SPNL attended a regional meeting in Amman, Jordan on 7-9 October, 2013 for the project entitled “Regional Knowledge Network on Systemic Approaches to Water Resources Management”. It is a three year regional project funded by the European Union working in five countries (Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco) where its main goal is to promote systemic approaches to integrated water resource management, throughout the region among researchers, experts, practitioners and other stakeholders with an interest in this domain.
The meeting was very fruitful and productive where the main outcomes highlighted the overall structure of the network (R-KNOW: Regional Knowledge Network on Water), website and scope of work to be done. Moreover, the importance of this network is highlighted in the creation of new knowledge to systemic approaches for water management. In addition to this, the R-KNOW network will incorporate practical knowledge (data, information & knowledge) from different knowledge sources and suppliers on four thematic areas that include water governance; water, food and energy; sustainable water technologies; and water and climate change. In addressing these thematic areas, R-KNOW will consider a number of cross-cutting issues including, but not limited to ecosystems rehabilitation (wetlands, rivers, services, etc.), gender mainstreaming, water security, capacity development and trans-boundary issues. Each of the four thematic areas will have a knowledge node, followed by network members and network support members who are willing to extract and disseminate information on the aforementioned topics. In addition to this, a case study concentrating on a specific area will highlight the major success of each thematic area. In this case, everyone and every institution that has information to share and/or is looking for such information can become a member of the Network.
