The aim of the project is to capture Best Practices, Knowledge and Lessons from GEF-IW (Transboundary Land and Water Management) throughout the RBEC region.
The Transboundary Waters Management Best Practices Registry – Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia pilot project (TWMBPR) seeks to identify, appraise, codify, publicize and, recognize projects and other successful TWM initiatives. In addition, it aims to capture knowledge and lessons to make them more accessible to Transboundary Waters practitioners, and to exchange experiences, develop capacity and promote replication of effective strategies in the areas of Transboundary Lake and River Basin Management, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Sustainable Agriculture, Pollution Reduction and Prevention, Aquatic Ecosystem Protection and Recovery, Marine and Coastal practices, including Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Transboundary Fisheries Management.
The long-term development objective of the proposed Regional Project is to contribute to sustainable human development in the DRB and the wider Black Sea area through reinforcing the capacities of the participating countries in developing effective mechanisms for regional cooperation and coordination in order to ensure protection of international waters, sustainable management of natural resources and biodiversity.
In this context, the proposed GEF Regional Project, being subdivided into two Phases, should support the ICPDR, its structures and the participating countries in order to ensure an integrated and coherent implementation of the Strategic Action Plan 1994 (revised SAP 1999), the ICPDR Joint Action Programme and the related investment programmes in line with the objectives of the DRPC. The overall objective of the Danube Regional Project is to complement the activ ities of the ICPDR required toprovide a regional approach and global significance to the development of national policies and legislation and the definition of priority actions for nutrient reduction and pollution control with particular attention to achieving sustainable transboundary ecological effects within the DRB and the Black Sea area.
The Danube Regional Project, in its Phases 1 and 2, shall facilitate implementation of the Danube River Protection Convention in providing a framework for coordination, dissemination and replication of successful demonstration that will be developed through investment projects (World Bank-GEF Investment Facility for Nutrient Reduction, EBRD, EU programmes for accession countries etc.). The specific objective of Phase 1, December 2001 – November 2003, was to prepare and initiate basin-wide capacity-building activities, which will be consolidated in the second phase of the Project. This second Phase will be implemented from December 2003 – November 2006, building up on the results achieved in the first Phase.
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned from PIR Report 2005:
* From the completion of Phase 1 and the on-going activities of Phase 2 key lessons learnt have included the need for the development of a clear 'exit strategy' of the UNDP/GEF funded project from the region and assisting, the ICPDR in particular, with plans for future sustainability. In addition, 9 of the 13 DRB countries are either EU members or in the process of acceding to the EU. Whilst this has provided a clear and beneficial legislative framework for the DRP, it has also re-emphasised the need for focusing on the four non-accession countries.
Other Lessons include:
* Excellent Cooperation with the ICPDR and its structures (co-executing agency and primary beneficiary) resulting in improved administrative and technical capacities to cooperate. The ICPDR was formed to implement the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) and is since 2000 the platform for coordinating the implementation of the EU WFD in the DRB. The cooperation between the DRP and the ICPDR is excellent as the GEF project continues proactively working together with the ICPDR at various levels, the Secretariat, the respective ICPDR Expert Groups and respective National Governments. The project participates, together with relevant contractors where appropriate, in all Expert Groups Meetings organized by the ICPDR. In this way the GEF Project has the full overview and understanding and can thereby provide the best assistance and input to the further development of the work. Further, these commonly implemented activities serve to improve administrative and technical capacities at the national level based on guidelines and requirements set by the ICPDR and the Project. In this way, the GEF project plays a catalytic role in stimulating DRB countries to meet their commitments to the DRPC and increasingly the WFD. This encourages national governments to develop appropriate structures for regional cooperation that facilitate the strengthening of good governance in the Danube River Basin.
* Linking Global Environment issues to EU Water Framework Directive. A key lesson learned is the benefit of a close link between global environmental objectives and an appropriate legislative framework. The EU WFD represents, perhaps, the most comprehensive water legislation in the world. It provides an excellent basis for the implementation of the DRP given commonly shared principles such as a basin-wide holistic approach, ecosystem management etc. By linking project activities closely with the WFD and its implementation, the DRP is both increasing the ability to meet global environmental objectives in the frame of the project, but also establishing the basis for the sustainability of project results as well as the mechanisms for ongoing improvements after the life of the project.
* Appropriate Level of Public Participation. The DRP has put a large emphasis on supporting increased public participation in DRB cooperation. An important lesson learned is that it is critical to focus on developing appropriate public participation mechanisms and strategies given specific level of activity (regional, national, sub-basin, local.) The DRP is developing grassroots level (bottoms-up) activities via the Small Grants Programme, as well as is supporting the development of the Danube Environmental Forum (DEF) which, as a regional network is capable of working at all levels, sub-basin, national or local levels through its constituent members. The provisions of the WFD provide an opportunity, based on legislative requirements, to enhance public participation within the frame of the ICPDR and its parties for the first time. This will occur concretely by incorporating adequate public participation activities and mechanisms into the process for developing the Danube River Basin Management Plan. Emphasis here will be first at the regional (ICPDR or top) level. However, guidance will also be developed, to assist national governments to incorporate public participation in river basin management at the sub-basin, national and local levels. In addition to the above-mentioned activities, there are considerations to develop a specific project component to improve access to information for key stakeholders and to enhance their abilities to address priority sources of pollution (hot spots) in the DRB.
* Developing Appropriate Training Activities. By first undertaking a training needs assessment, the DRP learned that training activities need to build institutional capacities (ICPDR, DEF etc.) as well as to build technical capacities (nutrient reduction, wetland rehabilitation, reduction of toxic substances etc.) to assure increase of knowledge and capacity to act for water management and pollution control. The training needs assessment also served as the basis to prioritize training needs given limited resources (human and financial.)
How have these Lessons been shared with others? The project web page was established in the early stages of the project, in order to disseminate existing available documentation related to the project, as well as to inform the stakeholders, the public and other projects on the context of the project and progress of implementation. The ICPDR together with the DRP hosted two study tour visits: ASREWAM Aral Sea Tacis Project 30560 in July 2004 and a study tour visit of Suzhou Creek Environmental Rehabilitation Leading Office of Shanghai, China in September 2004. The Project results and the cooperation with the ICPDR was presented also at the International Conference on Integrated Water Resources Management, in Tokyo, in December 2004.
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Lessons Learned in Preparing the DRP (See also in the Project Document attached, pp. 45 ff.): Key lessons learned in previous DRB project activities were determined in the process of preparing the overall Danube Regional Project in 2000-2001 and are included in this section. Some important lessons have been learned from a range of GEF and other environmental planning projects in the Danube region, and especially from the GEF-supported Danube Pollution Reduction Program (DPRP), which was completed in June 1999. In the frame of this project, the Danube countries cooperating under the DRPC have achieved important results in terms of capacity building and institutional strengthening. The planning process in elaborating the Transboundary Analysis and in revising the SAP, which involved stakeholders from the local governments, scientific institutions and NGOs had created a high momentum in adopting GEF operational principles for the protection of international waters and ecosystems. Further, the interaction with other organization, in particular the EU Phare and Tacis, the World Bank, the EBRD, etc., and joint actions with the Black Sea Programme have set new standards for regional cooperation. These positive achievements will be consolidated in implementing the Danube / Black Sea Basin Strategic Partnership.
