INDEX

MITIGATION MEASURES DEFINING GOOD ECOLOGICAL POTENTIAL FOR HEAVILY MODIFIED WATER BODIES (HMWBS) AND ARTFICIAL MODIFIED WATER BODIES (AWBS)
23 November 2007, Birmingham
(Posted 17 December 2007)

This Stakeholder Workshop, organised by UKTAG, provided a summary of the requirements to set the ecological objective of Good Ecological Potential (GEP) for HMWBs and AWBs under the WFD. The workshop presented the draft mitigation measures that are currently being trialled for inland navigation, ports, flood risk management and impoundments for water supply and hydropower.

Notes on the workshop and the presentations are available on the UKTAG website:
(http://www.wfduk.org./st_workshops)

WFD  2007 - FROM MONITORING TO PROGRAMMES OF MEASURES
24-25 October 2007, Brussels, Belgium
(Posted 17 December 2007)

Germany and the UK continued their traditional series of jointly organised technical seminars on water resources management. The workshop was hosted by the Water Working Group of the German Federal States (Länderarbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser – LAWA) in Brussels. The workshop focused on the exchange of information on approaches to key issues related to the implementation of the WFD in Germany and the UK. In particular, the following questions were addressed:

  • What different approaches are there for the use of environmental standards?
  • How will environmental objectives be set?
  • What is the current status of work on Programmes of Measures?

The workshop conclusions were presented at the Water Directors‘ meeting on 29-30 November 2007 in Lisbon.

The conclusions and a summary from the workshop are available on the Ecologic website:
(http://www.ecologic-events.de/wfd2007/en/index.htm)

THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE – WHAT IT MEANS FOR INLAND WATERWAYS AINA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
London, 27 September 2007
(Posted 17 December 2007)

Presentations given at the Association of Inland Navigation Authorities (AINA) Annual Conference by Rob Hitchen (Defra), Martin Booth (Environment Agency), Helen Dangerfield (Royal Haskoning), Jan Brooke (Environmental Consultant), Grahame Newman (British Waterways) and Trudi Wakelin (Broads Authority) can be viewed at the AINA website:

(http://www.aina.org.uk/work_programme/water_framework.html)

WATER UK CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
London, 26 September 2007
(Posted 17 December 2007)

Climate change and the water industry - mitigating impacts and adapting to change’, the conference’s opening address by Pamela Taylor, Water UK Chief Executive is available online at the Water UK Climate Change website:

(http://www.water.org.uk/home/policy/climate-change)

THE ENVECON 2007: APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
London, 23 March 2007

This conference, organised by the UK network of environmental economists (UKNEE), covered the following four main topics:

  • Economic Valuation - Testing the Theory
  • Water
  • Climate Change
  • Ecosystems and Biodiversity

The Water section included presentations on Pricing for Scarcity?,  Information-intensive valuation of complex natural resources: the case of groundwater, Disproportionate Costs in the EC-Water Framework Directive - The Concept and its Practical Implementation, Economic Evaluation of Inland Fisheries and Benefits and Costs of Groundwater Protection in Denmark.

The presentations can be downloaded from the UKNEE website:
(http://www.eftec.co.uk/UKNEE/past-conferences.htm)

WFD MEETS CAP – LOOKING FOR A CONSISTENT APPROACH
20 –21 September 2007, Paris, France
(Posted 30 October 2007)

In 2005-2006, the EU Strategic Steering Group on Agriculture (SSG) mainly focused its activity on identifying the gaps between WFD requirements and existing CAP. The level of analysis possible under the previous works of the SSG was limited as it was in advance of the river basin management plans and their associated programmes of measures. The conference provided a forum to discuss the different approaches (e.g. voluntary versus mandatory) as well as different types of measures (economic, technical).

The presentations and other relevant information are available on the Ecologic website:
(http://www.ecologic-events.de/cap-wfd/en/programme.htm)