Euro-Mediterranean Water News

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European Commission to provide €250 million for more than 200 new LIFE+ projects
[released on: 25/08/2010]
The European Commission has approved funding for 210 new projects under the third call for the LIFE+ programme (2007-2013), the European fund for the environment. The projects are from across the EU and cover actions in the fields of nature conservation, environmental policy, and information and communication. Overall, they represent a total investment of €515 million, of which the EU will provide €249.8 million. Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "The LIFE+ programme continues to fund high quality, innovative projects with a high level of added value for the EU. I believe that these new projects will not only make a significant contribution to nature conservation and to improving the environment, they will also help raise awareness across Europe of the key environmental challenges facing us, notably biodiversity loss, water scarcity and climate change." The Commission received more than 600 applications from public or private bodies from the 27 EU Member States during the call for proposals, which closed in November 2009. Of these, 210 were selected for co-funding through the programme’s three components: LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity, LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance and LIFE+ Information and Communication. LIFE+ Nature & Biodiversity projects improve the conservation status of endangered species and habitats. Of the 194 proposals received, the Commission selected for funding 84 projects from partnerships of conservation bodies, government authorities and other parties. Situated in 24 Member States, they represent a total investment of €224 million, of which the EU will provide some €124 million. The majority (74) are Nature projects, contributing to the implementation of the Birds and/or Habitats directives and the Natura 2000 network. The other 10 are Biodiversity projects, a LIFE+ project category for pilot schemes that tackle wider biodiversity issues. The Commission is pleased to note the steady increase in the number of Biodiversity projects funded since 2007 (four (4) projects) when the category was introduced. LIFE+ Environment Policy & Governance projects are pilot projects that contribute to the development of innovative policy ideas, technologies, methods and instruments. Of the 308 proposals received, the Commission selected for funding 116 projects from a wide range of public and private sector organisations. The winning projects, situated in 17 Member States, represent a total investment of €278 million of which the EU will provide some €120 million. Projects targeting innovation account for the largest share of EU funding (some €20.9 million for 17 projects). The most targeted area in terms of number of projects is waste and natural resources (20 projects supported by €19.3 million), followed by water and innovation (17 projects each). The remaining 63 projects cover various topics including air, chemicals, climate change, energy, environment and health, forests, noise, soil protection, strategic approaches, and the urban environment. LIFE+ Information and Communication projects disseminate information and raise the profile of environmental issues, and provide training and awareness-raising for the prevention of forest fires. Of the 113 proposals received, the Commission selected for funding 10 projects from a range of public and private sector nature and/or environment organisations, tackling topics such as biodiversity, climate change, waste and water. The projects are situated in seven (7) Member States and represent a total investment of €12.9 million of which the EU will provide some €6.3 million. The LIFE+ programme LIFE+ is the European financial instrument for the environment and has a total budget of €2.143 billion (two billion one hundred and forty three million euros) for the period 2007-2013. During this period, the Commission will launch one call for LIFE+ project proposals per year. More information See the annex for a summary of all the new projects funded under LIFE+, broken down by country. For more detail on each of the new Nature & Biodiversity projects see: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compilations/documents/natcompilation09.pdf">http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compilations/documents/natcompilation09.pdf</a> For more detail on each of the new Environment Policy & Governance projects see: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compilations/documents/envcompilation09.pdf">http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compilations/documents/envcompilation09.pdf</a> For more detail on each of the new Information & Communication projects see: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compilations/documents/infcompilation09.pdf">http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/compilations/documents/infcompilation09.pdf</a> For all information on LIFE+ see <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/life">http://ec.europa.eu/life</a> It is also possible to contact the relevant national authorities: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/contact/nationalcontact/index.htm">http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/contact/nationalcontact/index.htm</a>
EU river basin plan warning
[released on: 25/08/2010]
Failure to submit their plans for managing Europe's river basins as required by EU water legislation has resulted in the European Commission (EC) issuing a warning to 12 member states - including Ireland. The EC said failure to do so has put the achievement of the Water Framework Directive's objectives at risk.  Under the legislation, member states had to publish a management plan for each river basin district at the latest nine years after the legislation entered into force. Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain have not done so.  The river basin plans are the cornerstone of the WFD, and essential for achieving the EU's objective of "good status" for European waters by 2015. They should have been adopted by December 22, 2009 at the latest.  With plans for a quarter of the EU's territory still missing, some 31% of citizens have no certainty yet how their water resources will be managed, putting the achievement of the directive's objectives at risk. Further delays will have a knock on effect for the implementation of the directive, on the establishment of measures and ultimately on improvement of the water environment.  The commission has, as a result, issued a first written warning to the member states involved, urging them to speed up procedures to adopt the plans. They have two months to reply.  River Basin Management Plans give a comprehensive overview of the main issues for each river basin district and should include the specific measures needed to achieve set environmental quality objectives. Where any exemptions are applied, a thorough justification must be provided.  The EC is studying the quality of the plans submitted, and will present a third report on the implementation of the WFD in 2012, assessing the plans and providing recommendations for improving their implementation. The report will feed into the 2012 Blueprint for Safeguarding European Waters.