The first phase of the DPRP indicated how time consuming and difficult it is to set up institutional structures, information networks and to introduce new approaches of planning in countries that are in a continuous process of political and economic transition. Based on this experience, it is recommended that – wherever possible - the newly created institutional settings, networks and methodological tools should be reinforced through the Danube Regional Project. Special emphasis should be put on the maximum utilization of the participatory approach that is now fully understood and accepted by the participating countries.
In many transition countries, the policy and legal frame is presently being reviewed and adjusted, focusing in particular on unclear land ownership and uncontrolled resource management (forestry, mining, etc.), which lead to environmental degradation and damage. In many countries, compliance with environmental laws and regulations is not controlled and is consequently very low. This is partially due to structural and organizational weaknesses and more to budgetary limitations. Inter-ministerial coordination is another common and serious problem for project implementation when coordinating structures are missing at national levels. The involvement and cooperation of all relevant governmental bodies, in particular the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, of Land Reform, of Foreign Affairs, etc. is essential in the early project preparation phase. Another lesson learned is that project activities conducted by international expert teams without close integration and cooperation with experts from the relevant Danube countries are often not recognized. In the frame of the Environmental Program for the Danube River Basin (EU Phare) many project components have failed to be sufficiently coordinated with the ICPDR and its Expert Groups and thus did not respond to the expressed needs of the beneficiaries. It is therefore recommended that all project components should be carried out under the guidance of the ICPDR and in close cooperation with its expert bodies and that highly qualified national experts/consultants – available in all DRB countries – should be contracted.
A particular feature impacting basin-wide project activities is that of the disparities between the DRB countries, which have clearly different institutional, administrative and economic capabilities and are confronted with qualitatively different requirements. Particular attention should be paid on the one hand to the EU accession countries that have reached a high level of competence and organization and, on the other hand, to the central Danube Basin countries as Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia & Montenegro, which have been affected by the war and political instability. <be> In this context, IW: Learn, a distance education programme whose purpose is to improve the global management of transboundary water systems, will contribute to improve regional cooperation and capacity building. Following the experience gained in the DPRP, IW: LEARN should be connected to the Danube Information System (DANUBIS) and used as an interactive conference capacity across and within GEF international waters projects for sharing information and learning related to nutrient reduction and river basin and coastal zones management. Training courses started during the DPRP will be revitalized and continued to enhance technical knowledge for water managers in nutrient reduction and sustainable management of water resources and ecosystems in the Danube River Basin.
Lessons Learned During Implementation of Phase 1 of the DRP (See also in the Project Document attached, pp. 45 ff.): Some further lessons have been learned based on experience gained in the implementation of Phase 1 of the DRP to date (also contained within the APR/PIR 2004 in Annex 14. of the project document)
The establishment of intensive cooperation with the ICPDR and its structures (co-executing agency and primary beneficiary) and improving administrative and technical capacities to cooperate enhances the effectiveness of project implementation. The ICPDR was formed to implement the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) and is, since 2000, the platform for coordinating the implementation of the EU WFD in the DRB.
By proactively working together with the ICPDR at various levels, i.e. the Secretariat, the respective ICPDR Expert Groups and respective National Governments, the GEF project has established excellent cooperation. The project participates, together with relevant contractors where appropriate, in all Expert Groups Meetings organized by the ICPDR (currently 5 Expert Groups and 2 Expert Sub-groups meeting 2 to 3 times per year.) In this way the DRP has a full overview and understanding and can thereby provide the best assistance and input into the further development of the work. Further, these commonly implemented activities serve to improve administrative and technical capacities at the National level based on guidelines and requirements set by the ICPDR and the DRP. In this way, the GEF project plays a catalytic role in stimulating DRB countries to meet their commitments to the DRPC and increasingly the WFD. This encourages national governments to develop appropriate structures for regional cooperation that is thereby facilitating the strengthening of good governance in the Danube River Basin.
A key lesson learned is the benefit of a close link between global environmental objectives and an appropriate legislative framework, in this case the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The EU WFD represents, perhaps, the most comprehensive water legislation in the world. It provides an excellent basis for the implementation of the DRP given commonly shared principles such as a basin-wide holistic approach, ecosystem management etc. By linking project activities closely with the WFD implementation, the DRP is both increasing the ability to meet global environmental objectives in the frame of the project, but is also establishing the basis for the sustainability of project results as well as the mechanisms for ongoing improvements after the life of the project.
The DRP has put a large emphasis on supporting increased public participation in DRB cooperation. An important lesson learned is that it is critical to focus on developing appropriate public participation mechanisms and strategies given specific level of activity (regional, national, sub-basin, local.) The DRP is developing grassroots level (bottoms-up) activities via the Small Grants Programme, as well as is supporting the development of the Danube Environmental Forum (DEF) which, as a regional network is capable of working at all levels, sub-basin, national or local levels through its constituent members. The provisions of the WFD provide an opportunity, based on legislative requirements, to enhance public participation within the frame of the ICPDR and its parties for the first time. This will occur concretely by incorporating adequate public participation activities and mechanisms into the process for developing the Danube River Basin Management Plan. Emphasis here will be first at the regional (ICPDR or top) level. However, guidance will also be developed, to assist national governments to incorporate public participation in river basin management at the sub-basin, national and local levels. In addition to the above-mentioned activities, there are considerations to develop a specific project component to improve access to information for key stakeholders and to enhance their abilities to address priority sources of pollution (hot spots) in the DRB.
Enterprises in the countries of the middle and lower Danube River basin are facing numerous challenges as they go through a radical reshaping in their move towards market economies. At the same time, they are in the process of responding to the environmental objectives of the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC) and the environmental requirements that come with accession to the European Union; the most significant of these is the EU’s Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive. The DRPC and the EU’s IPPC Directive both require enterprises to apply best available techniques (BAT/EST) and best environmental practices (BEP).
In 1997, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the financial support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), launched the ‘Pollution Reduction Programme for the Danube River basin’, through which it identified 130 major manufacturing enterprises known as ‘hot spots’ that were significant sources of pollution to the waters of the Danube River basin. A significant number of these enterprises were contributing to transboundary nutrient and/or persistent organic pollution.
In April 2001, UNIDO started the implementation of the TEST programme taking on the challenge to effectively demonstrate to the industries of five Danubian countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) that it is possible to comply with environmental standards and still maintain, or even enhance their competitive position.
The objective of the TEST project was to build capacity of the national institutions in the five selected Danubian countries in integrated environmental management (TEST integrated approach) for the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology. The TEST approach has been introduced at selected industrial hot spots to demonstrate that it is possible to comply with environmental norms of the Danube River Protection Convention while at the same time taking into account the needs to remain competitive and to deal with the social consequences of major technology upgrading. The enhanced institutional capacity would then be available to assist other enterprises of concern in these countries as well as other Danubian countries.
