BACKGROUND: The Kingdom of Jordan belongs to the ten water scarcest countries in the world, and climate change is likely to increase the frequency of future droughts. Jordan is considered among the 10 most water impoverished countries in the world, with per capita water availability estimated at 170 m per annum, compared to an average of 1,000 m per annum in other countries. Jordan Government has taken the strategic decision to develop a conveyor system including a 325 km pipe to pump 100 million cubic meters per year of potable water from Disi-Mudawwara close to the Saudi Border in the south, to the Greater Amman area in the north. The construction of the water pipeline has started end of 2009 and shall be finished in 2013. Later on, the pipeline could serve as a major part of a national water carrier in order to convey desalinated water from the Red Sea to the economically most important central region of the country. The conveyor project will not only significantly increase water supplies to the capital, but also provide for the re-allocation of current supplies to other governorates, and for the conservation of aquifers. In the context of the Disi project that is co-funded by EIB two Environmental and Social Management Plans have been prepared: one for the private project partners and one for the Jordan Government. The latter includes the Governments obligation to re-balance water allocations to irrigation and to gradually restore the protected wetlands of Azraq (Ramsar site) east of Amman that has been depleted due to over-abstraction by re-directing discharge of highland aquifers after the Disi pipeline becomes operational. The Water Strategy recognizes that groundwater extraction for irrigation is beyond acceptable limits. Since the source is finite and priority should be given to human consumption it proposes to tackle the demand for irrigation through tariff adjustments, improved irrigation technology and disincentive to water intensive crops. The Disi aquifer is currently used for irrigation by farms producing all kinds of fruits and vegetables on a large scale and exporting most of their products to the Saudi and European markets and it is almost a third of Jordan's total consumption. The licenses for that commercial irrigation were finished by 2011/12. Whilst the licenses will be not renewed the difficulty will be the enforcement and satellite based information become an important supporting tool for monitoring. OUTLOOK: The ESA funded project Water management had the objective to support the South-North conveyor project and the activities of EIB together with the MWI in Jordan to ensure the supply of water for the increasing demand. EO Information provides a baseline for land cover and elevation and support the monitoring of further stages. usw.
Seit dem 8. Januar 2003 ist die TU Dresden in das EMAS-Verzeichnis bei der IHK Dresden eingetragen und somit die erste technische Universität mit einem validierten Umweltmanagementsystem nach EMAS (Registrierungsurkunde). Die Validierung ist insbesondere auf den erfolgreichen Abschluss des Projektes 'Multiplikatorwirkung und Implementierung des Öko-Audits nach EMAS II in Hochschuleinrichtungen am Beispiel der TU Dresden' zurückzuführen. Mit der Implementierung eines Umweltmanagementsystems ist zwar ein erster Schritt getan, jedoch besteht die Hauptarbeit für die TU Dresden nun, das geschaffene System zu erhalten und weiterzuentwickeln. Für diese Aufgabe wurde ein Umweltmanagementbeauftragter von der Universitätsleitung bestimmt. Dieser ist in der Gruppe Umweltschutz des Dezernates Technik angesiedelt und wird durch eine Umweltkoordinatorin, den Arbeitskreis Öko-Audit, die Arbeitsgruppe Öko-Audit und die Kommission Umwelt, deren Vorsitzende Frau Prof.Dr. Edeltraud Günther ist, tatkräftig unterstützt. Die Professur Betriebliche Umweltökonomie arbeitet in dem Arbeitskreis und der Arbeitsgruppe Öko-Audit mit und steht dem Umweltmanagementbeauftragten jederzeit für fachliche Beratung zum Umweltmanagement zur Verfügung. Ein wesentlicher Erfolg der TU Dresden auf dem Weg zu einer umweltbewussten Universität ist die Aufnahme in die Umweltallianz Sachsen, die am 08. Juli 2003 stattgefunden hat. Informationen zum Umweltmanagementsystem der TU Dresden sind unter 'http://www.tu-dresden.de/emas' zu finden.