Michael Scoullos, Water resources management & BRs in the Mediterranean Venice, 16-17 December 2021 Overall responsibility for the views and opinions expressed in the slides is taken by the authors

1. Water resources management & BRs
in the Mediterranean
Prof. Michael Scoullos
Greek National Committee for MAB/UNESCO President
GWP-Med Chairman
MAB-IHP Regional Symposium:
Managing Water Resources in Biosphere Reserves in South East Europe
and the Mediterranean

2. The Mediterranean region is
recognised as a biodiversity
hotspot: its flora diversity is
outstanding with 15,000 to
25,000 species, 60% of
which are unique to the
region. About one third of
the Mediterranean fauna is
endemic.
The Mediterranean: a biodiversity hotspot

3. Mediterranean Biosphere Reserves, Marine Protected Areas,
Fisheries Restricted Areas, Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas and
priority areas for management
2019
2012

4. Observed changes in temperature and rainfall (1950-2018)
Source: MedECC (2020)

5. Water stress and its impacts in the Mediterranean
• Water resources in the Mediterranean are scarce. They are limited, unevenly distributed and often
mismatching human and environmental needs.
• Lack of tides in combination with multiple dams upstream result in accumulation of pollutants (particularly
trace metals and other pollutants) in vital lagoons and deltas.
• Approximately 180 million people in the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries suffer from water
scarcity.
• Climate change, in interaction with other drivers (mainly demographic and socio-economic developments),
has negative consequences for the water cycle in the Mediterranean Basin and its BRs, including:
 reduced runoff and groundwater recharge
 increased crop water requirements
 increased conflicts among users
 increased risk of overexploitation, salinization of
water aquifers and degradation
 increased of some types of pollution despite
improvements in other parts due to the expansion
of WWTP
Source: Xevgenos et al. 2017

6. 6 out of the 11 major -in
terms of discharge- rivers
in the Mediterranean are
transboundary
Sustainable water management is complicated by the transboundary nature of many river basins and aquifers,
common in Mediterranean countries
(18% of total renewable water resources originate outside the territories of the southern Mediterranean, 27% in eastern
Mediterranean countries)

7. Source: UNESCO 2016
In North Africa and the Middle East, transboundary shared aquifers of
fossil water (mean annual groundwater recharge <2mm/year) are the
main sources of freshwater

8. Strategies and policies for water resources management in
the Mediterranean should place WATER in the center of
Sustainable Development and utilize all categories of relevant
tools for their implementation
WATER WATER

9. This requires integrated approaches
• By interconnecting vital sectors outside the water box: the Water-Energy-Food-
Ecosystem Nexus
• By combining Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) to Integrated
Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Ecosystem based Approach (EcAp)
Ecosystem
Security
Food Security
Energy
Security
Water Security

10. This could be obtained by introducing
and implementing the Integrative
Methodological Framework (IMF)
IMF has been elaborated jointly by GWP-Med,
UNESCO IHP and UNEP MAP/PAP RAC and
endorsed by the Contracting Parties of the
Barcelona Convention as guideline.

11. Education and public awareness is the
prerequisite in creating the enabling
environment for integrated management
particularly by using BRs as laboratories
Nature based solutions, to a large extent, are
connected to the proper use of water in
conjunction with wise utilization of
ecosystems.

12. Samples of work on international cooperation
on water resources management
the experience of GWP-Med

13. • Joint body established
through the Drin MoU
became fully
operational
• Transboundary
Diagnostic Analysis
(TDA) developed and
adopted
• Strategic Action
Programme (SAP)
endorsed at ministerial
level; it further
operationalizes the Drin
MoU
• Concrete steps were
made for the
development and
negotiation of an
international agreement
for the management of
the Drin Basin

14. Analytical work and country rapprochement in the Orontes River

15. water security & climate resilience
in Med islands and coastal areas

16. NON CONVENTIONAL WATER RESOURCES (NCWR)
Non Conventional Water Resources, include the following:
• rain water harvesting,
• flood water retention, use and eventual recharge of aquifers,
• cleaning, management/reuse of grey water and waste waters,
• desalination of marine and brackish waters
• pumping fresh water from offshore springs

17. WHAT Technical
Solutions
Capacity
Building
Employability
Dialogue
Awareness
Raising
Education
Local Water Efficiency for Climate Adaptation
7+mil USD
7+ mil USD

18. Click to add text
Comparative Study prepared with the support of:
Initiative institutionally led by:
Comparative Study launched
within the framework of:
Water Diplomacy in the MENA Region:
Empowering Women is Key to Peacebuilding

19. Concluding remarks
• The Mediterranean is a hotspot for biodiversity, climate change and water scarcity
requiring primarily political will, but also both technical and educational interventions.
• Under changing environmental conditions, international cooperation is more
imperative than ever and could result in optimizing use of adaptation funds
• The Mediterranean is a proven laboratory of international/regional initiatives on
which further progress regarding water cooperation could be developed, particularly
within BRs and using them as useful entry points for collaboration.
• The role of UNESCO (IHP and MAB Program) in synergy with other UN and regional
organizations (e.g. UfM, UNEP/MAP, LAS) is of outmost importance
 Emphasis on adaptation to CC, capitalizing on “New Water” (NCWR)
 Implementation of the Integrated Methodological Framework (IMF) (IWRM,
ICZM and EcAp)
 Education for “New Mediterranean Water Culture”

20. WE NEED A NEW WATER CULTURE
For which we have the HYDRIA Virtual
Museum project of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY6f9iOtDos