Non-Conventional Water Resources (NCWR) are increasingly utilised by many countries in the Mediterranean, offering opportunities to secure additional water sources, particularly when freshwater sources are not enough to safeguard sustainable service of needs.
Particularly in the islands, with limited freshwater resources, NCWR are critical to bridging the water budget deficit. Examples of such technologies and practices include the reuse of treated greywater and wastewater, rainwater harvesting, and stormwater collection, as well as desalination. These constitute not only solutions for water availability and climate change adaptation at the local level, but also opportunities to engage youth in green/blue jobs and entrepreneurship.
Investments in the water sector, and more specifically in NCWR applications, can offer equal opportunities for employment also to women and contribute to the prevention of migration in original countries and integration of migrants in transit and destination countries in the region.
The conference objectives are to:
- Elaborate on bottlenecks and policy recommendations on advancing the use of NCWR in the Mediterranean.
- Demonstrate sustainable water management practices and technologies in the Mediterranean region, based on experienced from the 10-year application of the Non Conventional Water Resources Programme.
- Share best practices and lessons learned from local applications in the Mediterranean region.
- Discuss ways to enhance awareness raising, stakeholders’ involvement and pilot application, including through corporate social responsibility programmes.
- Review the direct and indirect socio-economic benefits of creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in the water sector and specifically on NCWR applications, for youth.
- Provide a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue for advancing NCWR in the Mediterranean islands and coastal areas.
- Brainstorm on priorities, opportunities and needed synergies to promote the use of NCWR at the regional, sub-regional or trans-national level, including project ideas.
The Conference is a complementary activity to LIFE Integrated Project on “Optimising the implementation of the 2nd RBMP in the Malta River Basin District”, which is launched on May 9th, 2018. Participating stakeholders will have the opportunity to become part of the multistakeholder platform of the LIFE IP Programme, to ensure the continuation of an ongoing effort to safeguard water availability in coastal and insular areas.
Organisation
The conference is organised by the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and the Energy and Water Agency of Malta, in the frame of the “Non Conventional Water Resources Programme in the Mediterranean”, also known as Alter Aqua, supported by The Coca-Cola Foundation (www.gwpmed.org/NCWR).