Vision “The Value of Water”, to promote the systematic innovations in the water systems that are needed to achieve a Water-Smart Society and economy.  Further information on EMWIS website

=================================================
CALL FOR PAPERS
=================================================

30- III International Symposium on Soilless Culture and Hydroponics, 1-4 Nov 2020, Limassol/Lemesos, Cyprus. The Conference is a joint initiative of the Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus), Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology & Food Science and the University of Turin (Italy), Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences. Abstract submission deadline    15/01/2020. Further information on EMWIS website

31- Call for applications: Istanbul environment friendly city award. Funded by the Government of Turkey, the Istanbul Environment Friendly City Award was created in the framework of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) to recognize efforts of local authorities in promoting sustainable development in Mediterranean coastal cities. Application deadline: 18 September 2019 - Award ceremony: the ceremony will take place during the Ministerial Session of the 21st Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention (COP 21) to be held in Naples, Italy, on 2-5 December 2019
Further information on EMWIS website

=================================================
TRAINING
=================================================

 [2019/09/30 - 2019/10/04] ReNature summer school, Malta. The ReNature Interdisciplinary Summer School aims to provide participants with an understanding of the features and potential of nature-based solutions in the context of a holistic approach towards landscape sustainability. All participants will have the chance to interact and share experiences and activities with international experts. The summer school will include "problem-based" learning sessions, aimed at stimulating professional development and further networking between participants also in the aftermaths.  Further information on EMWIS website

[28/10/2019 - 31/10/2019] The European Training Foundation: Skills and sustainable development goals in Arab countries. The Middle East and North Africa Public Administration Research (MENAPAR) network is organising a conference in Ifrane, Morocco, from 28-31 of October, to discuss how Arab countries are delivering on the SGDs and what is the role of skills development and government support in this process, among other aspects. More specifically, the event will focus on “Public Administration Research and South-South Cooperation for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Arab Region". Further information on EMWIS website
 

=================================================
Events
=================================================