The second WES Steering Committee meeting will now be organised on-line on Monday 23 November 2020. The Steering Committee will bring together the WES Water and Environment Focal Points from the Partner Countries, the European Commission, institutional partners, representatives of the new WES Demonstration projects and regional organisations. The meeting will be co-chaired by the Contracting Authority – the European Commission, Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). During the meeting, the progress of the project since the previous SCM (September 2019) and the way ahead will be discussed, leading to the endorsement of the project’s Workplan for the next twelve months.
WES project
The EU-funded Water and Environment Support project in the ENI Southern Neighbourhood region aims at protecting the environment and improving the management of scarce water resources in the Mediterranean. It tackles problems related to pollution prevention and water use efficiency. The four-year project was launched in May 2019 and is currently in the second year of its implementation.
WES operates as a regional support mechanism to the ENI Southern Partner Countries, supporting to creating an enabling environment, synergies and opportunities for collaboration in the fields of water and environment. A number of EU funded Demonstration Projects, which are focusing on the efficient use of water in the region, are also receiving technical support under WES. The project also supports the shift to a more sustainable consumption and production model and promotes an integrated and efficient management of water resources. It furthermore focuses on combatting plastic pollution and marine litter by finding ways to reduce single use plastics.
WES stakeholders
A wide range of national and regional stakeholders are involved in WES. They include the ministries in charge of water and environment, other national agencies, local authorities, educational and research institutes, the private sector, parliamentarians, Civil Society Organisations and the media. WES also has strong synergies with key regional bodies working on water and environment in the region such as the Union for the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations.
The WES project is implemented by a consortium that consists of a number of leading European and regional entities and comprises LDK Consultants Global EEIG (Leader), Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (ARC-SCP/RAC) of UN Environment/Mediterranean Action Plan, Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED), Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management (ACR+), CIHEAM – Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM Bari), Gopa Infra GmbH, Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE), Ramboll Denmark A/S and Royal HaskoningDHV.
