Managing Water for the City of the Future

• European Union Research – Framework Programmes 5 and 6
• Collaborations with other Global Projects and Initiatives
• Complimentary Research Programmes

The 5th Community Research Framework Programme (FP5, 1998-2002) represented a turning point in European water research. During its implementation strategic emphasis was attached on integrated water resources management, based on multi-disciplinary/ stakeholder problem solving approaches and support to relevant EU policies, and in particular the Water Framework and associated directives and the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development.

The 6th Community Research Framework Programme (FP6, 2002-2006) consolidates further the acquired knowledge, by funding research in new concepts, strategies and tools for the mitigation of global change impact on water resources in Europe and worldwide, in conformity with the vision of the European Research Area (ERA). An overall budget of 188m Euro has been allocated by the European Commission to 58 projects. FP6 is seeking to mobilise wider and lasting partnerships among knowledge communities in Europe and international co-operation partner countries, building on existing foundations of decades of scientific cooperation in water research.

SWITCH is building on the knowledge of other EU research programs and collaborating with relevant existing projects to extend the impact of the EU Framework initiative. For more information about the EU projects which SWITCH links with, please click on the project titles below:

• ANTINOMOS (A knowledge network for solving real life water problems in developing countries European Union Coordinated Action (Globalisation, Industry and Urban Development))
• AQUASTRESS
• CITYNET (The Network of European Research Projects on Integrated Urban Water Management)
• NETSSAF (Network for the development of Sustainable Approaches for large scale implementation of Sanitation in Africa, Coordination Action)
• NEWATER (New Approaches to Adaptive Water Management under Uncertainty)
• RECLAIM (Water Reclamation Technologies for safe Artificial Groundwater Recharge)
• ROSA (Resourced Oriented Sanitation concepts for peri-urban areas in Africa)
• SCENES (Water Scenario for Europe and Neighbouring States)
• SLIM (Freude am Fluss)
• SPLASH (EUWI ERA-NET – European Union Water Initiative European Research Area Network)
• SWURVE (Sustainable Water: Uncertainty, Risk and Vulnerability in Europe)
• TECHNEAU (Technology Enables Universal Access to Safe Water)

More information can be found at:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp6/index_en.cfm.

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• IWA (International Water Association)
  The IWA Cities of the Future programme focuses on water security for the world’s cities and how the design of cities – and the water management, treatment and delivery systems that serve them – could be harmonised and re-engineered to minimise the use of scarce natural resources and increase the coverage of water and sanitation in lower and middle income countries.
  
  The overall goal of the Cities of the Future Programme is to establish IWA (and its members) as an international authority and reference centre for all water-related aspects of Cities of the Future as an international leader in the water sector, IWA has the responsibility and the ability to help cities, utilities and the consulting and research community to work together to create robust and resilient responses to these imminent changes. However, the responses that appear to be most appropriate will require new kinds of partnerships, new relationships, and a new sense of the interconnectivity between the sectors, the people, and the ecosystems that support them.
  
  
  • Water and Energy Framework and Footprints for Sustainable Communities
  • IWA Spatial Planning & Institutional Reform Group Montreal Discussion Paper
  IWA's Water, Climate and Energy programme explores how climate change will affect availability and use of both water and energy. Since these resources are linked, with energy needed to supply water and water used in generating energy, the effect of climate on energy and water use will be complex.
  
  Boosting water and energy use efficiency through investment in relevant technologies and infrastructure are critical pathways to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and reducing carbon emissions. Technology, innovation, a sense of shared responsibility and political will are factors that bring real solutions as we strive to keep pace with increasing needs from a growing population.
• RUAF (Resource centres on Urban Agricultural and Food security)
  The RUAF Foundation is an international network of Resource centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security conformed by ETC Foundation (the Netherlands), IPES – Promoción del Desarrollo Sostenible (Lima, Peru), Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine (Dakar, Senegal), International Water Management Institute – subregional office West Africa (Accra, Ghana), Municipal Development Partnership (Harare, Zimbabwe), International Water Management Institute – regional office India, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) and the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit of the American University of Beirut.
  
