INBO'S NEWSLETTER N° 4

INBO'S NEWSLETTER N° 4 - 1996

Table of contents	INBO'S NEWSLETTER - N° 4 - 1996
WATER RESOURCES FOR LARGE CITIES

THE BEIJING DECLARATION

The International Conference on Managing Water Resources for Large Cities and Towns took place in Beijing on 18-21 March 1996. It brought together more than 150 international experts from some 50 countries in order to prepare HABITAT II to be held in Istanbul.

The conference based its considerations on the following principles:

Freshwater is a finite vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment. Effective and sustainable water resources management and long-term planning will require:
- reliable arrangements for data collection, dissemination, monitoring, assessment and forecasting,
- consideration of the long and short term demands,
- sustainable development policies with respect to catchment and aquifer systems.
- legal, technical and financial means, as well as public information and education programmes.
Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels, represented at some form of water council or water parliament.
- The basic unit of water resources management is the river basin. Effective implementation of an integrated water resources management plan would benefit from the establishment of a public or semi-public autonomous basin organization.
Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water.
Water has an economic value in all its competing uses.
Mobilizing financial resources is crucial to effective water resources management.

Jean-Michel Chene
United Nations (DDSMS)
Fax: (1-212) 962 1270

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Table of contents	INBO'S NEWSLETTER - N° 4 - 1996
Integrated management is developing

Latin American countries are strongly involved in the integrated management of their water resources.

Very present during the recent General Assembly of the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO) in Morelia (Mexico, March 1996), where 16 countries were represented, they decided to establish a Latin American subnetwork as part of INBO.

This will permit to develop the exchange of information and experiences in order to strengthen river basin structures in Latin American countries.
E. Mestre-Rodriguez
CNA
Fax : (52-42) 134142

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Table of contents	INBO'S NEWSLETTER - N° 4 - 1996
UNITED NATIONS

Meeting of the Special Working Group on shared water resources,
New York, May 14-15, 1996.

The meeting permitted to present several representative cases located in different regions in the world, in particular: in Europe, the Rhine and the Danube; in Africa, the Nile, the Senegal, Gambia, Niger rivers and Lake Chad; in Asia, the Indus and the Mekong; in North America, the boundary waters of the United-States with Canada and Mexico; in South America, the lake Titicaca; in Australia, the hydraulic development of the Snowy Mountains.

This highlighted the evolution of the concepts and practices in this complex and sensitive field which raises more and more problems in all regions in the world.

If useful lessons can be drawn from each case, Southern Africa represents a particularly interesting and innovating experience as regards the management of shared water resources, through the 1995 agreements as part of the SADC.

Two series of resolutions were prepared for the Natural Resources Committee and the U. N. Social and Economical Council.

Ms Marcia Brewster
United Nations (DDSMS)
Fax: (1-212) 962 1270

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Table of contents	INBO'S NEWSLETTER - N° 4 - 1996
ILEC

International Lake Environment Committee Foundation

ILEC will organize, in cooperation with Argentinian authorities, the 7th International Conference on the Conservation and Management of Lakes, on October 27-31, 1997.

The city of "San Martin de los Andes", on the upstream end of Lake L‡car, has been designated as the venue of this meeting, which for the first time will be held in South America.

The Conference is particularly concerned with the role of environmental education and public information as well as with lake water resources assessment and monitoring, sustainable utilization of lakes, and with the design, construction and management of man-made reservoirs.
Instituto Nacional de Ciencia y TŽcnica H'dricas
Fax : (54-1) 480 0094

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Table of contents	INBO'S NEWSLETTER - N° 4 - 1996
EURO-MEDITERRANEAN CONFERENCE ON LOCAL WATER MANAGEMENT

At the invitation of the French Government and the European Commission, a Euro-Mediterranean Conference on local water management is to be held in Marseilles on November 25-26, 1996, and will gather the concerned Ministers of the 15 countries of the European Union and their counterparts from the 12 other riparian countries of the Mediterranean who signed the Barcelona declaration.

Experts will prepare some reflections during four workshops dealing with such topics as agricultural water management, domestic and industrial water, training for water professionals and the strengthening of institutions.

A preparatory meeting of the experts took place in Cairo on October 21-22, 1996.
François Harambat (IOW)
Fax : (33-4) 93 65 44 02

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THE BEIJING DECLARATION

Meeting of the Special Working Group on shared water resources, New York, May 14-15, 1996.

International Lake Environment Committee Foundation

Meeting of the Special Working Group on shared water resources,
New York, May 14-15, 1996.