Valletta Forum 2009

Theme - Water: Management and Sustainable Capacity Development in the Mediterranean

With 3% of the world’s freshwater resources and more than half the world’s water poor population, the effects of climate change, shifting rainfall patterns, urban expansion, intensive agriculture, over-extraction from aquifers, mass tourism and pollution are fuelling a potential crisis in the Euro-Mediterranean region . It has been proposed that the ever increasing demand could be met by limiting environmental impact through a significant improvement in water management and sustainable capacity building.

The Valletta Forum seeks to investigate this proposal and this year is focused on the management and sustainable capacity development of water in the Mediterranean, where water has shaped the environment and economies since the earliest times. The outcome of the Forum will be the identification of unresolved issues and gaps in the transfer of technology related to the key themes and the development of appropriate action plans including specific projects.

The key technical subjects to be covered over the two days are:

• Sea-water desalinisation
• Water re-use
• Groundwater management

The 2009 Organising Committee:

• Dr. John Attard (Chairman), EuroMedITI Ltd (Malta)
• Prof. Stephen Calleya, MEDAC (Malta)
• Ambassador Magdy Hefny, RENEW (Egypt)
• Marco Cremona (Malta)
• Dr. George Attard, University of Malta (Malta)
• Gidon Bromberg, FOEME (Israel)