It is the EWP’s pleasure to invite World Water Week visitors to participate in the EWP sessions, taking place on the 6^th and 7^th September 2O10. These events will focus on “Water Futures of Europe and Neighbouring Regions”, “Rewarding Responsible Water Use” as well as “Water Quality Assessment”.

“Water Futures of Europe and Neighbouring Regions” (Side Event)

Date:  2010-09-06

Time:  12:15-13:15

Room: K12

In the light of global challenges e.g. climate variability, increased demographics or food shortage this event will elaborate possible futures and pressures to the availability of good quality water in Europe and neighbouring regions. Expert discussions will focus on policy implications and identify next steps. Ms. Sabine von Wirén-Lehr, EWP Water Stewardship program  …

In a 19 months stakeholder process including partners from business, agriculture, civil society and with support of public authorities, the EWP Water Stewardship Program has elaborated this draft of the European Water Stewardship Standard, which is now ready for public consultation. This Water Stewardship Standard aims to provide water users in Europe with a tool to verify, certify and award their efforts towards Sustainable Water Management (SWM).

“This public consultation process represents an opportunity for all stakeholders with an interest in water to reflect on the draft Water Stewardship Standard and to support the development of a tool for Sustainable Water Use in Europe”, said Ms. Sabine von Wiren-Lehr, EWP Water Stewardship Program Coordinator.

The draft standard and referring glossary may be downloaded here and comments may be submitted  …

Please click here to visit the Aquawareness photo competition picture gallery.

To read more about the Aquawareness photo competition, please click here.

The resolution calls on United Nations Member States and international organizations to provide financial resources, build capacity and transfer technology, particularly to developing countries, in scaling up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone.

According to the text of the resolution an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies indicate that an absence of clean water or sanitation exacts a huge human toll. About 1.5  …

This international event is expected to attract 4.500 water professionals, organisations and global decision makers in Water Technology and Innovation from over 100 countries to exchange ideas and debate solutions for the entire water sector.

The Congress programme will allow to explore current and future sector challenges through a series of key themes: water; climate and energy; cities of the future; managing utilities and their assets; securing new and traditional water resources for the future; water, ecosystems and catchments; water and health; and the science and application of water management.

Keynote speakers are world-renowned experts in their fields and represent some of the world’s leading institutions and political bodies:

Mr. John Carey, Canadian Co-Chair, Great Lakes Science Advisory Board, International Joint Commission  …

Brussels,  2 August 2010. Last week Mr. Fritz Barth, Vice Chairman EWP, gave an interview for Euractiv on the state of the implementation of the WFD. According to Mr. Barth the WFD has already achieved an enhanced process of cooperation between regions, facilitated a public participation in the various member states thus involving a broader stakeholder group into water issues and improved in general the quality of water.  The most controversial issue during the drafting process of the WFD was water pricing – though current studies show that consumers are ready to pay a higher price once they are informed how to save water, thus keeping their water bills low but getting a better service. Among other issues Mr. Barth mentioned that agriculture needs a dedicated focus on its water use saving potential but also faster technology uptake, as well as the right tools to measure sustainable water management.

The whole interview will be available soon.

New York, 28th July 2010. On Wednesday, 28^th July, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on States and international organizations to provide financial resources, build capacity and transfer technology, particularly to developing countries, in scaling up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.

The assembly, in the text on the human right to water and sanitation, highlights that 884 million people lacked access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion were without access to basic sanitation.

Regretfully the full consensus was not achieved and the resolution has been approved with 122 votes in favour, none against and 41 abstentions.

The representative of Bolivia underlines that human right had not been fully recognized, because even if the draft resolution urged States and international organizations to provide resources and to foster the transfer of technology to developing countries, with the aim to provide access to water and sanitation, the text was laying in operative paragraph 1,  …

Mr. Romano Prodi, Chairman of the UN-AU Panel for Peacekeeping in Africa and former President of the European Union, Mr. Martin Schulz, President of the S&D Group and Mr. Joseph Daul, President of the EPP Group, stressed the fact that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has many global challenges to face and that the role of the European Union is crucial in this process. The CAP needs to address first of all food security because the demand is increasing two times faster than the production. Secondly, CAP should focus on environmental sustainability in order to reach resource efficiency, to conserve biodiversity and to face climate change. In a third step, CAP needs to promote economic and social sustainability, for both the consumers and the producers.

Mr. Franz Fischler, President of the Eco-Social Forum Europe, and  …

Brussels, 12 July 2010

In a 19 months stakeholder process including partners from business, agriculture, civil society and with support of public authorities, the EWP Water Stewardship Program has elaborated this draft of the European Water Stewardship Standard, which is now ready for public consultation. This Water Stewardship Standard aims to provide water users in Europe with a tool to verify, certify and award their efforts towards Sustainable Water Management (SWM).

“This public consultation process represents an opportunity for all stakeholders with an interest in water to reflect on the draft Water Stewardship Standard and to support the development of a tool for Sustainable Water Use in Europe”, said Ms. Sabine von Wiren-Lehr, EWP Water Stewardship Program Coordinator.

