REGIONAL ACTION PROGRAMME ON WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

CIHEAM/MAIB, Italy

Abstract

Water scarcity is one of the major limiting factors of agricultural, economic and social development in the arid and semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean. In the region, we are confronted with increasing population, fast urbanisation and the associated expansion of economic activities, all of them require more water, putting strain on the already limited and fragile land and water resources. An increasing number of developing Countries of the Mediterranean are approaching full utilisation of their available water resources, which means that there is no more room to increase the supply and that water demand management is the clue issue of new water strategies. Taking into considerations the above-mentioned aspects of land and water situation in the arid and semi-arid Mediterranean regions, the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari in co-operation with National Water Research Centre (Cairo, Egypt) and with many other Southern Mediterranean Institutions has started in 1998 the Regional Action Programme (RAP) on Water Resource Management within the frame of the European Union DGI programme. The RAP will last for four years and will aim to elaborate the concept of demand management into implementation policies, programmes and actions, particularly in irrigation sector, as the main consumer of water (about 80%) with major water losses (more than 50%) and where huge water saving could be achieved. The activities within the RAP Programme (1998-2002) are mainly oriented to the sustainable use of water resources in irrigation sectors emphasising the following major technical issues:

• Non conventional water resources practices and management for sustainable use;
• Water use efficiency;
• Design, management and optimisation through performance analysis of collective irrigation systems;

and the aid to decision making through the themes of:

• Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM); and
• Economic aspects of water mobilisation and use.

The RAP includes also the logistic support to the Southern Mediterranean countries to introduce and to enhance Information and Communication Technology and on-distance learning. Actions under the technical part of the Programme are developed through the activities of the Land and Water Resources Management Collaborative Network of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari and the Collaborative Research Project "Water Saving in Irrigated Agriculture (WASIA)", which is under implementation in eight different experimental sites located in Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia and Syria. The sub-programme on "Participatory Irrigation Management" (PIM) is developed in cooperation with the Economic development Institute of the World Bank with the aim to promote training of high ranking civil servants and exchange of information and experiences among decision makers, senior management and politicians in the Mediterranean region. The sub-programme on "Economic aspects of water mobilization and use" provides an aid to decision makers, politicians and high technical staff on two important and critical issues as they are water valuation and cost recovery and water use and allocation efficiency. The overall objectives of the RAP are to improve the institutional capacities, the development of human resources, strengthening regional co-operation, technology transfer and exchange of experiences between the Southern and Northern part of the Mediterranean through training, promotion of research, networks and communication of scientific and technical information in the field of water resources and irrigation based on the concept of "centres without walls".