Water Resource Management

                 International Waters       References         Events

wat1Water resources have been essential to the evolution of life and human civilisation and have played a crucial role in socio-economic developments. The long-range management of water resources, especially international ones, poses a major challenge for the world community and can enhance international policy development and bio-diplomacy. Since most water resources are finite, it is becoming increasingly complex to manage them on a renewable basis. The development of efficient marine and fresh-water management plans is crucial to our survival on this planet and should become a priority on both the national and international level.

Easy access to water is not an end to itself for any society, but a means to other ends: health, industrial and agricultural production, economic development, to name a few. Pressures coming from population growth, such as greater demands for irrigation and greater resource needs worldwide, increase the competition for freshwater. Nowhere in the world is that competition more intense than in the arid and semi-arid parts of the world, where water scarcity has been, and still is, a chronic phenomenon which has played a major role in forming the political, social and economic relations in these regions for thousands of years. While water scarcity can increase because of rapid population growth, overutilisation of water resources – both surface and underground – and the pollution of water systems can also cause much concern in the developed world.

The equitable management of water resources has been addressed in virtually all B.I.O. international conferences, publications and activities. In 1997 B.I.O. held a major conference in Bratislava, focusing on the Danube river as an international water management model. The conference promoted new mechanisms for redress of the environmental pressures resulting from water pollution and the uncontrolled use of the land and sea, and also emphasised the international character of sustainable water management and its key role in conflict prevention and resolution. Stakeholders and citizens were encouraged to take more ownership of efforts to protect the environment and to be actively involved in international cooperation and bio-diplomacy for the protection of water resources. Click here to view proceedings.

A chapter on “Integrated Coastal Management” is published in Bio-Syllabus for European Environmental Education, an 880-page textbook available in print and electronically (CD-Rom). Based on this pioneering material is B.I.O.’s e-learning course on “Integrated Coastal Management,” which will soon be available online as part of our e-learning programme in environmental education.

References

 

 

BIO NEWS

  • Bio News 4
    – Page 5, The Baltic Sea Region as a great potential for Biopolitics, E. Andrulewicz
  • Bio News 8
    – Page 12, Bio-diplomacy for the protection of marine ecosystems
  • Bio News 10
    – Page 3, Water resource conservation in Australia
    – Page 4-7 &12-13, Danube River Bonds Conference
    – Page 8, The state of the environment in Venezuela
    – Page 9, “Wawasan Nunantara” – The Archipelagic Sense
  • Bio News 14
    – Page 4, Danube River Bonds – Bio-Environment – Bio-Culture
    – Page 5, The Yangtze Three Gorges Dam: The Modern Great Wall of China, C. Yapijakis
    – Page 5, Biocentric values for the next millennium, K. Falkman
  • Bio News 18
    – Page 6, Protecting the waters
  • Bio News 22
    – Page 10-11 Precious European waster resources
    – Page 10, Key facts about water situation in europe
    – Page 15, Concerns over Monsanto’s moves in water business
  • Bio News 24
    – Page 11,Bio Health – Air, Water, Soil
  • Bio News 28
    – Page 10, Waste Water Biotechnologies, J.P> Schaefer and G. Kalos
  • Bio News 32
    – Page 13, Impact on Water Quality
  • Bio News 40
    – Page 1, Bioethics for the protection of precious water resources
    – Page 11, The Ethics of “green” diplomacy and water sharing

Events

2012

  • Biopolicy and Biodiplomacy for International Water Cooperation. 2013 United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation.Athens Money Show, 2012. Programme, Press Release
  • Contemporary Water Realities – Mount Hymettus. B.I.O. conference on water resources in the region of Attica. Divani Caravel Hotel, Athens. Programme EnglishGreek


2006

  • Participation in the seminar on Directive 2000/60/E.C. for water quality in the EU, organised by the Greek National Center for Environment and Sustainable Development


2005

  • an e-learning course on Integrated Coastal Management will soon be available on the B.I.O. website


2000

  • “Protecting water resources and the bio-environment: A priority policy for the millennium,” contribution to the volume of proceedings of the MEDCOAST/EMECS Joint Conference on the Coastal Environment. International EMECS Center, Japan
  • B.I.O. conference with the participation of experts in legislation and marine protection held within the framework of the Hellenic-Italian Chamber of Commerce’s 5th Annual Conference, Athensnvironment. International EMECS Center, Japan


1999

  • The B.I.O. President participates as keynote speaker in the Opening Session of the MEDCOAST Conference, Turkey. Programme, Photos


1997


1996

  • Lecture, The Black Sea, Caspian and Mediterranean Seas: A Turntable Between Three Continents Workshop, BSEC International Conference, Istanbul, TurkeyProgramme, Photos
  • “Skopelos – The Green and Blue Island,” a symposium held on the island of Skopelos, Greece BioNews no. 12  1997, p.4, Programme,Photos


1995

  • Official Invitation to the Ecoaqua Mostra Mare Ambiente in Genoa, Italy. Programme


1992

  • Guest of honour at the International Symposium on Functioning of Coastal Ecosystems in Various Geographical Regions, organised by the Institute of Oceanography of Gdansk University, Poland


1991

  • Hellenic-Russian event, in co-operation with the Soviet Embassy in Athens, on the occasion of the visit of the Alexey Krylov research boat


1990

  • EMECS ’90 International Conference on Enclosed Coastal Seas, Kobe, Japan


1989

  • Biopolitics lecture, conference on Water Resources, organised by the University of Salonica, the Mayor of Salonica and the Goethe Institute