A newsletter for the “Water Cycle and Soil Related Aspects” activities in the
European Commission Directorate
General for Research
Newsletters Subscription Contributions
This issue is only published as HTML version, please click here if you have any visualisation problem
Editors welcome:
A very happy new year to all our readers.
Welcome to the 16th issue of Water and Soil Times, the first one of 2006. This issue includes news on topics such as: past and coming calls for proposals, preparation of the Seventh Framework Programme, next events on water-related issues.
After two and half years of existence we are proud to announce that the newsletter is now distributed to more than 2,500 subscribers. Therefore EC-supported R&D projects are kindly invited to use it as a vehicle for wide dissemination of their activities and results. If you would like to see any particular items included, please contact the Editor (see references below).
You are welcome to forward Water and Soil Times to anyone you think may be interested in the contents. If you have received it from someone else and would like to sign up yourself, please go to the web site: http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/mailing_en.cfm
FP6 - Global Change and Ecosystems: Evaluation of the 4th Call for proposals:
The evaluation stage of the 4th Call for proposals of the FP6 priority “Global Change and Ecosystems”, of which deadline was on 3 November 2005, has been finalised for the traditional instruments (Specific Targeted Research Projects, Specific Support Actions, Coordination Actions). A total of 219 proposals for these instruments was evaluated, of which 45 proposals are expected to be retained for negotiation. Successful proposals represent a total potential investment of 117 million Euro, for which the EU would provide 85 million Euro of contribution.
The first evaluation stage for the new instruments (Integrated Projects and Networks of Excellence) was also completed. A total of 68 proposals was evaluated. Coordinators of the 30 proposals retained in stage 1 were invited to submit a complete stage 2 proposal by 2 March 2006.
It is estimated that the first contracts related to this call will be signed as from June 2006 for the traditional instruments and from October 2006 for the new instruments.
FP6 - Policy-oriented research – Scientific support to policies: A new call for proposals:
A new call for proposals (identifier FP6-2005-SSP-5A) of the FP6 priority 8.1 “Policy-oriented research – Scientific support to policies” was published on CORDIS on 22 December 2005, with a closure date on 22 March 2006 and an estimated budget of 77 Million Euro.
The priority “Sustainable management of Europe’s natural resources” addresses:
- The area “Environmental assessment (soil, water, air, noise, including the effects of chemical substances)”, including topics such as:
Task 4. Ecological status assessment - filling the gaps
Task 5. Operational interface linking scientific knowledge to the implementation and development of water policies
Task 6. Assessing the health risks of environmental stressors
Task 7. Characterisation of mining waste
- The area “Assessment of environmental technologies for support of policy decisions, in particular concerning effective but low-cost technologies in the context of fulfilling environmental legislation”, which is addressed by the following topics:
Task 1. Measuring eco-innovation
Task 2. Identification and assessment of training needs, methods and activities for the wider use of environmental technologies in key sectors
Task 3. Comparison and assessment of funding schemes for the development of new activities and investments in environmental technologies
Under another priority, a contribution to the Water Framework Directive and complementary measures including civil protection to be taken in the field of cultural heritage has been foreseen within the area “The protection of cultural heritage and associated conservation strategies”, one of its tasks being “To help protect cultural heritage from environmental damage particularly in relation to flooding”.
The full details of the call, including the tasks description “Detailed background for call SSP-5A”, can be found at:
http://fp6.cordis.europa.eu.int/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.FP6DetailsCallPage&call_id=268
FP6 - Global Change and Ecosystems: A coming call to promote international co-operation:
The Commission is planning to launch in February 2006 a dedicated call aiming to give ongoing selected projects of the priority “Global Change and Ecosystems” the possibility to involve in their consortia researchers, teams and institutions from INCO target countries (ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/fp6/docs/wp/sp1/sp1_annexc_wp_200213_en.pdf), which will benefit from Community financial contribution. The overall budget expected to be available for environmental projects within this dedicated call is of about 3.7 Million Euro.
