EMWIS Flash 160 January - February 2022

2- Fostering knowledge for practice“: the third ministerial conference of the Western Mediterranean Forum (Dialogue 5+5) on Water was convened under this title in Valencia on 10 March 2022. The Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain, Teresa Ribera, chaired the ministerial meeting in Valencia, held under the 2021-2022 Spanish co-presidency of the Dialogue 5+5. the forum brought together ministers and other high-level authorities from countries of the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean basin to strengthen cooperation on water security, in face of serious challenges posed by climate change in the region. During the conference, the critical importance of water security preservation under the recent challenges posed by climate change in the Western Mediterranean region was stressed, especially considering the cross-cutting role that water plays in food security, health, energy transition, socio-economic development, and the preservation of water ecosystems and their biodiversity. As pointed out by the Spanish Vice President, “articulating coordinated responses is essential to ensure a more sustainable, safe, and resilient future. Cooperation makes us less vulnerable”.The meeting ended with the adoption of the Valencia Declaration. Ministers and representatives of member countries of the 5+5 Dialogue committed to increasing water security by implementing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) at all levels, especially by fully integrating non-conventional resources and adapting water management to the challenges of climate change. They stressed the need to develop a Western Mediterranean Training and Capacity Building Programme on Water, as part of the Action Plan of the 5+5 Water Strategy for the Western Mediterranean (WSWM). The Technical Working Group of experts coordinated by the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organisations (MENBO) as Secretariat, was entrusted with the task of developing and implementing this programme with the aim to foster knowledge and knowledge sharing for the purpose of finding effective and practicable solutions to the challenges posed to water security in the Western Mediterranean. Further information on EMWIS website

3- A Regional Forum was organized  by the CMI in Marseille (Center for Mediterranean Integration), France  on 14-15 March 2022 to discuss the study funded by FCDO "“Water security nexus in North Africa: catalyzing regional coordination around climate change, resilience, and migration”. The following components were presented during the event:  The new climate change data and the CDI work developed for Morocco and Tunisia case studies/The water and migration nexus analytical framework and its application at the national (case study) scale for Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, in order to better understand the intersections of climate, socio-economic development, and migration/ The policy implications of the overall study results/The youth cross-cutting theme: entrepreneurial program on Water and Climate Change. Further information on EMWIS website

4-The Mediterranean Worlds Forum organised by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs at the initiative of French President Macron was held on February 7 and 8 in Marseille. After two years of health crisis, the Forum aimed at recreating a space for exchanges that would put together stakeholders of civil society and executives of territories from both banks of the Mediterranean Sea to face common challenges such as the environment, sustainable development, solidarity, as well as education and mobilities. These themes aim at “building together a true space for freedom, exchange, peace and creation”, according to Emmanuel Macron.  During the Forum, President Macron announced: the launch of a call for projects, with funding of 3 million euros, dedicated to the initiatives of civil society actors from the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the launch of an Academy of Mediterranean talents, the creation of a specific support fund, with 100 million euros, for entrepreneurs living in France and wishing to invest in the Maghreb. Further information on EMWIS website

5- On 7 March 2022, in the context of the 2022 International Women’s Day, recognizing this year the contribution of women and girls to build a more sustainable future, the UfM organised, in partnership with the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa of FAO and the CIHEAM , the online event on “Agri-food systems facing climate change in the MENA region: gender equality for better resilience” to identify challenges faced by women as change drivers for a more resilient agri-food systems facing climate change. Moreover, possible solutions were put forward in terms of policies, strategies and governance at regional and country levels. The discussion focused its attention on the need to foster rights and fair policies in order to support the most fragile groups, namely women, girls and children. Women – especially in rural communities – provide for their families and contribute to the resilience of their communities while being paid less than men and are often those affected by discriminating policies and harmful social norms which exclude them from the relevant decision-making processes. When it comes to the migrations caused by climate change, women are the most vulnerable and it is therefore important to include political measures to promote women’s priorities linked to climate change events. Further information on EMWIS website 

6- On 16th of March, the Blue Growth Community, organized  the Launching session of the Blue Growth Community Talks on Innovative Blue Economy Tools. This working group aims at sharing information on tools and best practices on the Blue economy sector, including blue funding, circular blue economy and fisheries & aquaculture, that could be of great interest for many stakeholders of the sector and specially, Med Blue SMEs. The final objective is to foster the implementation and transferring of these tools within the Med region. During the session, six tools from the Blue Growth community project have been presented such as the 3-PBM (3 Pillar Business Model) methodology (iBlue project), the Matchmaking event toolkit (MISTRAL project), the Business Plan Competition toolkit (MISTRAL project), the Crowdfunding training tool (BLUE CROWDFUNDING project), Circularity self-assessment tool (BLUEfasma project) and the Innovation Voucher Scheme ((4helix+ project)). Following the interest shown in several tools, dedicated training sessions will be organized by the Blue Growth Community partners to facilitate their implementation. Further information on EMWIS website

