Third Regional Consultation – Arab States Region of the “Groundwater Governance: A Global Framework for Country Action”

The third Regional Consultation of the project “Groundwater Governance: A Global Framework for Country Action”, for Arab States region, will be held in Amman, Jordan on 8-10 October 2012. It will be organized by the Regional Office of UNESCO in Amman and the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This project has been initiated in January 2011 by the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP) together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) and the International Association Hydrogeologists (IAH).The Consultation will take the format of a 3-day event, with plenary sessions as well as technical working sessions on thematic aspects of groundwater governance. The opening session will include the participation of high level ministerial representatives and the national and regional media.

The aims of this and the other four Regional Consultations foreseen for this year are to: a) acquire first-hand knowledge of regional issues from local groundwater experts; b) raise awareness and promote a global groundwater agenda; c) build partnerships amongst collaborating project agencies, cross-sectoral stakeholders, decision-makers and specialists.

Organized under the responsibility of the UNESCO-IHP network, the Regional Consultations are a fundamental component of the Groundwater Governance project. These Consultations will focus on the regional characteristics of groundwater use and will seek to promote discussion about the characteristics, priorities, visions and specific challenges to the region.

The results of the Regional Consultations will contribute towards the preparation of a Global Groundwater Governance Diagnostic. This will provide a technical base on which to prepare the various stages of the process. This will be achieved through the compilation of state-of-art scientific and technical knowledge currently available on groundwater resources and their governance.

This and other Regional Consultations will be held within the framework of the “Groundwater Governance: a Global Framework for Country Action” Project. This project is in response to the emerging global concerns over the increasingly unsustainable use of groundwater and degradation of aquifers. The overall objective of the project is to increase awareness of the importance of a sound management of groundwater resources in order to prevent and reverse the global water crisis.

Details

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/amman/about-this-office/single-view/news/groundwater_governance_a_global_framework_for_country_action_regional_consultation_for_arab_states_region/

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The primary focus of the project is the set of human behaviours that determine groundwater use and abuse. The objective is to accelerate the adoption of improved groundwater resource governance from resource management institutions to millions of individual users.