; Building Successful Technological and Financial Partnerships with the Private Sector to Reduce Pollutant Loading : (IW-LEARN Experience Note, by David Vousden) : Abstract: The Danube TEST project was designed and targeted to demonstrate how environmentally sound technologies would not only aid in reducing point-source pollutants but would assist the associated enterprises that adopted them in being more cost-effective and less wasteful. Although there are capacities in Danubian countries to provide many of the services needed by industry to pursue the simultaneous objectives of competitiveness enhancement, social responsibility and environmental compliance, these capacities remain isolated in separate institutions and companies. The TEST approach used a sequence of modular, customizable tools (An Initial Review of Company Needs, Environmental Management Systems, Cleaner Production Assessment, Environmental Management Accounting, Environmentally Sound Technology Assessment and Sustainable Enterprises Strategy). Although companies were initially cautious about the entire TEST approach, in most cases they quickly came to understand the potential advantages to them within the overall business landscape in terms of both complying with environmental norms and therefore being able to compete within a wider market, as well as actual savings in terms of reduction in wastes and unnecessary discharges. TEST provides a real example of how partnerships with the private sector can lead to major improvements within the regional and global environment through improved processes, stress reduction and eventual environmental status improvements.
; Institutional Training and Capacity Building in Support of Private Sector Partnerships : (IW-LEARN Experience Note, by David Vousden) : Abstract: The Danube TEST project was designed and targeted to demonstrate how environmentally sound technologies would not only aid in reducing point-source pollutants but would assist the associated enterprises that adopted them in being more cost-effective and less wasteful. Although there are capacities in Danubian countries to provide many of the services needed by industry to pursue the simultaneous objectives of competitiveness enhancement, social responsibility and environmental compliance, these capacities remain isolated in separate institutions and companies. The project aimed to build the capacity of these national bodies to implement TEST tools and to advise on Best Available Practices (BAP’s) and Best Available Technologies (BAT’s). National counterpart institutes in each country worked to train their selected enterprises to implement and adopt of an appropriate suite of TEST tools. The project provided them with direct experience in implementing TEST in selected demonstration enterprises, then ‘marketed’ these successful demonstrations and created a landscape where other enterprises would be encouraged or even required to adopt the same tools and procedures. A strong level of networking and cooperation has developed between the national counterpart institutions and this has led to countries sharing their special expertise with each other and assisting each other in the development of further TEST initiatives. The training and capacity building approach discussed above is a means to strengthen of national institutions in cutting edge approaches to reducing industrial environmental footprints.
The project (BSERP) supports regional aspects of nutrient control in the Black Sea coastal countries. It also aims to strengthen the role of the Black Sea Commission to ensure the formulation, adoption, and implementation of a suite of harmonized legal and policy instruments for tackling the problem of eutrophication and release of certain hazardous substances; and to facilitate ecosystem recovery, including through sustainable use of living marine resources. It encourages broad stakeholder participation. This will be achieved by inter-sectoral consultations, provision of small grants to local initiatives, support for release of information to the public and environmental training/education. The project will employ a new set of indicators for monitoring the effectiveness of the measures taken by the countries. These indicators, together with targeted scientific studies, will help to set new regional nutrient control targets and to adopt action plans which will be implemented through an adaptive management scheme. Although a two-years phased approach had to be taken for the implementation of the overall strategy owing to funding constraints, meaningful progress in the attainment of these objectives would require at least five years of concerted action at the basin-wide level so the overall project is designed as a 5 year intervention, funded by GEF in two tranches.
Lessons Learned
LESSONS LEARNED from PIR Report 2005:
a. Coordination of activities of GEF-funded programmes and regional environmental Commissions. This was a recognised issue for the Black Sea in Phase I. This issue also relates to the establishment of inter-ministerial committees in the countries. Since normally regional environmental Commissions are coordinated by the Ministries of Environment, involvement of other Ministries requires a special effort.
b. Participation of the wider public in the decision making process on the regional level, developing regional environmental Commissions as public-oriented, transparent management body. Mechanisms of such involvement are to be further developed for the Black Sea.
c. Increase of the countries buy-in into the process of implementation of SAPs at the national level, mechanisms of moving from the programme development (TDA/SAP) to the implementation of their provisions (nutrient management plans, programme of measures, investments, etc.)
The Tisza river system is an internationally significant river system, which is significantly degraded and continues to be threatened. The river and its tributaries flow from the Carpathian Mountains and a 157,200 square kilometer river basin which is home to some 14 million people. It begins in the territories of Ukraine with the White and Black Tisza. This river with its tributaries is the only water source for Transcarpathia region of Ukraine since 98% of its territory belongs to the Upper Tisza catchment area. It also flows from Romania and Slovakia via number of smaller tributaries fed by mountain streams and flows into the Great Plain of eastern Hungary and then south into Serbia and Montenegro where it joins the Danube. This river is the main water source for Hungary, a significant source for Serbia and Montenegro and an important source for western Romania and southern Slovakia. The floodplains of the river extend to some 30 thousand square kilometer, the majority of which can be found in the Hungarian Great Plain and the adjoining plains in Western Romania and Serbia.
The Tisza River Basin is in need of a coordinated regional effort to develop harmonized national and regional policies for integrated land and water management. This project will address the issues of flooding, pollution, loss of biodiversity, adaptation to climate change, and the need for sustainable development in the Tisza River Basin. The project Establishment of Mechanisms for Integrated Land and Water Management in the Tisza River basin will address these issues through a scientifically based Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) which will inform the development of coordinated National Action Plans (NAPs) which support a regional Strategic Action Programme (SAP). The NAPs and SAP will establish regional and national priorities and coordinate policies throughout the region. Implementation and execution of small scale pilot projects will support these efforts towards environmental governance reform strategies and serve as a learning experience for other larger scale pilot projects to be conducted as the Strategic Action Programme is implemented.
This project will build on what has already been achieved through the EU accession process and the EU and GEF support of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) in particular the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), with regard to the existing ad hoc Tisza Group of the ICPDR and the Tisza Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) "Towards a River Basin Management Plan for the Tisza River supporting sustainable development of the region" signed by all riparian countries in 2004. It will also build upon the numerous UNDP sustainable development initiatives and GEF biodiversity projects in the basin, and it will link with activities of the newly established interim secretariat of the Carpathian Convention. It will take the concept of Integrated River Basin Management beyond the water sector and co-ordinate the development, management and conservation of land and water resources, and embed rather than retrofit conservation and environmental policy into the national and regional planning framework.
A major product will be the development of a regionally owned Strategic Action Programme, which will to the extent possible be streamlined with an EU River Basin Management Plan for the Tisza, meeting the requirements of the Water Framework Directive, and a Flood Prevention and Risk Management Strategy, while at the same time addressing wider sustainability issues in the water, agriculture, energy, industry and navigation sectors, highlighted by the work of the UNDP in their Tisza Basin Sustainable Development Strategy. Thus the project will provide a bridge between these on-going initiatives in a single regionally owned and nationally coordinated planning document which will allow for deepening and widening the planning scope.