International scientific co-operation represents an important dimension of the Sixth Framework Programme, to allow European actors to have access to knowledge and expertise existing elsewhere in the world and to contribute to the resolution of the major global issues. General information on the international scientific co-operation activities of the Commission is available at:
http://cordis.europa.eu.int/inco/home_en.html
FP6 - Global Change and Ecosystems: Launch of new projects:
Many Specific Targeted Research Projects which answered successfully the 3rd Call for proposals of the priority “Global Change and Ecosystems” have recently started:
Other new running projects addressing the topics of the 3rd Call are:
For further information about these projects, please contact the coordinators.
FP7 preparation - Agreement on Financial Perspectives and publication of the Commission proposal for the Rules for participation:
On 17 December 2005 European leaders agreed on a maximum EU budget of just over 862 billion Euro for the period of the Union’s next so-called Financial Perspective (http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/FinancialPerspective_16Dec.pdf). Compared to the Commission proposal (excluding the European Development Fund and the EU Solidarity Fund), the cut is equal to 132 billion Euro.
In terms of its impact on EU research and development activities, the compromise falls short of the doubling of the FP7 budget originally put forward by the Commission. However the final agreement, as proposed by the UK Presidency ahead of the Brussels summit, states that “EU funding for research should [...] be increased such that by 2013 the resources available are 75 per cent higher in real terms than in 2006”.
Another step towards the launch of FP7 was the publication of the Commission proposal for the FP7 Rules for Participation on 23 December 2005. This document, which defines the administrative, financial and legal implementation framework for FP7, contains several new elements for simplification of procedures compared to the past Framework Programmes, such as:
The full text is available at:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2005/com2005_0705en01.pdf
The Commission proposal will now go through the co-decision procedure for approval and adoption by the European Parliament and Council.
Info on EU research on the Net:
A list of web sites at which information on European research in general and on environmental topics is available at:
http://forum.europa.eu.int/Public/irc/rtd/eesdwatkeact/info/data/Newsletter_sourceinfo.htm
If you are looking for other specific information on water and soil-related aspects, you may also find the following sites of interest:
- The EUGRIS portal (www.eugris.info), which is a major platform for soil and water information with a content including over 80 general technical and six country specific zones, as well as over 2,000 resources (such as documents and web links), more than 40 links to funding programmes, over 300 links to projects and organisations, and a glossary of more than 400 terms. EUGRIS has an open news system and calendar of conferences and training courses. EUGRIS was built and initiated as an FP5 Project, which completed in October 2005. However the web sites continues to be supported by its project team and is open for both users and providers of information;
- The EU Water Initiative (EUWI) portal (http://www.euwi.net). The EU Water Initiative was launched during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in 2002, with the aim to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and WSSD targets for drinking water and sanitation. The portal includes information on EUWI partnership and activities, so as a platform to share and exchange knowledge on research results, concepts and experiences by the EUWI participants.
Commission proposes European strategy for the sustainable use of natural resources:
On 21 December 2005 the European Commission proposed a new approach aiming at more sustainable use of natural resources. The impacts of unsustainable resource use include e.g. climate change as a result of fossil fuel use and overexploitation of clean water, soil and certain fish stocks. The objective of the strategy proposed by the Commission is to reduce environmental impacts associated with resource use in Europe and globally in a growing economy.
The strategy focuses on improving knowledge, developing monitoring tools and fostering strategic approaches in specific economic sectors, Member States and internationally. Taking a time horizon of 25 years, the strategy proposes a number of specific measures including, among others, a Data Centre run by the European Commission to bring together all available knowledge on natural resources and inform decision-makers. The development of national measures and programmes by Member States under the guidance of a High Level Forum with representatives from the Commission, Member States and other stakeholders is also proposed.
The full strategy is available at:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/natres/index.htm
Review of international S&T cooperation projects addressing integrated water resources management:
Integrated water resources management is a key concept of the Water Framework Directive and the European Union has supported some 60 international S&T cooperation projects addressing this issue over the last 10 years.
As part of its commitment to the EU Water Initiative, the European Commission has invited 10 renowned European and international experts to review what lessons can be learnt from those projects, how much research results have been used to inform practice and how this should inform future cooperation in integrated water resources management.
This international review is intended to be complementary to a more European-focused review process carried out under the auspices of the NeWater Project.
Their combined results and the wealth of experiences analysed will be presented at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City, 16-22 March 2006.