The draft standard and referring glossary  …

The NWH, in partnership with PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, will work closely with the Economic Development Board to enhance cooperation and strengthen ties between Singaporean and Dutch businesses and research institutes in the water sector. Businesses, research institutions, and government agencies in Singapore can now directly tap on the Netherlands’ expertise, a country that has built its reputation on two hundred years of experience in managing and protecting its water resources and the environment.

“Today,  …

For more than three weeks, the European Water Partnerships invited website visitors to vote for their 3 most favourite pictures, considering photographer’s skills, creativity, originality, the artistic realization of the title and the intercultural comprehensibility.

Next, a high level jury will deliberate on the best pictures of the competition. This professional jury decision together with the Green week and online voting results will decide on the final winners that will be announced very soon.

The keynote Speaker, Mr. Luís Bulhao Martins, Vice President of the Portuguese Farmers Confederation and Vice-Chairman of the COPACOGECA Working Party on Environment, stressed the fact that farmers are adapting their management decisions to the changing climate on regular basis. Furthermore, “farmers have to be economic viable to cope with Climate Change, because they have to face also imbalances in food chain, volatility of the markets, rising global food demand and demand for bioenergy”.

Mr. Bulhao Marins said that good practices should be achieved in the future to adapt water needs for agriculture: first of all increasing water use efficiency  …

Brussels, 25 June 2010.  Yesterday, the EWP organized its fourth General Assembly in Brussels. Participants to the event discussed the developments of the European Water Partnership and future activities.

The General Assembly was followed by a networking and Belgium beer-tasting event within the premises of the EWP office building, organized in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Policy Office, bridging connections between companies and organizations of the building.

Brussels, 17 June 2010. As a follow up of the first Water Roundtable, held in Brussels 15-16 June, the AWS Board meets today in Brussels to discuss the outcomes of the conference and to develop strategies for the development of an international freshwater stewardship standard.

The first Water Roundtable, launched by the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) and hosted by the European Water Partnership (EWP), creates an inclusive, voluntary and consensus-driven approach to how freshwater is managed and protected globally. The complex and cross-boundary nature of freshwater demands a multi-stakeholder deliberation and decision-making to develop meaningful and implementable change.

The first Global Water Roundtable, a two-day conference, provides a platform for the development of a freshwater stewardship standard that recognizes and rewards water users and managers who take major steps to minimize the negative impacts of their water use and management. Today, the conference participants discussed the benefits of the Water Stewardship Program and the focus of International Standard setting.

Mr. Stuart Orr, WWF-International, outlined that increasing water scarcity is a reality which attracts increased social and media attention. “Water must be better managed by all”, he added, stressing the need for constructive solutions and international cooperation on water issues.

The EWP Water Stewardship Program Coordinator, Ms. Sabine von Wiren-Lehr, presented the Alliance for  …

Similar to other successful and transformative standard setting efforts, the Water Roundtable seeks to create an inclusive, voluntary, and consensus-driven approach to how freshwater is managed and protected globally. Ultimately, the complex, cross-boundary nature of freshwater and vested interest of public, commercial, and civil society stakeholders demands a multi-stakeholder deliberation and decision-making to develop meaningful and implementable change

Specifically, the Goals of the Launch in Brussels are to:

• Present the case for water, the Alliance for Water Stewardship and the importance of a Water Roundtable process;

• Refine the proposed benefits and model for international water stewardship standard(s) development;
• Build understanding and alignment on key global water-use impacts;
• Explain the proposed roadmap for creating multi-stakeholder standard(s); and
• Describe engagement opportunities and invite participation  …

Brussels, 9 June 2010. Tomorrow, the European Water Partnership will launch the first volume of the new EWP e-newsletter “Voice of Water”. From this month on, “Voice of Water” will be sent out regularly, containing the most important developments on water on European level, as well as recent news on the activities of the European Water Partnership.

This newsletter is a follow up to the earlier EWP newsletter, which was sent out till 2009.

Please click here to subscribe.

For any information or questions on this newsletter, please contact Lisa Struebbe: l.struebbe@ewp.eu or +32 2 735 0681.

DHI is a member of the European Water Partnership.

The essay is published by Copenhagen Climate Council and can be downloaded here:

https://www.mm.dk/the-blue-revolution-essay

Brussels, 8 May 2010. The EWP Water Stewardship Milestone Event, held in Brussels within the premises of the Representation of the State of Hessen to the EU, on 31^st of May, offered the opportunity for a dynamic exchange on recent deliverables of the EWP Water Stewardship Program, granted an insight in first pilot project experiences and gave the floor for networking.

Mr. Ralf Tegeler from the Representation of Hessen opened the EWP Water Stewardship Milestone Event, stressing that “water policy today is a key issue not only in Europe, but also and in particular in the regions”.

The Vice-Chairman of the European Water Partnership, Mr. Fritz Barth, welcomed the audience, emphasizing the outstanding role of the EWP Stewardship Program: “The aim of this program is to provide a tool to communicate and award responsible water users through the development of a common framework for assessing, implementing and communicating Sustainable Water Management.”

“We have reached a first Milestone. A draft standard has been developed giving guidance  …