  The mission of the RUAF Foundation is "to contribute to urban poverty reduction, employment generation and food security and to stimulate participatory city governance and improved urban environmental management, by creating enabling conditions for empowerment of male and female urban and peri-urban farmers, capacity development of local authorities and other stakeholders and by facilitating the integration of urban agriculture in gender-sensitive policies and action programmes of local governments, civic society organisations and private enterprises with active involvement of the urban farmers, livestock keepers and other relevant stakeholders".
  
  SWITCH and RUAF activities are linked in Beijing, Lima and Accra. In 2008 RUAF and SWITCH collaborated in the development of a joint issue of the Urban Agriculture Magazine.
• SuSanA (Sustainable Sanitation Alliance)
• UNESCO-IHP (UNESCO-International Hydrological Programme)
  UNESCO-International Hydrological Programme (IHP) is built on three tracks:
  
  
  • Hydrological science for policy relevant advice
  • Education and capacity building responding to the growing needs of sustainable development
  • Water resources assessment and management to achieve environmental sustainability
  The UNESCO IHP UWMP (Urban Water Management Programme) generates approaches, tools and guidelines which will allow cities to improve their knowledge, as well as analysis of the urban water situation to draw up more effective urban water management strategies.
• U21 (Universitas 21)
  U21 is an international network of 21 leading research-intensive universities in 13 countries. Collectively, its members enrol over 650,000 students, employ over 130,000 staff and have over 2 million alumni. The network's purpose is to facilitate collaboration and cooperation between the member universities and to create opportunities for them on a scale that none of them would be able to achieve operating independently or through traditional bilateral alliances. One of the areas of research collaboration is in Interdisciplinary research to improve the water sustainability of cities. A U21 network on Water Futures for Sustainable Cities was established in 2007 and has been collaborating with SWITCH members at Birmingham University and Unesco IHE since that time. Currently, investigating joint postgraduate training between U21 and the SWITCH postgraduate research school.

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Other programmes which are complementary to SWITCH and some of the larger research agencies around the world conducting major research streams on IUWM include:

• CSIR South Africa (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research)
• CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)
• CRUE ERA-Net (European Flood Risk Management Research)
  CSIRO's Water for a Healthy Country – Urban Water and Energy Transformed Flagship programmes are major National research initiatives in Australia that bring together researchers and practitioners in the majors Australian cities to tackle climate change, urbanisation and move toward sustainable urban water management.
• Fraunhofer Institut

 
The LIFE Programme

The LIFE programme is concerned mainly with the implementation and pilot/demonstration phases in the project cycle. Several LIFE projects have addressed urban water related issues.

Local and regional authorities face many challenges in delivering effective water management strategies. The LIFE programme, in particular LIFE Environment, has been a source of both funding and inspiration in this struggle. Local and regional bodies across Europe have worked to promote best practice and innovative approaches in delivering key policy goals around the management of that most precious resource - water.

More than 130 LIFE Environment projects dealing with water-related issues have involved local and regional authorities. These projects have addressed a wide range of topics, including the effects of climate change, run-off from farmers’ fields, reducing water loss, restoring hydro morphological features, wastewater treatment in urban areas and flood prevention.

Best practices by LIFE projects have been highlighted in the following thematic brochures:

	LIFE and local authorities http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/ lifepublications/lifefocus/documents/ local_authorities.pdf
	Water for life – LIFE for water http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/ lifepublications/lifefocus/documents/waterlife.pdf
	LIFE in the City: Innovative solutions for Europe's urban environment http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/ lifepublications/lifefocus/documents/urban_lr.pdf

A specific list of water related projects is available here.
All LIFE projects can be browsed through the LIFE projects database at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm

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