International and regional water and policy experts agreed at Friends of the Earth Middle East’s annual "Good Water Neighbors" conference held in Israel, that transboundary water issues can no longer wait. EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East's (FoEME) annual "Good Water Neighbors" (GWN) conference, held this year on 17 November 2013 on the occasion of the UN International Year of Water Cooperation, brought together more than 300 Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian political officials, municipal representatives, water experts, local residents and civil society representatives in Herzliya, Israel last week.
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, decided during its General Conference in November 2013 to establish a research centre in Sweden with a focus on international water issues. The centre will be run by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) in collaboration with Uppsala University and the University of Gothenburg. With its focus on transboundary water cooperation, the centre will be one of a kind.
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Interested in groundwater modelling but nor sure how to start? In the framework of the UN International Year of Water Cooperation, and of World Water Day, the Netherlands National Committee IHP-HWRP (UNESCO & WMO) is happy to offer a free groundwater modelling course for starters. The course has kindly been developed by Dr Kick Hemker, MicroFEM, Amsterdam.
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25–26 September 2013, Genève • The main objective of the meeting of the Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management is to review the implementation of the programme of work for 2013–2015. The eighth meeting of UNECE’s Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management will be held from 25–26 September 2013 in the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
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Ahead of the World Water Week in Stockholm, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has released its report «Cooperation for a Water Wise World: Partnerships for Sustainable Development». The report will serve as an input to the World Water Week, taking place from 1–6 September 2013, in Stockholm, Sweden, on the theme «Water Cooperation: Building Partnerships».
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23–24 September 2013, Genève • Despite its lengthy title, UNECE’s upcoming workshop on river basin commissions could be an interesting one. »Recognizing the importance of exchange of experience on the establishment and functioning of joint bodies, the Parties to the Water Convention have included in the Work Programme for 2013–2015 two workshops to promote the exchange of experience and good practices between joint bodies worldwide and to draw lessons learned and recommendations.«
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UNESCO’s IHP and WWAP through their PCCP associated programme are co-convening a workshop at the World Water Week with SIWI, the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science Technology, SaciWATERs and the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education. The Workshop will focus on the Science and Art of Water Cooperation.
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We are well into the year 2013, so it is safe to say what our 2012 Book of the Year is. It is «Bankrupting Nature – Denying our Planetary Boundaries». This powerful book shows us that we are in deep denial about the magnitude of the global environmental challenges and resource constraints facing the world. Despite growing scientific consensus on major environmental threats as well as resource depletion, societies are largely continuing with business as usual, at best attempting to tinker at the margins of the problems.
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On 20 August 2013, UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, and the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Mr Emomali Rahmon, participated at the opening ceremony of the International High-Level Conference on Water Cooperation. The Dushanbe High-Level International Conference on Water Cooperation, organized by the Government of Tajikistan on 20 and 21 August, comes as a contribution from Tajikistan to the implementation of Resolution 67/204 of the UN General Assembly concerning the implementation of the International Year of Water Cooperation (IYWC).
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