Document(s) 11 of 14

Recognizing that

• Governments in the Eastern Mediterranean region are increasingly cognizant of the fundamental importance of both surface and subsurface water resources for the economic, social, and cultural well-being of their people and for development in their region;

 
• A large portion of humanity has strong spiritual, cultural, and historical links with the region and, as such, is very keen to preserve and protect the health and integrity of its ecosystems, each of which is fundamentally dependent on water;

 
• There is growing national, regional, and international understanding of the increasing threat to precious water resources from local, regional, and international sources of pollution, including, inter alia, growing tourism, chemically dependent agriculture, and globalization of trade practices;

 
• Comprehensive ecosystems approaches and basin-wide management strategies have proven to be the most effective ways to protect and preserve natural resources in any part of the world and, most certainly, in the Eastern Mediterranean;

 
• Regional cooperation agreements and joint management in their implementation are the fairest and least conflictive way to protect, preserve, and equitably share transboundary water resources, as amply demonstrated by the successful Boundary Waters Treaty of 1905 between the United States and Canada;

 
• Ongoing, credible, and informed advice, based on sound economic, environmental, and ecological analysis, is essential to making balanced political decisions, formulating long-term policies, and designing workable and cost-effective implementation mechanisms;

 
• Cooperative approaches to protecting water resources can assist governments in meeting their international commitments and obligations to protect the global ecosystem in cost-effective and efficient ways; and

 
• Regional cooperation, in any of its forms, should lead to the development of a feasible, focused research agenda for management and protection of watersheds, near-surface groundwater and aquifers, and their interrelated systems;

• All participants in the workshop are in general agreement to build further on the useful discussions held and contacts made at the conference in Ottawa;

 
• Because of its vast experience in transboundary watershed management and accumulated relevant knowledge and expertise in the field, Canada can and should continue to play the role of facilitator and organizer for follow-up meetings;

 
• It is highly desirable that a permanent Eastern Mediterranean Technical Water Advisory Group be established under the leadership of Carleton University and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), both located in Ottawa, Canada;

 
• The group, once established, should consult all participants in this conference to develop a proposal and draft an agenda for the first follow-up meeting and should submit these to IDRC and Carleton University;

 
• One of the agenda items for the first follow-up meeting should be drafting the terms of reference for this Technical Group; and

 
• All researchers focusing on water issues in the Eastern Mediterranean region are urged to advise policymakers at all levels of their governments to accept, at least in principle and eventually in practice, the advantages of intra- and international cooperation for water resource management and protection.

Document(s) 11 of 14