GEF IW:LEARN e-bulletin #23, July/August 2010
The latest IW:LEARN newsletter is also available online at
http://www.iwlearn.net/websitetoolkit/e-bulletin/e-bulletin/gef-iw-learn-e-bulletin-23-July-August-2010
The GEF IW:LEARN e-bulletin is a regular circular of information including upcoming meetings, project specific news, interesting tools and applications of relevance to the GEF International Waters community (and projects in particular).
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In This Issue
| Lead Stories |
 Visitor statistics since release of E-Bulletin #22 
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| Project and Partner News | ||
| Most Popular Documents on IW:LEARN in May-June 2010 | ||
| Calendar of Events from July to September 2010 | ||
| Vacancies and Requests for Proposals |
Lead Stories
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The Governments of the Republic of the Republic of the Philippines and the People's Republic of China signed late last year the Joint Action Plan for Strategic Cooperation between the two countries which provides, among others, that "the two sides shall continue to participate in regional/international initiatives/collaboration to promote sustainable development such as the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)."
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Environment Ministers of 16 West and Central African countries agreed Friday to the creation of the Guinea Current Commission and accepted Ghana’s offer to host the new regional body.This far-reaching decision by the Committee of Ministers of the Environment, who met in the Ghanaian capital Accra, is designed to streamline and bolster the management of the region’s Large Marine Ecosystem, an endangered body of water and 5,560 kilometres of coastline stretching from Guinea-Bissau to the northern Angolan Province of Cabinda.
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This effort was coordinated by the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre, located at the FFA regional headquarters in Honiara, which collects fisheries information and data from all the regional countries. Using satellite tracking of vessels and other data, the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre produces interactive maps of vessels in the region which can show vessels that might be engaging in illegal fishing or have a previous history of illegal fishing. Using this analysis, the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre is able to advise all countries participating in an operation, locations where illegal activities are likely and coordinate the efforts of Pacific Islands and regional defence forces of US, France, New Zealand and Australia to best detect illegal activities.
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Stock-taking Workshop and Mediterranean Coast day
Following the first Protocol ratification in the Mediterranean by Slovenia, the central awareness raising event of this year - the Mediterranean “ Coast Day ” celebration, will be held on the Slovenian coast at the date of ratification, in Portoroz, on 25 September 2010. This celebration will be preceded by a workshop to validate the stock-taking questionnaire organised within the “PEGASO” project ( www.pegasoproject.eu ). In this project, PAP/RAC is responsible for the establishment and running of the ICZM Governance Platform with a stock-take of policy, legal and institutional aspects related to ICZM as one of the first tasks. Both events will be co-organised with the Slovenian Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, which will also be the official host. |
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Pacific Island countries share many similar water management challenges including: high vulnerability to climatic disasters, poor infrastructure, high water losses, saline intrusion, discharge of nutrients and pollutants from sewage and industries and challenges due to limited physical and financial resources.The prevalence of these issues is partially linked to a lack of water resources expertise and awareness of integrated water resources management (IWRM), not only at the technological and scientific level, but also in the areas of community engagement approaches, water planning and project management.
Through this course students will gain a holistic understanding of water management and gain thinking skills for whole-of-water cycle assessment,” said Dr Bruce Missingham a lecturer with the IWC.
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Representatives from the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Member Countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam are meeting with Chinese and Myanmar officials this week in Phnom Penh. They discuss opportunities for increased levels of cooperation in managing the upper and lower Mekong River Basins.The meeting discusses expansion of cooperation in data and information sharing; further cooperation in assessing the opportunities and impacts of proposed upstream and downstream hydropower schemes; increased initiatives for joint environmental management; and enhanced navigation between the MRC Member Countries and the two upstream countries says the inter-governmental Mekong river basin organisation.
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Share knowledge and explore solutions to ensure momentum and continuity of water developments up to and beyond 2015. This conference is the product of teamwork between ADB and many water partners that have contributed ideas, effort, and resources to plan a better water future for the Asia and Pacific region.
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Project and Partner News
PEMSEA Releases Workshop Proceedings for the "Coastal and Ocean Governance" Theme of the East Asian Seas Congress 2009
During the East Asian Seas Congress 2009, seven workshops under the "Coastal and Ocean Governance" underscored the importance of coasts and oceans as life-support systems while covering central- and local- level initiatives related to the development and implementation of ocean and coastal governance and the economic contribution of marine activities in East Asia.
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Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010 from 22-25 September 2010
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5th Session of COFI-Subcommittee on Aquaculture from 27 September-1 October 2010
This marks the first time that the Central Asian region will be represented at the COFI-Subcommittee on Aquaculture.
