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4 Feb 2021 LJUBLJANA, Slovenia

Mobilising Water Investments, Strengthening Water Partnerships In Europe

The Government of Slovenia and the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships opened a four-day conference on water 18 January, with the support of Portugal as the current European Union (EU) Council President.The "Water and Beyond: EU transformative approaches for international partnerships" conference considered transformative approaches to mobilise water investments, strengthen partnerships and improve communication between countries in order to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement...

20 Aug 2020 LISBON

Portugal Water Quality Deteriorates; Climate Change And Unsustainable Farming Practices Blamed

The quality of Portugal’s water is under threat, and it’s not just due to long periods of drought. It has to do with unsustainable farming practices. In other words, monocultures. A bit like the citizens group that formed recently in the western Algarve to try and save the area from the consequences of intensive avocado farming, APA has discovered how quickly the quality of water is declining...

20 Feb 2020 ROME, Italy

Former Foreign Ministers Urge "Protection Of Our Planet And Way Of Life"

A group of 23 former foreign ministers has warned that humanity’s ongoing destruction of nature threatens the survival of our species. In an 18 February statement released by members of the Aspen Ministers Forum, the ministers call for more attention to be focused on rapidly warming oceans given their importance in producing oxygen and food for the world’s population of over 7 billion people...

11 Feb 2020 Barcelona, Spain

Water Disinfection Processes And The Link To Bladder Cancer

Five percent of all bladder cancer cases in the European Union (EU) can be attributed to chemicals found in the disinfection process of water.A new report from the Barcelona institute for Health (ISG Global) found that 6,500 cases in the EU can be linked to trihalomethane (THM). THMs are a group of compounds that include chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane and bromoform...

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21 Jan 2020 BRASILIA, Brazil

UPDATED: Brumadinho Disaster: Sixteen Charged With Homicide, Environmental Crimes

This article was updated 22 January.Sixteen executives were charged with homicide and environmental crimes 21 January by Brazilian prosecutors a year after the Brumadinho dam disaster that killed up to 300 people. They include Fabio Schvartsman, former head of mine operator Vale SA, ten others from Vale and five from the company’s German safety auditor TUV Sud...

18 Mar 2019 LISBON, Portugal

No Shit: Wastewater Analysis Reveals Europe's Drug Habits

The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction has released a new report that analyzes wastewater from seventy European locations (“cities”) to investigate the drug-taking habits residents. The report revealed differences between day and night characteristics, tourist and business locations and provide an insight on drug flow, revealing marked geographical variations...

7 Oct 2018 SOFIA, Bulgaria

$264 Million USD for Bulgaria Regional Water Operators

The government of Bulgaria last week signed an agreement with European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to manage an initial $132 Million USD European Union Cohesion Fund investment grant to improve the country's water supply, sewage and wastewater treatment facilities. This is the first Cohesion Policy backed financial instrument for the water and wastewater sector in Bulgaria...

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4 Jun 2018 AVEIRO

Paper Industry Waste To Detoxify Aquaculture Facilities

The waste from the paper industry could be the solution to remove the remains of drugs used by producers from the waters of aquaculture facilities. At the University of Aveiro (UA), a team of chemists managed to convert the sludge resulting from this waste into a biochar that, like a magnet, is capable of attracting and retaining a wide range of toxic substances.

17 Apr 2018 DOHA

Water Re-nationalization Is a Trend in EU Nations

In 2010, water was officially recognised as a universal human right by the United Nations. However, the European Union has yet to do the same. The management of water has long been in the hands of private companies, but resistance to this profit-driven model has increased in Europe since 2000. Activists against water privatisation in Greece, Portugal and Ireland say that the EU applies pressure to privatise water services using the economic crisis as a pretext for the creation of a water market in Europe.

12 Jun 2017 NEW YORK NY, United States

Guterres Urges Lessons from Aral Sea, Warns of Climate-Related Disputes, Stresses Water Diplomacy

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Aral Sea, June 10 – once the world's fourth largest inland sea, that has now shrunk to about a quarter of its original size due to human mismanagement – and urged the world to take lessons from the catastrophe to ensure that such tragedies are not repeated...

7 Oct 2016 NEW YORK, NY, United States

Reins at the UN: Guterres

Antonio Guterres, former head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), has been confirmed as the next UN Secretary General by the UN Security Council.The UN General Assembly will likely formalize the appointment of the former Prime Minister of Portugal soon, and Gutterres will assume the position of ninth UN Secretary General at the end of the year, succeeding Bang Ki-Moon...

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1 Apr 2015 ALGIERS, Algeria

5+5 Dialogue Adopts Common Strategy for Water

The 10-member Western Mediterranean Forum, commonly referred to as the "5+5 Dialogue," this week adopted a common strategy on water, emphasizing the need for an integrated management system to better cope with demand in the region.Speaking at the first Ministerial Conference of the Dialogue, “Water 5+5,” held in Algiers on March 31st, Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment Isabel Garcia Tejerina said the strategy "aims at implementing a common approach in terms of addressing water-related concerns, through establishing rules for sustainable and good governance of water sector in the western Mediterranean region...

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