More info is available at: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/research/water-initiative/iwrm_review_en.html
European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry – Strategic Research Agenda finalised:
The European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry has finalised its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and related appendix. The SRA has been endorsed by more than 150 stakeholders from all over Europe participating in the 3rd Stakeholder Meeting of the Platform that was held in London, UK, on 25 November 2005.
One of the research priorities identified by the Strategic Research Agenda concerns new catalysts and catalytic concepts necessary to address issues such as purification of drinking water. According to the document, next generation catalysts will find increasing use in soil and water remediation technologies and will contribute to solve global environmental issues.
More info is available at: http://www.suschem.org
4th World Water Forum
16-22 March 2006, Mexico City, Mexico:
The 4th World Water Forum will take place in Mexico City on 16-22 March 2006 (info available at: http://www.worldwaterforum4.org).
Within this event, the Unit I.2 “Environmental Technologies and Pollution Prevention” of the European Commission - Directorate General Research will hold a session on “Knowledge generation and innovative technologies for the sustainable management of water resources - Concepts and tools developed and applied in the context of European Community’s funded research projects”.
The aim of the session is to articulate the multidisciplinary and multistakeholder concepts and tools for sustainable water resources management developed within projects funded under the EC Framework Programmes, to discuss lessons and experiences for the application of these tools in various European and other international catchments and to resent the proposed vision and strategic research agenda of the Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform (WSSTP) initiative.
More information on the session is available at:
http://www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx/home/detalle_sess.asp?cve_interest=443&lan=
3rd Harmoni-CA Forum & Conference
5-7 April 2006, Osnabrück, Germany:
The project Harmoni-CA (“Harmonised modelling tools for integrated basin management”) will hold its 3rd Forum & Conference in Osnabrück, Germany, on 5-7 April 2006.
The focus of this event is on the design of monitoring programmes and the involvement of interested parties in the Water Framework Directive implementation process.
The deadline for submitting abstracts for an oral presentation is closed, but posters of research projects aiming at supporting the WFD implementation with e.g. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools are still welcome. At the conference a limited number of consultants and producers of tools and technologies may present their experiences in supporting the WFD implementation.
More info is available at: http://www.harmoni-ca.info
Workshop of the SWIFT-WFD project in collaboration with the AQUATERRA project
15-16 May 2006, Barcelona, Spain:
The Specific Targeted Research Project SWIFT-WFD (“Screening methods for water data information in support of the implementation of the water framework directive”), in collaboration with the Integrated Project AQUATERRA (“Understanding river-sediment-soil-groundwater interactions for support of management of waterbodies (river basin & catchment areas)”, will hold a workshop entitled “Towards operational monitoring programmes and protocols for implementation of Water Framework Directive. Chemical analysis and data interpretation of priority and emerging pollutants at the river basin”.
Topics of the workshop will be: recent progress of the two projects on monitoring activities; immunochemical methods and bio-analysis; monitoring by chemical analysis; data treatment and interpretation. Call for oral and poster presentation is open till 1st April 2006.
More info is available at: http://www.swift-wfd.com
IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition
10-14 September 2006, Beijing, China:
The European Commission – Research Directorate General will be present at the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition to be held in Beijing, China, on 10-14 September 2006 (info at: http://www.iwa2006beijing.com).
The Unit I.2 “Environmental Technologies and Pollution Prevention” will be exhibiting at stand No. 247, in association with Unit I.3 “Management of natural resources and services” and Directorate N “International Scientific Cooperation”.
Information about the coming 7th Framework Programme and other activities, such as the EU Water Initiative, will be available at the stand. The results of the most successful past and on-going projects will be presented as well.
Due to its global focus and its strategic location in China, the exhibition is expected to strengthen the involvement of European and international actors in common water research initiatives.
For further information regarding the EC exhibition, please contact Mr. Avelino Gonzalez at: avelino.gonzalez-gonzalez@ec.europa.eu
MORE INFORMATION: click here
LEGAL NOTICE
The information and views set out in this newsletter are those of the author(s) and do not reflect necessarily the official opinion of the European Communities. Neither the European Communities institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made on the information contained therein. This newsletter may be freely distributed.
See also http://europa.eu.int/geninfo/disclaimer_en.htm
EDITOR:
European Commission
DG Research, Unit I02
Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Belgium © European Communities, 2005.
e-mail : Avelino.Gonzalez-Gonzalez@ec.europa.eu Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged