Issue No.4, May 2001
Dear GIWA friends,
efforts were undertaken to involve representatives from the Black
Sea Environmental Programme (BSEP), and the Caspian
As spring returns to Europe, the trees get green, the flowers
Environment Programme (CEP).
blossom and up north in Scandinavia the days get longer and
the nights lighter, GIWA is entering into its most hectic period.
The workshop was a demanding but fruitful exercise. The first
GIWA workshops are ongoing all over the globe, people are
two days were fully devoted to the presentation and mastering
trained in the GIWA methdology and they are creating results.
of the scaling and scoping methodology, and sub-regional team
And even more important for the sustainability of the GIWA
building processes. Considering the complexity of the sub-
process, every day new experts and scientists are recruited to
regions to be studied, a two-dimensional structure was
the GIWA sub-regional task forces. GIWA is now definitely on
suggested: expert co-ordinators of each sub-region will work
the positive track!
closely with the regional team, and local focal points will ensure
sound locally-based expertise.
Even during positive times some setbacks are due to occur.
Unfortunately we had to reschedule the GIWA General
Assembly until October 9-11. I know it is unpleasant for all of
you who had set the days aside in your calendar, but I still look
forward to see you all in Kalmar!
Dag Daler, Project Manager
Assessments in the Black Sea,
Caspian Sea and Aral Sea are off
the ground
A capacity building workshop was held in Kharkiv, Ukraine on
Experts in the Black Sea sub-regional task team during the workshop, Dr.
March 26-29, gathering experts constituting the GIWA network
Kideys from Turkey, Dr. Chesmedijev from Bulgaria and Dr. Mihnea and
in the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea sub-regions.
Dr. Mara from Romania.
The participants were thoroughly introduced to the GIWA
Further on, upon presentations by participants, the full scaling
methodology, and thereafter they jointly conducted the first
and scoping exercise was conducted. The work was significantly
part of the assessment, the scaling and scoping exercise.
facilitated by the possibility to use the experiences from the
Bangkok workshop (22-23 March) that were made available to
The workshop managed to gather 21 highly qualified experts
the participants. Two days were dedicated to group work and
from 10 countries belonging to one or several of the three sub-
plenary sessions, where both the assessment was performed
regions. The countries represented were Azerbaijan, Bulgaria,
and methdological aspects of the work were studied in depth
Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine,
and discussed. The management of the Academy warmly greeted
and Uzbekistan. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Felix Stol-
the participants and underlined the importance of international
berg, GIWA regional team leader, and hosted by the Kharkiv
co-operation in the field of environmental protection.
Academy of Municipal Economy. The participating experts
represented environmental authorities, research centres and
The Kharkiv workshop was the first major GIWA activity in the
international programmes. In line with GIWA's strategy to join
regions of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. A
forces with other international water-related initiatives, special
work plan for the coming steps was adopted, the experts network
Do you have comments or requests regarding the content of the GIWA Newsletter? Contact sara.graslund@giwa.net

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established and strengthened, and the team spirit started to
Upcoming workshops
develop as a result of the hectic and challenging four days. The
In the middle of June a training workshop will be held in Tallinn,
experts expressed their interest in the further development of
Estonia, for the Baltic Sea and possibly also other sub-regions.In
the methodology, and emphasised the importance of a sound
July two more training workshops will be held, one in Bangkok
scientific basis, as well as the relevance of the GIWA project to
for representatives from the remaining sub-regions ineastern
their regions. Among the plans that developed during the work-
Asia and the Antarctic; and one in Townsville, Australia, for the
shop for coming activities are the participation of the Aral Sea
sub-regions in Australia, New Zealand and the Small Island Sta-
team in the joint GIWA/UNESCO SABAS (Scientific Advisory
tes. The Aral Sea sub-regional expert group will finalise the scaling
Board for Aral Sea Basin Problems) meeting in Tashkent in May;
and scoping exercise in a workshop conducted jointly with the
the expanding co-operation with BSEP and CEP; and the prepa-
UNESCO SABAS, in Tashkent 19-21 May.
ration of the scaling and scoping reports.
The first GIWA General Assembly
Large number of sub-regions
in October
trained for the assessment work
Please note the changed dates
Additional to the Kharkiv workshop presented above, three
We are pleased to announce the first GIWA General Assembly
GIWA assessment methods training workshops were recently
to be held in Kalmar, Sweden, October 9-11, 2001. The Assembly
held in Bangkok, Moscow and Beijing. The meetings clearly
aims to facilitate the assessments in the sub-regions, and prov-
benefited from each other, through an efficient exchange of in-
ide a forum for dynamic discussions on environmental problems
formation between devoted members of the GIWA network.
in international waters. During the General Assembly, results
These three meetings were focussed on giving the participants
from the scoping and scaling exercise and the detailed impact
a better understanding of the methodology. Presentations of
assessment conducted in the sub-regions will be reported,
the scoping and scaling exercise, the detailed impact assess-
workshops on implementation of coming phases of GIWA
ment and the causal chain analysis were made by members of
methodology will be held, and international water-related
the methodology development team and the GIWA core team.
programmes and projects related to GIWA will be presented.
The assembled experts had thorough discussions on the
Further information will be posted at www.giwa.net.
implementation of the different parts in practice. The draft
methodology reporting format was presented, and was much
GIWA Events and Milestones
appreciated.
· GIWA methodology training workshops have been
held in
Bangkok, 22-23 March
Kharkiv, 26-29 March
Moscow, 9-10 April
Beijing, 23-27 April
· GIWA participated in the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment's first Technical Design Workshop,
Utrecht, April 8-11
Dr. Teng Seng-Keh, Dr. DeVantier, and Dr. Huming Yu, during the training
· GIWA scaling and scoping workshop will be held jointly
workshop in Beijing in April.
with UNESCO SABAS
Tashkent, 19-21 May
The Bangkok workshop, held 22-23 March, gathered
representatives from five Sub-saharan African, and nine South-
· GIWA methodology training workshops will be held in
east Asian and South Pacific sub-regions. The workshop that
Tallinn, 18-20 June
was held in Moscow 9-10 April assembled Russian experts from
Bangkok, July
seven sub-regions partly covering Russian areas; and the
Townsville, July
Beijing workshop 23-27 April was attended by representatives
from four East Asian sub-regions. In connection to these
· The World Environment Day, 5 June
workshops, the methodology has been translated into Russian,
· The first GIWA General Assembly, Kalmar, 9-11 October
and a translation into Chinese is underway.
GIWA Co-ordination Office
Visit the GIWA Web Site: www.giwa.net
Postal Address: Global International Waters Assessment
E-mail to GIWA Co-ordination Office: info@giwa.net
GIWA SE-391 82 Kalmar, Sweden
Telephone Secretariat: +46 480 44 73 50 Fax: +46 480 44 73 55

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