The Tisza community-led demonstration project for sustainable development and integrated land and water management is an integral part of the GEF- Mid-Size Project "Establishment of Mechanisms for Integrated Land and Water Management in the Tisza River Basin". This pilot and demonstration component will aim at developing, implementation and evaluation of a transboundary community-led project that promotes sustainable development through integrated land and water management practices.
The demonstration project’s objective is to yield valuable insights and lessons, which will serve to inform the TDA/SAP process of the umbrella GEF- project. The focus of the project will be on community-driven governance interventions, encouraging community ownership of project activities and outcomes. The demonstration project’s approach is to identify and implement interventions that tackle socio-economic challenges and enhance opportunities for the local population (and vulnerable groups in particular), while at the same time resulting in improved environmental conditions. The lessons learnt and project implementation mechanisms tested will be incorporated into the SAP and NAPs, to be replicated in future local and community-level projects.
This PDF B Project builds on the previous GEF investment in the Dnipro Basin, the development and country adoption of the Dnipro Basin Strategic Action Programme.
The SAP, a policy document negotiated and endorsed by three riparian countries in 2001, which is to be implemented at the highest level of executive power, focuses on six transboundary priority areas for action to resolve the most urgent issues identified in the TDA: chemical pollution, modification of ecosystems, modification of the hydrological regime, eutrophication, flooding and high ground water levels, and radio nuclide pollution.
Of these, the first priority is industrial chemical pollution. This can be categorised as coming from two main industrial sub-sectors, the major industrial complexes, generally with their own treatment facilities, and the groups of smaller urban based industries that discharge effluents through the municipal facilities, the Vodokanals.
Following a review of current donor activities and trends, it appears that major industries may be able to attract investment through other funding agencies. This leaves the more complex tasks of dealing with the large numbers of small industries that cumulatively pose major pollution threats, with the parallel concerns of financing mechanisms and regulation in a sector, which is rapidly becoming more privatised.
The PDF B Project will therefore prepare a Full-Sized Project Proposal addressing the problems of cleaner production and effluent pre-treatment for smaller and in many cases privatised industries, discharging through the Vodokanals. This will also address issues of sustainable financing mechanisms and legal and regulatory requirements.
Lessons Learned
(Not yet; but see previous GEF-Projects in the Dnipro Basin)
The long-term objectives of the project are to remedy the serious environmental effects of transboundary pollution and habitat degradation in the Dnipro River Basin, to ensure sustainable use of its resources, and to protect biological diversity in the basin. The project will enable the implementation of a series of complementary investigative, preventative and remedial actions that will be elaborated in a Strategic Action Programme for the Basin region. The proposed Dnipro River Basin Programme would work towards enabling the three riparian countries to implement the principles of co-ordination and co-operation stipulated by the agreement signed in 1992 by the governments of the republics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The management capacity both at the level of individual countries and at the regional level would be strengthened; and wider global benefits would accrue to the basin countries as well as those of the Black Sea, an important international water body dramatically affected by the activities within its tributary Dnipro Basin.
Lessons Learned
LESSONS LEARNED from PIR 2005 Report:
a) The use of National Project Management Committees chaired by the deputy-minister proved to be an extremely effective and productive way for achieving progress in project activities. Whereas the PMU would often directly organize the activities there was always an iterative process of working with National Management Committees. Country ownership and buy-in was increasingly achieved as regular National Management Meetings reviewed and approved each significant activity in the project. The key ingredient would appear to be a Chairman who has a larger environmental vision and sees the GEF project as an effective instrument to achieve it. In addition, frequent meetings of the three Chairmen in the form of Joint Management Committee meetings allowed the PMU to seek consultations and make work plan adjustments in the period between annual Steering Committee meetings. The aforementioned process minimizes the risk of the PMU developing a life of its own where it carries out project implementation with little regard for host country understanding, information or acceptance.
b) The use of outside consultants in the region should be kept to a judicious minimum. The introduction of new methodologies should be preceded by workshops designed to introduce, review and if need modify a methodology for the needs of the region before attempting to introduce the same during a project activity. This reconfigures the consultant’s role to that of a trainer of trainers rather than having him/her assume the lead position for conducting workshops to achieve a project result. Good preparatory assessment of local talent and effective use of national specialists in all aspects of program activities enhance country buy-in and help counter negative stereotypes associated with donor projects where international consultants dominate in high profile roles.
c) Small grants that support civil society and public awareness issues are an effective mechanism for disseminating information on environmental issues in post-Soviet countries.
d) Program design should avoid equipment purchases unless they can be made in the respective countries. If the equipment is imported it has been the PMU’s experience that a disproportionate amount of time and effort is wasted on custom clearance issues which the designated local ministries and regional UNDP offices are reluctant to act upon with any degree of enthusiasm.
Exchange of lessons with other projects: With respect to issues ‘a’ and ‘b’ above the PMU has held informal discussions with the UNDP GEF Black Sea Recovery Project, the GEF Dniester project, UNDP GEF Prypiat Biodiversity and Swedish SIDA. The PMU’s experience has been that most aid agencies find our ‘lessons learned’ to be interesting but not necessarily replicable owing to the preferred corporate and operational culture of the individual agency.
The overall objective of the Project is to develop and start implementation of a Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe Basin Management Program. This includes practical recommendations for the Lake Peipsi/Chudskoe nutrient load reduction and prevention, and the sustainable conservation of habitats and eco-systems in the cross-border regional context. The project ensures strengthening capacity of all stakeholders groups, as well as active involvement of them for preparation of the Management Program. The project substitutes uncoordinated small-scale projects that would be otherwise implemented separately on the Estonian and Russian sides without sufficient coordination, education, and public information component, and without taking into account interests of local stakeholder groups and wider public.
* Exchange visits carried out at the beginning of the project to other, more experienced, projects dealing with the same kind of issues could contribute to the implementation of the newly-launched project by transferring lessons learned and best practices from other regions/project and provide an expert advise on how to deal with major challenges and to avoid possible problems already identified by other GEF projects.
* Joint meeting of several GEF-funded projects (at least, on the country or regional level) could also benefit all engaged parties through experience exchange and presentation of the best practices. Also such meetings could help to transfer administrative experience to less advanced projects.
* Project activities, depended on other co-financing projects or initiatives, may be heavily hampered by the delays and other problems going beyond of the project jurisdiction and managing such uncertainties represent a great challenge to many co-funded projects, having joint activities or measures with other initiatives funded by other donors and governed by different rules.
* Joint meetings of several GEF-funded projects (at least, on the country or regional level) could also benefit all engaged parties through experience exchange and presentation of the best practices. Also such meetings could help to transfer administrative experience to less advanced projects. Recent meeting of several GEF projects under the international seminar, support by the project, showed both a great similarity of problems and issues and a big difference in used tools and methods which could be optimized based on the best experience.
* It is worth to ensure sustainability of the developed by GEF projects SAPs and other strategic documents/programs at least on the initial stage because national governments often are not ready to finance all proposed measures that makes such documents only papers without real outcomes.
