International Waters References Events
Water 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
- BIOPOLITICS – THE BIO-ENVIRONMENT – VOLUME I
A.Vlavianos Arvanitis (Ed.), Proceedings from the First B.I.O International Conference, May 1987, (400 pp.) 1988
Technological Dimensions, Scientific Knowledge and Environmental Policy
Pollution
– Lake restoration in Berlin
Gunther Klein
– Transfer factors of heavy metals in aquatic organisms of different trophic levels
Vassiliki Kalfakakou and Konstantina Akrida-Demertzi
– Chemical and engineering aspects of phosphate elimination
Andreas Grohmann - BIOPOLITICS – THE BIO-ENVIRONMENT – VOLUME II
“Bios in the Next Millennium”
A.Vlavianos Arvanitis (Ed.), Proceedings from the Second B.I.O International Conference, October 1988, (543 pp.) 1989
Bio-Environment, Urban Planning and Architecture
– The Golden Horn Project
Ahmet Samsunlu - BIOPOLITICS – THE BIO-ENVIRONMENT – VOLUME III
“The International University for the Bio-Environment”
A.Vlavianos Arvanitis (Ed.), Proceedings from the Fourth B.I.O International Conference, January 1991, (683 pp.) 1991
Maintaining Bio-Diversity
– Restoration of the coast: positive technology at work
Colin D. Levings
– ASEAN coastal management: paradox emerging from the philosophy of need
Miguel D. Fortes
– A quantitative method for the description and assessment of ecosystems: the AMOEBA approach
B.J.I. ten Brink, F. Colijn
– Perturbations in the marine environment and their impact on living resources
Baruch Kimor
– The oceans: exploitation of resources and pollution
Vaclav K. Mejstrik - BIOPOLITICS – THE BIO-ENVIRONMENT – VOLUME V
“International Sakharov Festival”
A.Vlavianos Arvanitis (Ed.), Proceedings from the International Sakharov Festival (Sixth B.I.O International Conference), July 1994, (671 pp.) 1996
Water Management
– Marine biology, pollution and the protection of nature
Wilfried Gunkel
– Reservoir development and exploitation for a normal trophic state
Emil Rus
– Do we need protected areas in the Baltic?
Anna Szaniawska and K.E. Skora
– Equilibria in aquatic environments
Gabriella Ivancea
– Enclosed coastal seas – a case study: the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea
Baruch Kimor
– The Baltic sea as a great potential area for Biopolitics
Eugeniusz Andrulewicz - BIOPOLITICS – THE BIO-ENVIRONMENT – VOLUME VI
A. Vlavianos-Arvanitis, J. Morovic (Eds.) Proceedings from the Seventh B.I.O International Conference, Bratislava, June 1997
– Hydropolitics and conflict resolution
Masahiro Murakami
– ASEAN bio-diplomacy: a river in southeast Asia
Irawan Abidin
– Water conflicts and bio-diplomacy
Kai Falkman
– Environmental management of transboundary freshwater bodies
Juha I. Uitto
– The Danube Environmental Programme
Teun Botterweg and Jozef Turcan
– Implementing the Danube Environmental Programme in the Slovak Republic
Ivan Zavadsky and Milan Matuska
– Regional co-operation in the Danube river basin
Pavel Petrovic
– The Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam: social, political and cultural conflicts
Miklos Sukosd
– The Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydropower system and the Slovak Government
Dominik Kocinger
– Conflicts in water management
Vladimir Holcik
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 English, Greek
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
- “Danube River Bonds: Bio-Environment – Bio-Culture,” international B.I.O. conference on water resource management, Bratislava, Slovak Republic. BioNews no. 10, April 1997, p. 4-7, Programme, Photos
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