Drought Slows Plant Growth, 2000-2009
[released on: 25/08/2010]
Conventional wisdom holds that plants should thrive when temperatures warm and the growing season lengthens under a changing climate. A 2003 study showed that plant growth <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=3519">indeed increased</a> as temperatures warmed between 1982 and 1999. But when researchers at the University of Montana updated the study for the last decade, 2000–2009, they discovered that even though the decade was the warmest since instrumental recordkeeping began, plant growth slowed. The study is significant because plants soak up carbon from the atmosphere as they grow. As growth slows, the amount of carbon plants take up slows as well, leaving more carbon in the atmosphere to contribute to climate change. It is also a warning that a warming climate could bring a decrease in food and biofuel production. Researchers Maozheng Zhou and Steven Running published the work in<cite>Science</cite> on August 20, 2010. They used data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer <a href="http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/">(MODIS)</a> on NASA’s <a href="http://terra.nasa.gov/">Terra</a> satellite to monitor plant growth and calculate the total amount of carbon plants store as they grow, a value called net primary productivity. Their results are illustrated in this image, which shows the change in the amount of carbon consumed by plants between 2000 and 2009. Green areas show where plants grew more (and consumed more carbon), and brown areas show where they grew less. The deeper the color, the stronger the trend. In general plant growth and consequently the amount of carbon plants store increased in the Northern Hemisphere and decreased in the Southern Hemisphere. The difference, say Zhou and Running, is water. Three things limit plant growth: light, water, and temperature. In the Northern Hemisphere, warmer temperatures and a longer growing season allowed plants to grow more. But in the Southern Hemisphere, drought dominated the decade. Higher temperatures dried plants and soil, generally slowing growth. The <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/45000/45380/npp_drought_anomaly.pdf">attached graphs</a> illustrate the direct relationship between drought and the amount of carbon plants absorbed between 2000 and 2009. During the decade, large-scale droughts, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere, were strong enough to overwhelm increased plant growth in other places, resulting in decreased plant growth overall. While 65 percent of the Northern Hemisphere’s vegetated land had increasing growth, 70 percent of the Southern Hemisphere’s vegetated land had decreasing growth. Added together, global plant growth decreased slightly in the decade, reducing carbon uptake by an estimated 0.55 petagrams, a one percent decrease. It is too early to tell if the recent decade marks the beginning of a longer term trend in plant growth related to long-term climate change. Climate is defined by patterns seen over longer periods of time, at least 20-30 years. In the previous 20 years (1982–1999), plant growth and the related carbon uptake increased as much as six percent. Regardless, the observed decrease in plant growth between 2000 and 2009 helps researchers better understand how plants might respond to a changing climate.
Algeria: Several confirmed cases of gastro-enteritis
[released on: 24/08/2010]
All had started at the beginning of the month of Ramadan after the evacuation of people suffering from, diarrhoea headaches and colic in urgency at the hospital of the town of Sour El Ghozlane, 40 km in the Western south of Bouira, Algeria. In the beginning, everyone believed that it was about a food poisoning due to the water melon consumption which would be irrigated with worn water. But since the majority of the patients were coming from the same district a team from prevention service unit DSP of Bouira visit the location for a better description of the situation. The water which fed the population of Sour El Ghozlane was analised and the result was gastroentérite. At present strict measures are taken such as informing the services of the APC to condemn suspect drilling while disinfecting the places using chloride.
Egypt: President orders stepped-up desalination
[released on: 24/08/2010]
President Hosni Mubarak has instructed the government to expand its seawater desalination initiatives and step up efforts to discover additional sources of groundwater, Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Nasr Eddin Allam said on Thursday. “The aim is to meet Egypt’s future water needs in light of the decreasing annual per capita water consumption rate to less than 700 cubic meters,” Allam explained, pointing out that this rate could be expected to decline even further as the population increases. “Our quota of Nile water quota is 55.5 billion cubic meters a year, which was sufficient for Egypt’s 1959 population of 24 million,” he added. “Today, the national population stands at 80 million.” “The amount of arable land, meanwhile, has risen from six million acres in 1959 to nine million acres today,” the minister said. “And all this requires irrigation.”

Page last updated: 27/08/2010