How have these Lessons been disseminated/shared?
1. through meeting with several GEF projects during the IW:LEARN / UNECE Workshop on information management and public participation in transboundary water cooperation organized in St.Petersburg in June 2005 and supported by the project.
2. sharing concerns with the partners , UNDP and evaluation team during the 3rd GEF evaluation meeting held in Moscow on 2nd February 2005.
The project, under implementation of the UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre, is currently in the preparation phase (PDF-B), with the the project document to be finalised in early 2007. Four of the basin countries are signed up to the project: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Efforts are being made to involve Turkey in the project. The Ministry of Foriegn Affairs in Baku has confirmed Azerbaijan's comittment to the project and to work with Armenia in a multi-lateral setting.
The project preparation phase is 18 months and began July 05. It's co-funded by Sweden and has following main activities:
* A Transboundary Diagnostic Assessment (TDA) of the priority environmental problems in the Kura-Aras basin, including water quantity, water quality, flooding, habitat protection and bioresources. The first meeting of the technical experts to discuss the TDA took place in Nov 2005 (see attached meeting report).
* Development of Kura-Aras Strategic Action Programme (SAP) and National Action Plans. The activity is supported by Sida helping the countries produce draft National Action Plans (NAPs) that will act as implementation mechanisms for the SAP. The SAP and NAPs will be developed in parallel in an iterative process. At the end of the preparatory phase the hope is to produce a preliminary SAP which all four countries can endorse and build on during the main project phase.
* A stakeholder analysis and the establishment of a NGO forum. The qualitative part of the stakeholder analysis has been completed in fall 2005 in three of the four countries and a quantitative survey is planned for early 2006. In conjunction with the Eurasia Foundation two NGO meetings - comprising 10 NGO representatives per country - have been held to asisst NGOs develop transboundry projects for funding and advance ideas for a Kura-Aras NGO forum. The estblishment of a forum has now been agreed and a working group established to develop the charter and a management structure. (See attached NGO Forum Report below for more details.)
* Development of 4-5 demonstration projects for implementation in the main project. Initial ideas include establishment of transboundary water monitoring stations on the Aras (Az, Ar and Ir), creation of a Flood Management Commission (first stage between Ge and Az) and improved environmental management controls at selected mining sites. Work on development of these demonstration projects will begin in spring 2006 when co-funding will be activiely sought.
* Two regional conferences to discuss options for future management of the Kura-Aras basin to which representatives from the MoFA and Ministries of Ecology or Natural Resources will be invited. These discussions will continue into the main project. At the end of the preparation stage it is hoped that the countries can sign a declaration to work together to protect the environment of the Kura-Aras basin.
* Development of the main project document with GEF funding of $6 million and hoped for co-funding of more than $5 million. Co-funding is to be sought in particular for the implementation of the demonstration projects.
Background: The Kura-Aras river system is a principal source of water for industry, agriculture, residential uses and energy in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey. The rivers are important to regional cooperation as they cross and form many of the borders. Both rivers are seriously degraded in places. Water quality is impaired by the dumping of untreated municipal, industrial, medical and agricultural wastes, and by high sedimentation loads resulting from upstream deforestation. Water quantity is constrained by use of water for agricultural and hydropower purposes, which impacts upon the river ecosystem in places. Integrated, inter-country efforts are urgently required to evaluate the degree of ongoing degradation of these river ecosystems and to take action to halt and reverse damaging trends where necessary.
The project aims to ensure that the quality and quantity of the water throughout the Kura-Aras river system meets the short and long-term needs of the ecosystem and the communities relying upon the ecosystem. The project will achieve its objectives by: fostering regional cooperation; increasing capacity to address water quality and quantity problems; demonstrating water quality/quantity improvements; initiating required policy and legal reforms; identifying and preparing priority investments and; developing sustainable management and financial arrangements.
Lessons Learned
Following lessons can be drawn from the project so far (March 2007): * The project has been able to strengthen the regional network of technical experts working on groundwater issues. The regional meeting organized is the first time many of the experts had met since the break-up of the Soviet Union; * There is a lack and/or absence of valid and reliable data and this will affect the quality of project deliverables; * There is no capacity to undertake integrated management of water resources at the basin level but, also given the current evel of management/regulation, it is not clear that it is implementable in the short to medium term; * Lack of funds and understanding of importance of groundwater monitoring among decision makers are the main reasons why GW monitoring has been abandoned in Kura-Aras basin countries since early 90ies; * There is lack of clear vision of good management of water resources and absence of national and a regional strategies;
Objectives of the Sida Component: * Identification of National Legal-Institutional and Policy needs for Integrated Management of the Kura River Basin; * Background Analyses of the Kura River Basin (feedback to TDA): Water quality and quantity; Major ecosystems; Socio-economic trends, driving forces and pressures on the basin’s degradation; Existing water infrastructure * Identification of Optimal Institutional arrangement for the management of the Basin; * Development of National Action Plans
This project component is an integral part of the UNDP/GEF Project entitled "Reducing Trans-boundary Degradation of the Kura-Aras River Basin", focusing on i) Public involvement and Stakeholder Participation, ii) Community-based demonstration projects, and iii) Integration of transboundary aquifer aspects into the project activities.
The specific objective for public involvement and stakeholder participation, and development of community based demonstration projects of this component are:
To support and contribute to country wide, stakeholder ownership of the basin planning process thus ensuring its sustainability and country commitment.
The project outcomes, verify achievement of this objective, are:
1. Active regional participation of NGO and other civil society organisations in the planning process engaged at the government and the grass-roots levels, capable of advocating the wishes of a broad spectrum of society.
2. A planning process which consults and involves stakeholders at all levels and the active participation of those stakeholders in implementing the resultant plans.
These outcomes will be met through three related outputs: 1. Creation of a region-wide NGO forum resultant of the regional meetings 2. Development of pilot projects that have an emphasis on public involvement, including a trans-boundary public involvement project to be implemented in the early stages of the full project 3. Creation and support for the regional Stakeholder Advisory Group in conjunction with the TDA – SAP process and promotion of its meaningful and active participation in decision-making during the TDA/SAP/NAP formulation.
The CEP aims at Sustainable development of the Caspian environment, including living resources and water quality, protecting human health and ecological integrity for the sake of future generations.
The CEP's mission is to assist the Caspian littoral states to achieve the goal of environmentally sustainable development and management of the Caspian environment for the sake of long-term benefit for the Caspian inhabitants.
Lessons Learned
See also attached files below (Action Reflection Notes)
Artificial spawning of Rutilus frisii kutum (Kamenskii, 1901) autumn form
MSGP-IR05-04
Project Summary: Kutum is an exclusive and mono-type fish species inhabit in southern Caspian sea, its harvest range is between 8000-9000 tons annually, Second in rank after Kilka fishery in Iran. Kutum capture fishery grown well by restocking hatchery based fingerlings which are produced from spring form stock. Autumn form Kutum which was abundant in past years now diminished drastically. The endangering autumn for need rehabilitation procedures for enhancement, rare remaining tiny population should be captured in wild for hatchery production in a sea-ranching programmer. If this practice are performed autumn form Kutum will be restored at the same time its fishery will improve and the most needed economical relieve for fishermen strata will be achieved.
