Governance, key to the right to water in the Mediterranean: towards a Mediterranean Water Agency
In 2014, in a report called “Financing access to water and sanitation in the Mediterranean. Is innovative funding a solution or an illusion?”, IPEMED identified innovative funding mechanisms that could partly overcome the funding deficit existing in the sanitation sector or make access to water and sanitation easier for vulnerable populations. The definition, implementation and management of these mechanisms imply a transversal governance in favour of access to water and sanitation in the Mediterranean gathering States, fund management authorities and the civil society in a Mediterranean Water Agency for instance. Such an approach requires a strong political commitment from coastal Mediterranean States as well as from the regional (Union for the Mediterranean) and international (UN) institutions working in the region.
In the medium or long term, IPEMED suggests a reorganisation of the water regional governance as well as the implementation of a Mediterranean Water Agency, structured around three bodies:
- a neutral and independent information system on water resources and pollution causes in the Mediterranean (”Mediterranean Network of Water Resources”) aiming at a greater cooperation between centres of expertise and a pooling of their fields of expertise;
- a decision-making general assembly gathering the stakeholders (”Mediterranean Committee of Water Actors”) initiating a greater implication of Mediterranean water actors to define water regional policies;
- an executive body, attached to an existing international agency, that would have a leverage effect by allotting innovative financing to the region’s local authorities, operators and NGOs.
- a neutral and independent information system on water resources and pollution causes in the Mediterranean (”Mediterranean Network of Water Resources”) aiming at a greater cooperation between centres of expertise and a pooling of their fields of expertise;
- a decision-making general assembly gathering the stakeholders (”Mediterranean Committee of Water Actors”) initiating a greater implication of Mediterranean water actors to define water regional policies;
- an executive body, attached to an existing international agency, that would have a leverage effect by allotting innovative financing to the region’s local authorities, operators and NGOs.
- 1st IPEMED Water Workshop of 7th July 2011, organised in view of the 2012 World Water Forum;
- 2nd IPEMED Water Workshop of 27 September 2011, organised in Porto in view of the 2012 World Water Forum, alongside the 2011 Europe-INBO Conference and the 9th General Assembly of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (INBO);
- 3rd IPEMED Water Workshop of 30 November 2011, organised in Beirut, in view of the 2012 World Water Forum, in partnership with Mr Fadi Comain, Honorary Chairman of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (INBO);
- Presentation of IPEMED recommendations during the 6th World Water Forum - 12-17th March 2012;
- Presentation of IPEMED recommendations during the 7th World Water Forum - 12-17th April 2015.
- 2nd IPEMED Water Workshop of 27 September 2011, organised in Porto in view of the 2012 World Water Forum, alongside the 2011 Europe-INBO Conference and the 9th General Assembly of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (INBO);
- 3rd IPEMED Water Workshop of 30 November 2011, organised in Beirut, in view of the 2012 World Water Forum, in partnership with Mr Fadi Comain, Honorary Chairman of the Mediterranean Network of Basin Organizations (INBO);
- Presentation of IPEMED recommendations during the 6th World Water Forum - 12-17th March 2012;
- Presentation of IPEMED recommendations during the 7th World Water Forum - 12-17th April 2015.
End of 2015: Writing of a policy brief following the 2014 report Financing access to water and sanitation in the Mediterranean. Is innovative funding a solution or an illusion?