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FPTPECC has proposed at the April 2007 PECC Standing Committee held in Sydney to convene a PECC International Project on “issues related to water management in Island territories, coastal regions and isolated communities”. This project has been endorsed by the Standing Committee and several PECC Member Economies have immediately made known that they would actively cooperate on that project which has a direct bearing on the management of water in a large number of PECC economies. (Download program of the conference)

The first seminar was held in Bora Bora, French Polynesia in November of 2007. Please access conference and presentation materials from PECC web site (http://www.pecc.org)

The purpose of the project is threefold:

1) The first purpose of the project is the sharing of information about the vision and strategies on the prospects for the future constraints on the management of water in island territories, coastal regions and isolated communities that PECC economies are facing. Water shortage associated to the potentially negative planned effects of climate change, and its bearing on the management of the resource: identify best practices to reduce water consumption both at the individual level and at the industry/agriculture one and make best use of the gallon of water distributed, in particular in water stressed or water scarce regions. A large number of territories in the Asia/Pacific region already suffer from a severe water shortage; worldwide, for more than 1.5 billions inhabitants the present pace of water consumption does not permit a satisfactory timely refill of the groundwater reserve.

2) The second purpose of the project will be to exchange views on the acknowledgement that water is a scarce resource and that efforts have to be made in the field of the research and development of new technologies such as:

- A more extensive use of rainwater associated to the development of efficient storage facilities both at a private and public level,

- The treatment of wastewater associated to an increase in the reuse of water to protect the environment and health of inhabitants

- The desalination practices

- The development of sound and sustainable technologies at a reasonable cost that can be met by local users with limited maintenance efforts in islands territories and isolated areas.

- The use of renewable energies such as wind, solar, wave, bio fuels when developing new water treatment plants.

3) The third purpose will be to develop a new governance in the use of water:

- Make best efforts to develop a body of common practices to guarantee the availability of the resource and its quality both for personal and industry/agriculture use, in line with the existing “Guidelines for water resources development cooperation towards sustainable water resources management” set up by the European Commission.

Structure of the project

To explore these issues and make proposals to bring forwards adapted answers, FPTPECC, possibly in cooperation with the World Water Council and in preparation for the Fifth World Water Forum to be held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2009, and, in cooperation with interested PECC Member Economies, will organize in 2007, 2008, 2009 a series of high level research seminars:

- A first seminar  held in Bora- Bora, French Polynesia on November 12 to 14 of 2007,

- A second seminar will take place in May of 2008 in New Caledonia; the “Nouméa seminar” would therefore address issues more specifically dedicated to Pacific Islands Territories.

These seminars will bring together 40 to 50 high level experts from the relevant international organisations and from public and private entities to discuss those challenges. The project will conclude with the publication of a Report to the PECC Standing committee in the Spring of 2009, in Washington DC for endorsement. The Report, an added value to the ongoing multilateral initiatives in the field, will therefore be transmitted as a PECC contribution to the work of the Fifth world Water Forum which is to be held immediately after the PECC Meeting.