Brussels, 11/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank is to host a conference on “sustainable water financing and climate change in the Mediterranean”, which began in Monaco on Monday morning. Debates will address the theme of sustainable cost recovery and financing of water services, water scarcity and climate change in the Mediterranean region. The main question to be raised is whether the private sector can contribute to more effective water use. In December 2008, a ministerial conference was held in Amman (Jordan), setting out the guidelines necessary for establishing a water strategy in the Mediterranean, which should be put to the heads of state and government at the end of 2010.
The EIB notes in a preparatory text for the conference that over 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to drinking water. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce this number. Attaining such an objective in the Mediterranean countries requires increased financing, the Bank says. It makes it one of the six priorities of its 2009-2011 action plan. During the last five years, it has stepped up lending in favour of this sector, with an average annual volume of €2.1 billion. Between 2003 and 2008, the FEMIP (financing instrument in the Mediterranean region managed by the EIB) granted loans totalling €692 million to support projects to make access to water resources easier. It also takes part in other avenues of reflection on the environment in the Euro-Mediterranean area and plays an active part in the Horizon 2020 initiative. This programme aims to reduce pollution in the Mediterranean by 2020. FEMIP has also carried out an assessment of the effect that climate change has on the environment and the direct consequences on human activity. It has begun a study to identify and eliminate obstacles that prevent broader use of waste water in agriculture. (F.B./transl.jl)