Background and problem statement: Kutum is an exclusive and mono - type fish species inhabit in Southern Caspian Sea, its harvest range is between 8000-9000 tons in a year, nearly 60% of the income of Bony fish fishery produced by kutum fishery. The stock of this species reduced drastically in 1982 and the catch slumped to the less than 1000 tons in a year. Kutum spawning grounds deterioration, illegal catch, lack of restocking program was the main cause of the decline. As has been known, kutum formed by two type of population, autumn and spring strain. The autumn form as phytophilous fish enter in southern inflowing rivers of Caspian during November till March, while spring form as lithophilous run at the beginning of March until late May. The autumn form kutum stay in rivers until reaching sexual maturity, but environment degradation of spawning ground diminished its population, drastically. Therefore, the conservation of autumn form became a necessity. By its sea-ranching not only its population would be preserved it may also improve its fishery. It is worth to be mentioned, by the effect of Caspian Sea Bony fishes Research Center’s experts in 1983, artificial spawning and releasing the fries to the sea were commenced and the catch steadily improved. But all activities concerning restocking of kutum concentrated in spring form, as at present about 150 million its fries are released into sea for restocking, therefore, and emergency research planning are needed to rehabilitate the autumn form too. Achieving a well bio-normative for artificial spawning of autumn form a action plan not only help Iranian state fishery it is also possibly contribute neighboring Caspian states.
Goal and objective: Hatchery production of autumn strain of kutum for conservation and the protection of different races of this fish species recover genetic resources of kutum stock in Caspian sea, also contribute to the enhancement of fish production including improve fishery economy in the region.
Project Summary Historically the first full-scaled industrial oil-field development across the Absheron Peninsula of Azerbaijan was launched over 130 years ago. More than 1 billion tons of “black gold‿ has been extracted in this region since that time. However, the improper technology of oil production, transportation and refinery resulted in uncontrolled contamination of ground and water ecosystems. In particular, the topsoil within the adjacent to the Baku administration area is featured by formation of a man-caused desert without any vegetation. The area polluted by oil and oil products has a strong impact on all the elements of ecosystems including ground water that ultimately brings pollutants into the coastal water of the Caspian, air and surface water. The artificial oil–saturated lakes has been arisen in the vicinity of these old on-land oil fields (Binagadi, Surahany, Bibi-Eeybat) where the former fertile land once was covered by numerous vineyards and fig tree orchards. In view of this, the oil clean up of man-caused ecosystems and particularly, topsoil clean up appears to be one of the most important problems to be solved.
The target of this project is focused on elimination of pollutants across about 1 he site(s) on the Absheron Peninsula. The major objectives fixed in the framework of project implementation are focused on the use of a state-of-the-art technologies and bio-products for cleaning up oil contaminated soils and the final results will serve to predetermine the environmental and technological feasibility of the technology in question.
Background and Problem Statement It is well known that there exists today a great mass of oil-polluted soil in Azerbaijan, especially on the Absheron Peninsula and on some of the on-shore oil fields not far from the Caspian shore. In fact, thousands of hectares of soil across the Absheron Peninsula are contaminated by oil and oil products. Soils polluted with heavy metals and other contaminants are also widespread in the Caspian region, and oil polluted soil is a serious problem not only in Azerbaijan, but in Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran as well. Although there have been a number of initiatives to deal with the oily soil problem here in Azerbaijan, to date no concrete operational measures have been undertaken to actually clean these soils in an environmentally friendly and economical manner.
This pilot project will develop a strategy for and demonstrate the feasibility of cleaning up territories contaminated by hydrocarbons, heavy metals and other hazardous substances. The sites in Buzovna and Mashtagi districts at the Absheron peninsula will be investigated and samples of soil, water and air analyzed. Based on an assessment of available technologies and products for cleaning up contaminated soil, several pilot clean-up operations will be performed. The effect of the clean-up operations will be monitored and trees will be planted on some of the cleaned site. The economic potential of alternative option for sustainable use of cleaned territory will also be assessed.
The identified major objectives for implementation of the proposed project include the use of state-of-the-art technologies for cleaning up oil-contaminated soils. Final results will help to assess environmental and technological aspects as well as economical efficiency of the technology applied. All the clean up activities will be carried out under regulated physic-chemical parameters. The clean up process will be checked up through continuous monitoring, both chemical and biological. The efficiency index for the clean up process will be determined by degradation of 95-98% hydrocarbons comparing to its background content in the soil. The project results may be used in the framework of large-scaled pilot projects not only in Azerbaijan but also in other arid zones of all the Caspian countries.
Goal and Objectives The main goal of this pilot project is to demonstrate the feasibility of and evaluate remediation technologies for cleaning up and rehabilitate contaminated site(s) on the Absheron peninsula in an environmentally friendly and economical manner.
Within the framework of this environmental assessment and pilot clean up project we will:
• Describe the actual ecological situation on a number of contaminated sites in Absheron and assess the technical, operational and economical aspects of appropriate clean-up technologies; • Perform a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the contaminants in soil, water and the atmosphere of the project site(s); • Demonstrate the feasibility by performing a small-scale pilot clean up of the contaminated site(s) and measure the effect; • Establish a strategy to clean and rehabilitate the site to a defined level of contaminants; • Contribute to enhancement of environmental management within the framework of the policies of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources; • Increase the ecological awareness in the population.
The Upper Syr Darya basin is threatened by the lack of a coordinated water management strategy that integrates land and water use in a sustainable manner. This project, in coordination with the UNDP Energy and Environment Practice and the UNDP, UNEP, OSCE and NATO Environmental and Security (ENVSEC) initiative will address transboundary integrated land and water management through a dual prong approach. The first part is preparation of a transboundary diagnostic analysis complemented by a stakeholder analysis and causal chain analysis that will assist in development of a set of eco-system quality objectives (EQOs) that will serve as the basis for the regional strategic action programme and the national action plans. The second part of this approach is the testing of these EQOs as instruments for sustainable use of land and water resources in the region. These EQOs will be scaleable for the whole region to down to small villages. Once these EQOs are established, two community level demonstration projects that emphasize issues of sustainable development in transboundary cooperation in water resource utilization and economic development will be implemented to test their practicality. The projects will be monitored and evaluated for their application throughout the basin.
Given that Amu-Daria is the main feed forto the agricultural sectors of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, a major potential source of Tajikistan’s hydro-energy, and in view of current and potential economic development in the northern Afghanistan, the issue of water management is regarded as an environment and security concern that affects both land and water resources in the basin, socio-economic conditions of the local communities, and eventually international relations among countries of the basin.
