Introduction
The Mediterranean, a water scarce area,
lies on the cross road of three continents and it has been the cradle of major civilizations. The shared century-old experiences and diverse cultures have resulted to uneven levels of economic development and socio-political systems. The region is encountering a rapid, unbalanced demographic growth and increased urbanization trends. At the same time, the Mediterranean region is rich in unique and fragile ecosystems.
Water supply in the region is unequally distributed in space and time, both at regional level and within each country. The Southern Mediterranean and Middle East sub-regions have among the lowest per capita amount of water supply in the world. It is estimated that 7% of the entire Mediterranean population (28 million persons) lie below the poverty line of 500 m3/year per capita and another 29% (115 million persons) are below the threshold of 1000 m3/year per capita. In certain countries, exploitation indexes of renewable natural fresh water resources have reached 100%. The intensive extraction and use of water for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes, without proper provisions for the protection of the resource, has led to serious water pollution of surface and ground water bodies. Agriculture consumes 70-80% of water in the Mediterranean countries. Many countries in the region are currently in a stage of institutional reform, orienting priorities and practices towards an integrated water resources management (IWRM) approach.
The Mediterranean has a tradition in cooperation and networking schemes, many of which address issues of sustainable development, environmental protection and management of natural resources. Water is a defined priority in the majority of related regional processes eg. Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, Barcelona Convention, MCSD etc.
The Euro-Mediterranean Turin Plan of Action, the recommendations of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development, the GWP Vision, FFA, Core for Action Plan are, among other, major processes shaping the common Mediterranean water policies and practices. The EU Water Framework Directive offers a concrete example of IWRM application in the EU Member States, worthy to explore its adaptation in the entire Mediterranean.
There is a need:
- to strengthen and make more concrete the regional framework on IWRM and to meet the WSSD target to develop IWRM and water efficiency plans in all countries
- to encourage the transformation of national water policies towards sustainability and to integrate water concerns into sectoral policies.
- to meet the WSSD target to halve the proportion of people who do not have access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.
- to build synergies by setting up active water partnerships at the regional and the national level.
- to build capacity, to raise public awareness and to educate the youth on water issues.
It is widely recognised that the development of effective multi-stakeholder partnerships is of major importance for responding to the present water challenges. The Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean was created to respond to this demand.