Angola, Botswana and Namibia have set up the OKACOM commission to manage water from the
Kubango River. At a meeting in Menongue, capital of Kuando/Kubango province, they undertook to carry out projects adapted to their different needs while respecting the goal of sustainable management and protection of the river basin, which is also called the Okavango in Botswana and Namibia.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) has said that Phnom Penh will see significant benefits as its Secretariat officially opened a new office in Cambodia today after moving some of its divisions from Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Secretariat has now begun operating from the two co-hosted locations. MRC Member Countries will benefit from co-hosting such an important inter-governmental organisation. Besides the obvious linkage between the work of MRC’s programmes with the southern part of the Mekong Basin, Cambodia will benefit from the capacity building benefits that the organsiation brings to build up national expertise.
The Stakeholders Consultation and Communities Involvement and Training Workshop for the Baro-Akobo-Sobat Multipurpose Water Resource Development Study Project was held on August 16-17 at the Regional Council Conference Hall in the city Gambella, the capital of the Gambella region located in the south western part of Ethiopia . This was a Regional consultative workshop held to reach an understanding on the social and environmental related water resource issues, from a local perspective; and an opportunity for introducing the project, its principles under regional cooperation and the guiding principles of the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP), of the Nile Basin Initiative ( NBI ).
Oceans Day in Nagoya will draw high-level policy attention to the need to address the major drivers of ocean and coastal biodiversity loss, take stock of progress (or lack thereof) in the achievement of global biodiversity targets, and outline the next steps in the global oceans agenda through the launch of the Nagoya Oceans Declaration. Oceans Day will feature presentations from high-level representatives from all sectors, including governments, international agencies, NGOs, science, and industry, organized into thematic panels focused aroundmajor topics in marine and coastal biodiversity.
The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organization of all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU which works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution. HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," known as the Helsinki Convention.
As part of the HELCOM Chairmanship, Sweden will hold a high-level Seminar entitled ‘Building marine policy on best available knowledge’ in Stockholm on 25 August, following the 33 rd Meeting of the HELCOM Heads of Delegation. It is expected that the representatives of all the HELCOM Members, including ministers of the environment from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland and Sweden, will participate in this event. This programme aims at strengthening the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to drastically reduce pollution to the marine environment and restore its good ecological status by 2021 and guaranteeing that HELCOM decisions are based on best available scientific knowledge. It also focuses on strengthening the role of HELCOM regarding regional marine environmental issues and in the implementation of EU policies relevant for the Baltic Sea region.
Most Popular Documents from Projects on IW:LEARN.NET (July-August 2010)
The top five documents during July-August 2010:
UNEP regional Seas reports and studies No. 182 [129 Unique Pageviews]
Experience and lessons learned brief: Laguna de Bay [25 Unique Pageviews]
Evaluation Office Council M&E documents [48 Unique Pageviews]
TDA-SAP Training Course zip [18 Unique Pageviews]
Calendar of Events from September to November 2010
Events in September
2010
Asia
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Africa
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Americas
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Europe
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Oceania
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All regions
Events in October 2010:
International Conference Deltas in Times of Climate Change
, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 29 Sep-1 Oct 2010
12th IWA International Conference on Wetland systems for Water Pollution Control
, Venice, Italy, 4-7 October 2010
14th IGM for Caribbean Environment Programme, Montego Bay
, Jamaica, 6-9 October 2010
WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Expositions 2010
, Las Vegas, USA, 6-8 October 2010
ISMAR7 Seventh International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge
, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 9-13 October 2010
6th Asian Regional Conference
, Yogyakarta,Indonesia, 10-16 October 2010
13th International River Symposium
Perth,Australia, 11-14 October 2010
Coastal Zone Asia Pacific Conference CZAP 2010
, Bangkok, Thailand, 17-21 October 2010
CBD-Tenth meeting of the Conference of Parties(COP 10)
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Nagoya,Japan, 18-29 October 2010
World Small-Scale Fisheries Congress , Bangkok, Thailand, 18-22 October 2010
MENA Mining Congress 2010
, Dubai, UAE, 25-27 October 2010
Events in November 2010:
Africa
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Asia
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Americas
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Europe
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Oceania
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All regions
Vacancies and Requests for Proposals
Communications Officer -UN World Water Assessment Programme Deadline 14 September 2010
Director of Cap-Net - UNOPS Deadline 11 October 2010
Post Doctoral Fellow-Microeconomics of Sanitation and Wastewater Reuse - IWMI Deadline 30 September 2010
REDD Project Coordinator - WWF , Deadline 8 September 2010
List all job postings
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- Related content
- Sweden to host a high-level seminar on the Baltic marine environment protection
- HELCOM report shows a 22% drop in ship accidents in the Baltic
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HELCOM proposal passed - passenger ship sewage discharge to be banned in the Baltic Sea
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HELCOM announces the elimination of four major pollution hot spots in the Baltic Sea area
- MRC countries discuss increased cooperation with China/Myanmar in managing the Mekong
- MRC to cooperate with START on climate change
- Mekong Water Utilisation Programme Ends