Against the background of the work of ENVSEC initiative in Central Asia and its extensive relations with the Governments of the region, it is proposed to undertake a detailed assessment of water management and quality situation in the upper Amu-Daria river basin with a particular focus on the environment-security implications of projected developments as well as on identifying opportunities to strengthen basin-wide cooperation around common issues. It is expected that the assessment shared by the Governments will result both in a clearer understanding of security aspects of water management and pollution issues in the basin, and in identification/ scoping of follow-up interventions where some of the risks as well as cooperation opportunities can be addressed in a practical manner.
The assessment will also directly help strengthen capacities of involved local and regional institutions and promote policy dialogue among the parties sharing the basin.
Project deliverables:
* In-depth assessment of the situation (desk study and a published assessment report) * Improved capacities in Amu-Daria basin countries for assessing environment and security linkages * Increased awareness of the issues and env.-sec. linkages locally and internationally * Proposals for follow up action for hot-spots
In the framework of the development of institutional infrastructure for river basin man-agement purposes, the 5 Tisza countries find it crucial to pay more attention to the inte-gration of the Agricultural Sector in river basin management activities and as such pro-mote the integration of rural water management in river basin management activities.
The project will therefore develop methods, instruments and procedures for this integra-tion; inform relevant staff of the ministries and local and regional water management authorities and other stakeholders on the existence of the developed methodology (dis-semination); and train respective stakeholders (mainly the staff of the local and regional water management authorities) in their use. The methods, instruments and procedures will be tested in one or two pilot areas (most likely in the Ukrainian-Hungarian and Romanian-Hungarian border regions) in order to assure practicability.
The concrete outputs of the project will be a set of manuals on aforementioned methods, instruments and procedures; a number of staff of local and regional water regulatory bodies trained on the use of these manuals; and all stakeholders (ministry staff, local and regional water regulatory bodies, water users in the mentioned pilot areas) properly informed on their existence by active dissemination of project results.
The overall objective is to enhance water management cooperation among Sava countries using an integrated water management approach as outlined in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and ICPDR issue papers.
The specific objectives of this project are as follows: * To support the capacities of the Sava Commission being responsible for transboundary coordination of water management activities in the Sava River Basin; * To train and strengthen personal and institutional capacities in B&H, Croatia and S&M needed for the preparation of Sava RBM Plan and implementation of WFD; * To implement key principles of WFD in three pilot river basins (Kupa, Vrbas and Kolubara) aiming at identifying a harmonised methodology that can be applied in a generic style to other sub-basin of Danube river basin in general and Sava river basin in particular. * To generate clear and comprehensible feed-back to ICPDR and/or UNDP/GEF project-related activities on the preparation of Sava RBM Plan; * To identify the most fruitful synergy between this project and other ongoing projects relevant for the implementation of WFD in the Sava river basin (UNDP/GEF project aimed at developing Sava RBM Plan, CARDS national projects, EAR's projects in S&M; ISPA project in Slovenia, etc.) * To raise awareness and knowledge about the EU-WFD in the beneficiary countries in general and among the local water users in particular.
The project is designed to promote crossborder environmental projects in the southern Caucasus as well as encouraging cooperation between transnational environmental NGOs. In particular, it focuses on promoting environmental education, environmental legislation, water management and health, launching calls for tender for projects in various problem areas. Local NGOs can tender for these projects and implement them if their bid is succcessful. At local level, the project is supervised by the Regional Environmental Center for Caucasus (RECC) and the International Grants Committee (IGC).
The project goal is to increase the dialogue for sustainable water management between representatives in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the riparian states of the South Caucasus, and to encourage bilateral actions on the sustainable use of natural resources.
The general activities include support to the appropriate agencies in each country for:
* Monitoring, data exchange, and training in each country, * Integrated river basin planning in bilateral pilot areas, and * Institutional framework for addressing water policy issues in the region.
The project activities have been successful in increasing sustainable water management among the stakeholders in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in:
* Monitoring and Data Exchange - provided practical demonstration projects that restarted the monitoring programs, and developed and implemented a common database for web-based data sharing in the region; * Training Programs - developed an extensive training program at the local and national levels for basic and advanced data management, geographic information systems, and web site development, including a basin model of the Debed River in Armenia; * Integrated River Basin Planning - increased understanding of effective water management in the Khrami-Debed River basin, and included the completion of seven (7) prefeasibility evaluation reports and 70 grants that increased the effective participation of stakeholders in river basin planning issues; * Institutional and Legal Framework - provided policy support for sustainable water management that addressed and prioritized water issues with the extensive collaboration of counterpart agencies, other donors, and project implementers in the region; * Basin Council Development - initiated stakeholder meetings in the river basins that included the preparation of registration documents and support for the establishment of basin councils that resulted in the formal registration of three new basin council organizations at the grass-roots level; and * Leveraging of Support - leveraged support from other contractors and donors to continue the public awareness in the basin areas, to conduct a study tour on basin management in the US, and to consider the funding of the prefeasibility evaluations in a phased program.
The development objective of the sub-regional work programme: Acceleration of the implementation of the IWRM 2005 target in Central Asia.
The outputs foreseen are: * Sub-regional report on progress on IWRM 2005 Target and IWRM Planning * Completed national road maps/work plans for implementation of the IWRM target (for three countries: Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). * Needs assessment for support to implementation of IWRM reforms as identified in road maps and work plans. * Capacity built on IWRM planning for key water managers and decision makers
Through the Central Asia Mountain Programme (CAMP), Switzerland contributes to the sustainable development of the mountain regions of Central Asia. The long-term aim is to preserve natural living conditions. The programme is active in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan und Kazakhstan. Its beneficiaries are the increasingly poor inhabitants of the Tien-Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. The first CAMP phase created the prerequisites for enabling communes and public and private institutions to implement concrete activities, for instance in connection with agriculture and forestry, community development, health, energy, infrastructure or tourism. Through advice and further training, the project boosts the technical skills of various population groups, improves the production and marketing of commercial goods or builds up partnerships with other regions and countries. A main office in Bishkek and branches in Dushanbe and Almaty coordinate CAMP's activities. The local project partners are academic institutions, local NGOs, advice bureaux or communes. The condition of natural resources, such as water, soil or diversity of flora and fauna, is deteriorating fast in the mountain areas of Central Asia, and social, ethnic-cum-religious and military tensions make the situation even more acute.
The project covers new management of the water supply in the Ferghana Valley where locals are battling with excessive salinity, desiccation and declining agricultural fertility. Part of the responsibility for these phenomena lies primarily with uneconomic irrigation systems where approximately 50 percent of the water goes to waste. Under this project, the aim is to identify ways of saving water and increasing soil fertility, as well as improving water management in the countries concerned – Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Measures became imperative because a drop of up to 50% in crop yield has resulted in food shortages and triggered a sharp increase in food imports. The Ferghana Valley, which in itself is very fertile, has a fairly high population density of 900 people per square kilometre. During the initial phase of the project, the legal, financial and institutional situation in the region was studied, the necessary measures determined and possible donors pinpointed. In the second phase, which is still devoted to planning, the initial results will be presented to the project partners and the authorities before the projects themselves are addressed. The project is being conducted in conjunction with the local organization BVO Syr Darya, the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination, the Scientific Information Centre and the International Water Management Institute.
