TWINBASIN NEWSLETTER N° 4 - JANUARY 2006

Promoting twinning between basins to improve practices of Integrated Water Resource Management

For further information : http://www.twinbasin.org

TWINBASIN project newsletter informs you about programs, results and events for promoting integrated water resources management through twinning of river basin organisations.

• To share the twinning knowledge,
• To have access to the web conference, to the twinning reports…
• Sign the Memorandum of Understanding
• and join TwinBasin Community …

If you have any information you would like to share through this newsletter, please contact Natacha Jacquin, email: n.jacquin@oieau.fr.

SUMMARY:

1. TwinBasin Progress
2. Web conference: January 10th 2006, 11H-12H3014h30 GMT+1h (1st group) - 16h00 GMT+1h (2nd group)
3. Announcement of next meetings and events
4. News from the clusters
5. Signing the MoU and access to the twinning knowledge
6. Contact us

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. TWINBASIN PROGRESS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

State of progress of the twinnings:
More than 10 missions supported by Twinbasin have been realised in october and november 2005. The first step of Jucar River Bassin Organization (Espagne) / Apele Romaneor BUZAU IALOMITA (Roumania) twinning, and French Water Agency Seine Normandie (France) / Commission Nacional del Agua (Mexico) twinning were successfully carried out. The mission reports are available on Twinbasin website : www.twinbasin.org

14 on-going twinnings (more than 50 missions).

Progress made on the MoU signatories - Dec 2005
75 signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from Steering Committee, Basin Organisations, NGOs, International Organisations, Research Teams, Scientists

See the complete list ..\products-en.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. WEB CONFERENCE : JANUARY 10TH 2006 , 141H30 AND 16H GMT+1H
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the main operational goals of the TwinBasin project is to develop exchange opportunities between basin organisation managers, executives and scientists. Events are being organised throughout the 4 years of the project, during INBO meetings and via periodic web seminars.

Web conferences are being organised on a regular basis to disseminate knowledge and know-how on a peer-to-peer basis. The web conference duration is around 1.5 hour with a presentation of a speaker, key expert or staff member of mobility with Powerpoint visual support, followed by interactive discussion.

Conferences are being recorded and made available on TwinBasin web site : ..\conferences-en.html

Topic of the next web conference: How to propose a twinning, what are necessary conditions and requirements to obtain an agreement and the support of TwinBasin.

Speaker: Alain BERNARD, International Office for Water, TwinBasin Project Manager

20 Participants:
You have to subscribe in sending a message to n.jacquin@oieau.fr with your name, organisation, and e-mail to receive a confirmation of your participation

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEXT MEETINGS AND EVENTS IN 2006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- January : 2nd Web conference
Mid-Term Review
Assessment at the mid-term : Mid-term review will be done early in 2006 by two independent experts chosen by the European Commission. The topic of the review is to assess the project efficiency, the way the objectives have been reached and the opportunity of going forward.

'To see the description of work ..\timetable-en.html

- February : 3rd Call for Proposals
The 3rd call for proposal will take place in February 2006. Several participants showed their interest and we are expecting more participants than during the first and second calls for proposal.

' For more information and if you want to promote a twining in February, visit our dedicated web site www.twinbasin.org

- March : World Water Forum and 3rd Steering Committee in Mexico
in close co-operation with INBO.
Next Steering Committee will take place Monday, 20th of March 2006 in Mexico. During this time, the new twinning proposals selected during the 3rd call for proposals will be definitively approved.

- April : 3rd Web conference

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. NEWS FROM THE CLUSTERS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cluster was selected to participate at a major exhibition organised by the European Commission for enhancing the dissemination of outcomes to the general public :
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/conferences/2005/cer2005/exhibition_en.html

We had there the opportunity to meet other coordinators, potential end-users and journalists, and to do cross-fertilization with other initiatives.

For more information..\clusters-en.html

NOSTRUM-DSS project:
NOSTRUM-DSS project is a Co-ordination Action funded by the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme (Specific measures in support of international co-operation - Mediterranean Partner Countries). The project started on 1st of August 2004 and involves eighteen partners from Northern and Southern shores of Mediterranean Basin. The overall project aim is to contribute to the achievement of improved governance and planning in the field of sustainable water management, by establishing a network between the science, policy, and civil society spheres. The final expected outcome of this project is a set of Best Practice Guidelines for the design and implementation of Decision Support System (DSS) tools for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Mediterranean Area. These Guidelines will be developed through the active involvement of the relevant stakeholders in the different stages of the project.

For more information : http://www.feem-web.it/nostrum/

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. SIGNING THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) AND JOINING THE TWINBASIN COMMUNITY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to take an active part in the IWRM field, mainly through the twinning of basin organisations, if you have any interest in the development of IWRM practices, if you want to be an active partner in developing a consensus on issues of common interest, if you want to help filling the gap between RESEARCH and actual IMPLEMENTATION of IWRM

è Sign the MoU ..\MoU-en.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to this newsletter: click here.n.jacquin@oieau.fr