UNU Update: Managing Shared Waters Conference

	UNU Update
	The newsletter of United Nations University and its network of research and training centres and programmes
		Issue 12: October - November 2001

INWEH to co-organize conference on
Managing International Shared Waters

Providing the international community with a contemporary assessment of the needs facing organizations and individuals working towards sustainable development in coastal zones, particularly in transboundary situations, is the key goal of a major conference entitled “Managing Shared Waters,” to take place June 24 to 28, 2002 in Hamilton, Canada.

Co-organized by the UNU International Network on Water, Environment and Health, Pollution Probe and the Coastal Zone Canada Association (CZCA), the initiative will assess future needs and provide new tools to those working in freshwater and marine coastal areas.

More than half the world’s population lives within 150 kilometers of a coastline. The limitations on progress towards sustainable development take many forms: unreliable information, inappropriate tools and methodologies, institutional frameworks that fail to support transboundary decision making; and inadequate products and services available locally.

Conference participants will evaluate past progress and future challenges in managing coastal ecosystems, including the great lakes of Africa and North America. They'll also take part in capacity building exercises and recommend strategies for filling identified needs.

The conference venue, in the Great Lakes basin, will allow participants to examine the Canadian/U.S. approach to protecting its shared freshwater system.

Invited to take part are those engaged in transboundary coastal water management, including representatives of government (national, provincial/state and local), academia, business, nongovernmental organization (NGOs), indigenous peoples, women and youth.

Background papers (including four case studies and an overview of results from four previous conferences hosted by the CZCA), a draft declaration, conference reports (including results of interactive workshops conducted to assess capacity needs), descriptions of tools and methodologies presented at the conference, and additional resource materials, will be prepared by UNU/INWEH and made available to participants.

For more information contact UNU/INWEH.

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