The Project Phase III consolidates, strengths and disseminates the new institutional arrangements and improvements in the field of water and land productivity achieved within Phase II and intensifies the vertical integration of different Project components. In this context the emphasis will be focused on organizational capacity building.
The Project develops the principles and methods of sustainable financing system at canals, WUA and farms levels. This activity will include in discussing issues related to low farm gate prices and production quotas in a political dialogue with the governments and analyzing possibilities to introduce innovative financial tools for financing rehabilitation and improvement works at WUAs and farms levels.
Development of cooperation network with other donors and project will become more essential during Phase III. This will include dissemination of know-how and IWRM principles developed during Phase II within of other donors' projects as well as a coordinated approach to a political dialogue with the governments.
; Press Release on the occasion of launching Phase IV (1 May 2008 - 31 Dec 2010), Feb 2008: : The goal of the IWRM project is to improve and reorganize the institutional and managerial methods of water distribution in the Ferghana Valley. The project mainly addresses the possibilities for water saving, improving agricultural productivity, organizing water administrations, promoting and institutional building-up of the new public - private participation forms and the improvement of water allocation mechanisms among the users and between the three countries.
: Overall, the project aims to contribute to more secure livelihoods, increased environmental sustainability and reduce water allocation disputes and supports the agricultural restructuring in Central Asian countries through improved management of water resources in the Ferghana valley.
: So far three phases of the project have already been successfully implemented. During the Phase I, a detailed analysis of the legal, institutional, economic-financial and managerial issues, as well as an analysis and evaluation of earlier experiences, methodologies and systems developed by other donors and regional and state organizations in the water management sector, was carried out.
: Major achievements of the project during phase two were the increased awareness amongst the policy makers about the principles of IWRM, improved water distribution along canals, demonstrated bottom–up approach, demonstrated potential for increasing yields and water productivity by up to 30 percent. Throughout the third project phase the efforts have been made to improve efficiency of modern governance policies, management procedures and institutional arrangements introduced at the national, regional and local levels during the second phase. The project also focuses on expansion of improved irrigation management practices and strengthening cooperation with other IWRM projects in the region.
: In this phase the project puts greater emphasis on the reform of the water policies at the national level. As a result, innovative solutions for irrigation canal management and sustainable water user associations and effective methods for sustainable financing of the system at the canal, WUA and farm level shall be developed and introduced.
This project aims to train 810 hydrometeorologists in five countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turmenistan), 500 of them in the national hydrometeorological centres of these five countries, 300 in a total of 60 survey stations and 10 in the Regional Centre for Hydrometeorology. The hope is that assistance with staff training and organization will promote effective, sustainable use of water. Action was needed because only few of the 1500 survey stations operated under Soviet rule still provide reliable data about water volumes and quality. Statistically speaking, the target region of Central Asia has enough water. However, to use these resources efficiently and effectively, the end consumers of hydrometeorological data (government organizations, water companies, energy producers, transport companies, farms) require reliable figures and information. The project is being conducted in cooperation with the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) agencies – NGOs – in the five target countries.
Against the background of the work of ENVSEC initiative in Central Asia and its extensive relations with the Governments of the region, it is proposed to undertake a detailed assessment of water management and quality situation in the upper Amu-Darya river basin with a particular focus on the environment and security implications of projected developments as well as on identifying opportunities to strengthen basin-wide cooperation around common issues.
The project will strive to achieve the following objectives*: * strengthen understanding of environment-security risks and linkages in the Amu- Darya basin among target groups, policy-makers and the population; * improve cooperation on specific environment-security issues among states of the basin * Initiate remediation and other activities to address priority sources of tension and risk
The report is addressed to all the stakeholders in the process of implementing andmonitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in the countries of Centraland Eastern Europe and the CIS, and in particular the Governments (top politiciansand decision makers), Civil Society and International Community.
This two-volume document aims primarily to help the World Bank fill that gap, and also toprovide a framework for more detailed work and country dialogue on water resourcesmanagement issues at the country and at sub-regional levels.
The purpose of this paper is to provide additional visibility to the particularly serious problems that exist in the rural water supply and sanitation sector in EECCA.
Unleashing entrepreneurship, by removing legal, financial and operational constraints, is an alternative path toward reaching the water and sanitation targets set out under the MDGs and beyond.
Outcome of an expert consultation in the framework of WHO-EURO's work (in cooperation with WHO-HQ and OECD) to complement the WHO-UNICEF Water Supply and Sanitation Program with indicators that also show the performance of the utilities (and thus would give a more true picture on the status of WSS in the region).
Study on “Status and plans of EECCA (States of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia)in fulfilling the WSSD target on IWRM-plans by 2005” was commissioned by DHI, Denmark inpreparation to High-level meeting on EECCA component of EU Water Initiative (Moscow, 26 –27 February 2004).
Conclusions: Water, energy and environmental sustainability in Central Asia are inseparably interlinked and have very significant region-wide dimensions that call for regionally coordinated action.First, uncoordinated and competing priorities for water use between upstream and downstream riparian states along the major trans-boundary rivers waste finite water resources, invite investments that are suboptimal from a regional perspective, increase the level of tension and risk of conflict between countries and local communities, and exacerbate the degradation of other environmental assets such as land, forests and wildlife.Second, perverse agricultural policies and wasteful irrigation and drainage management practices are at the core of the region’s water problems and cause substantial losses in agricultural productivity.
This status report "IWRM Principles Implementation in the Countries of Central Asia and Caucasus" has been prepared as the regional contribution to activity co-ordinated by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) that is preparing the global review, which is to show the process of developing the national integrated water resources management and efficient water use plans by different countries.
The purpose of conducting a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) is to scale the relative importance of sources and causes, both immediate and root, of transboundary waters problems and to identify potential preventive and remedial actions.
This two-volume report aims to summarize key strategic directions for water resource management at the nation and transboundary levels for the SEE region.
Almost five years after a cyanide spill from a gold mine in northern Romania travelled down the Tisza river in Hungary, leaving a trail of ecological destruction in its wake, local communities in the region remain at risk from floods and industrial pollution.
Under Component D (Testing innovative approaches to strengthen implementation of the International Waters portfolio) of GEF IW:LEARN 2004-2008 Portfolio, Activity D2 aims to provide face-to-face and virtual training, knowledge sharing and capacity building cooperation between stakeholders in Southeastern Europe and Mediterranean sub-region.
The DABLAS Task Force brings together the Black Sea and Danube countries with the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), the Black Sea Commission, the IFIs (EBRD, EIB, World Bank), the European Commission, the Stability Pact, interested EU Member States and other bilateral donors to facilitate communication and coordination and result in a more focused approach to the protection of water and project featuring. DG Environment of the European Commission holds the secretariat of the Task Force.
Caucasus
Project web-site of the USAID South Caucasus Water Program (SCWP)
Recently updated (Sep 06) with a “Maps” page (The dynamic Internet Map Services (IMS) will be available via SCWP web site in early 2007)