7- World Water Day, on 22 March every year, is about focusing attention on the importance of water. This year’s theme  ‘groundwater’, draws attention to the hidden water resource that has always been critically important but not fully recognized in sustainable development policy making. Under the title ‘Groundwater – Making the invisible visible’, this year’s campaign will explain groundwater’s vital role in water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems and climate change adaptation. The overarching message of the campaign is that exploring, protecting and sustainably using groundwater will be central to surviving and adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population. Further information on EMWIS website

8-  A satellite image of Lake Nasser - one of the largest artificial lakes in the world, has been issued by ESA in the framework of the Copernicus programme. With 10 m resolution, this information product allows to delineate the Toshka endorheic Lakes, natural depressions that are filled by overflow from Lake Nasser, as well the manmade canal that fill them with water from lake Naser. The lakes are relatively salty, with visible signs of eutrophication and algae formation. Further information on EMWIS website

9- On 26 April 2022, Region South, the Nice Cote d'Azur Metropole, the secured communicating solutions (SCS) cluster, the Water Cluster Aquavalley and EA entreprises network are organising a one day event on how Artificial Intelligence and satellites data contribute to the adaptation of management of water resources and their uses to climate change. The colloquium is organised around 3 sessions that will be moderated by Eric Mino, SEMIDE Director: catchment and groundwater management, water uses management and urban resilience. Further info on the programme and registration on EA website

10- On the 16th + 17th of February 2022, the EdiCitNet project organized the first Edible Cities Network conference, bringing people from around the world together for two days of discussion, exchange and inspiration on urban food innovation, edible nature based solutions & sustainable cities. The conference focused on exploring three major questions: What are the opportunities & challenges facing urban food communities today? How can policy makers better support them? How can we join forces to enhance our impact? Participants from over 58 countries attended  the EdiCitNet Conference. The next edition of the EdiCitNet Conference  will be organized in 2023! Sign up for the EdiCitNet monthly Newsletter to be informed as soon as registration is open for next year’s event.

11- In March 2022,  the NRD-UNISS team illustrated the Sustain-Coast project to a group of high school students from the IIS Pellegrini in Sassari, who were selected to participate in a Water Hackathon. The hackathon, which is organised within the framework of Expo2020, is taking place in Dubai from 20-25 March 2022.  This was an opportunity for the Sustain-Coast team to reach out to young students and increase their awareness about possible ways to promote sustainable coastal groundwater management across the MED, one of the most water-stressed regions on earth. Sustain-COAST “Sustainable coastal groundwater management and pollution reduction through innovative governance in a changing climate” is an R&I project co-funded under the PRIMA 2018 programme section II, for a period of 3 years starting from June 2019. Further information on Sustain-COAST website

12- Around the world, forests are facing unprecedented ferocity of fire seasons which are exacerbated due to climate change. In the latest IPCC report “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability”, it is stated that wildfires are blazing larger areas than ever before in many regions, leading to irreversible alteration to the landscape. SAFERS aims to act along the emergency management of forest fires and to support societies in becoming more resilient before, during and after forest fire incidents by creating an integrated and open platform featuring a forest fire Decision Support System.  Gathering end-user requirements is an essential step to build SAFERS platform; therefore, a co-design approach has been used to have a better understanding of the activities conducted by wildfire management organisations and the information they require for their daily operations as well as to identify their requirements relevant to shape SAFERS platform and intelligence services. Additional information on SAFERS co-design approach can be found on the latest blog on SAFERS website  which features a special interview with Mr. David Martin, a Project Manager at Pau Costa Foundation.

13- The 9th edition of the World Water Forum will take place in Dakar, Senegal, from 21st to 26th March 2022 with the theme "Water Security for Peace and Development". A special session SS12 entitled “Mediterranean Solutions from the 4th Mediterranean Water Forum, Malta, Dec. 2021” will be organised on the 24th March 2022 from 13:30 to 15:00 bringing together water stakeholders and civil society from the Mediterranean region. The session will present water solutions that can be replicated in many countries in the region and worldwide. SEMIDE will take part in this session and present HYDROUSA and its circular, regenerative and nature-based water solutions which are aimed for islands and water scarce regions. Further information about the project is found on HYDROUSA website

14-  SUPROMED project has published new scietific paper on "Effect of the optimized regulated deficit irrigation methodology on quality, profitability and sustainability of barley in water scarce areas" the paper was published in  an open access journal "Agricultural Water Management". The article is also available for download in SUPROMED webiste  SUPROMED is  a research and innovation (R&I) project funded under the PRIMA 2018 programme section I Farming Systems, for a period of 3 years. The project started in October 2019 and it is composed of a multidisciplinary team of ten partners from five countries Spain (UCLM, ITAP, HISPATEC), France (SEMIDE), Greece (UTH, 3DSA), Lebanon (DIFAF, ULFA) and Tunisia (INRGREF, INGC). The main objective of SUPROMED is to enhance the economic and environmental sustainability of Mediterranean farming systems through a more efficient management of water, energy and fertilizers.

