IOWater - International News

48 The News N° 28 - February 2018 FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR Turkey Young “Ambassadors” for the protection of natural resources A EU-funded technical assistance project was awarded to the group led by WYG Turkey. It aims at raising the awareness of the Turkish society to the protection of the environment and water resources. Training of trainers, development of educational material, study visits to EU Member States have been implemented. The Western Mediterranean Basin, the Konya Basin and the Eastern Black Sea Basin are the 3 pilot basins of the project. In this context, IOWater coordinated the visit of two delegations of some forty Turkish students who came to meet French water stakeholders in August and September 2017. The young “Ambassadors” were able to meet people of the European Commission and Parliament, the French Water Agencies (Seine-Normandy and Artois-Picardy), the Interdepartmental Syndicate for the Sanitation of Greater Paris (SIAAP) and IOWater . In addition to the presentation of the general organization of the water management system in France, these meetings were an opportunity to share information and recommendations on projects for youth and on the process of Youth Parliaments for Water in France on several scales. IOWater’s expertise in institutional coopera- tion, training, networking and information systems was widely presented. In a general manner, bridges have been established between the French and Turkish water management awareness initiatives and partnership agreements should be created between the institutions concerned. 4 For 2 years, between 2015 and 2017, the twinning project on “Governance and Integrated Management of Water Resources in Morocco”, funded by the European Commission, has been able to instill a real dynamic in the implementation of the new Water Law adopted in August 2016. Real collaborative work was carried out by the European team led by France, accom- panied by Spain and Romania, and the Moroccan beneficiaries supervised at national level by the Water Research and Planning Department of the State Secretariat in Charge of Water and the Pilot Sebou River Basin Agency (ABH). IOWater managed this project on behalf of the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity- based Transition with the support of the French Water Agencies, the BRGM and the main Spanish and Romanian public institu- tions working on the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in their respective countries. The outcomes especially include: ➊ A plan with convergence towards the main principles of the European Water Directives, which is divided into 5 groups of priority actions: sovereign responsibi- lity, planning, monitoring, water data management and coordination with donors for financing projects. ➋ An analysis report on legislative and insti- tutional gaps between Morocco and the EU, which served as a guide for finalizing the Water Law 36-15 and the drafting of the implementing decrees. ➌ A proposal for a harmonized structure of the new Basin Management Plans and a methodological guide for updating these plans in Morocco. ➍ A division of the pilot Sebou Basin into water bodies to structure the long-term advances to be achieved in the monito- ring of surface and ground water. ➎ An inventory of structured data sources in the form of an online catalogue with transfer of the Geonetwork tool. This work especially served to support the development of a cartographic Atlas of the Sebou Basin. ➏ A prototype control board for monitoring the implementation of the Management Plan and a brochure presenting the new concepts to prepare the Basin Council Members to their new and increased prerogatives. The project has thus helped to develop in Morocco water resource management prac- tices that meet European standards and which enable to improve efficiency in the implementation of future projects to meet the challenges of sustainable development and adaptation to climate change. 4 Morocco Success of the European Twinning Project DG ENVIRONNEMENT DG Environment The “Ambassadors” visit at IOWater in Paris The Sebou Valley THE MEDITERRANEAN