15- AGREEMed has been selected for funding by the 2021 PRIMA Call Section 2– Multi-topic. AGREEMed, “Innovative Aquifers Governance for Resilient Water Management and Sustainable Ecosystems in Stressed Mediterranean Agricultural Areas”, aims at improving the capacities of water actors in developing aquifer management plans by delivering scientific knowledge about quantity and quality status of groundwater and dependent ecosystems, and promoting innovative water treatment and the collective intelligence concept in water resources management. AGREEMed is coordinated by Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco, the project consortium is composed by partners from Tunisia (1), France (2), Italy (1), Germany (2), Jordan (1), Spain (1). SEMIDE is  participating in the project as leader of the communication dissemination and exploitation activities. Among the 20 projects selected for funding by the 2021 PRIMA call, AGREEMed is the only project coordinated by southern Mediterranean shore. The project is expected to start in June 2022. Further information on EMWIS website

16- The results of the first round of the “Priority Research Programmes and Equipment” (PEPR) call for proposals, published as part of the fourth future investments programme (PIA4) and the France Relance (Recovery) plan, were announced on 23 September 2021 by Frédérique Vidal, Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Guillaume Boudy, Secretary General for Investment, and Thierry Damerval, Chairman and Managing Director of the French National Research Agency. The OneWater programme is one of the 4 exploratory PEPRs selected by the government.The OneWater programme, is jointly managed by CNRS, BRGM and INRAE, with an initial funding of €53M for financing research and innovation activities over the next 10 years. Further information on EMWIS website

17- Between 2021 and 2025, the World Bank intends to invest $10 billion in climate-smart projects and policy reforms in the MENA region, mobilizing an additional $2 billion in private sector financing. 50% of this funding will be directed to interventions that help build resilience to climate change, with the aim of balancing funding between adaptation and mitigation. Further information on EMWIS website

18- At the end of the recent Board of Directors meeting of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) in Morocco, the head of the Moroccan government, Aziz Akhannouch, validated an investment project of 5.3 billion Moroccan dirhams (about 495 million euros) for drinking water and sanitation in 2022.The public company is implementing several projects in the Cherifian kingdom. Part of its budget will be used to continue the drinking water supply projects underway in Morocco. This will increase ONEE’s production capacity to 7.35 million cubic meters per day, securing service for the population. “To achieve this objective, it is planned to build new facilities in 2022 for an expected production capacity of nearly 1.343 million m3 and to equip an additional flow of 561,600 m3 of drinking water per day,” says ONEE. In the North African country, wastewater management is also the focus of attention. Further information on EMWIS website

19-  In May 2021, the flow of the Euphrates River in northeast Syria fell to an all-time low, causing the worst drought since 1953. Months later, in September 2021, Hammoud al-Hamadin, an engineer at the Tishreen dam, located southeast of Mambij in Aleppo province, warned of a historic and terrifying decline in its water level. Since the Euphrates is the primary water source for agriculture, domestic consumption, and electricity production in northern and eastern Syria, the crisis has affected all three vital sectors. The dramatic drop in water storage of the Tabqa, Tishreen, and Baath dams on the Euphrates threatens agricultural production on more than 475,000 acres (two hundred thousand hectares) of irrigated land.In addition to agricultural production, potable water provision is also under threat. Drinking water is rationed all over the country, forcing people to rely on unsafe water sources or choose expensive private water trucking services. The lack of sanitized water has alarming consequences for public health, compounded further due to the coronavirus pandemic. The three Euphrates dams provide around 70 percent of the electricity consumed in Syria. Currently, only four of the eight turbines at the Tabqa dam are working due to a water shortage. As a result of the water shortage since May 2021, there have been drastic effects on the Syrian populace. For example, some neighborhoods in the provincial town of Hasakeh in the northeast and the suburbs of Damascus receive only two hours of electricity per day. Even parts of central Damascus experience power outages of up to eighteen hours a day. Further information on EMWIS website

20- The European Commission announced on Friday 25 February 2022 an investment of €3.2 billion for twenty-one projects in the Western Balkans. They concern sustainable connectivity projects in the field of transport, digital, climate and energy. These projects constitute the first package of the Economic and Investment Plan for the region adopted in October 2020 to "bridge the development gap between the European Union and the region and support post-pandemic economic recovery", as stated in a European Commission press release. Included in the new Global Gateway strategy, it provides for up to €30bn of funding in the form of grants, preferential loans and guarantees. The €3.2bn package has been raised through a multi-donor investment platform (the Western Balkans Investment Framework - WBIF) consisting of the European Commission, financial organisations, EU Member States and Norway. This includes €1.1bn in EU grants under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance 2021-2027, additional bilateral contributions from EU Member States and Norway, as well as soft loans from international financial institutions. Among the projects selected are the rail corridor between Skopje (Northern Macedonia) and the Bulgarian border (€412m investment), a 27-kilometre motorway linking Kosovo and Serbia (€205m), the construction of solar power plants (for a gradual move away from coal), including the first floating plant at Vau i Dejës in Albania for €12m, water treatment plants in Montenegro (€76m) and the extension of the trans-Balkan electricity corridor crossing Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro (€40.8m). On the digital side, a project to develop a rural broadband infrastructure to guarantee universal access in the Western Balkans as well as in Serbia is worth €105m. Further information on EMWIS website