UNESCO-IHP Regional Consultation Meeting on “Water Quality in Europe: Challenges and Best Practices” – Koblenz, Germany, 1 – 4 December 2015

This event was organized by the International Initiative on Water Quality (IIWQ) in the framework of the implementation of Theme 3 “Addressing Water Scarcity and Quality” of the Eighth Phase of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP-VIII) of UNESCO.

Water quality is a fundamental aspect of sustainable water resources management and key for sustainable development. The widespread water quality degradation across the world is the most serious water problem. Water quality degradation not only threatens human health and ecosystem integrity, but also represents a major concern for the water resources sustainability. Growing pollution of freshwater resources, resulting from human activities, is putting increasing pressure on water quality and availability for food production, ecosystem functions, economic growth and urban water supply.

This meeting aimed to discuss water quality issues in the Pan-European region from a strategic perspective to identify key issues and challenges through the sharing of successful case studies and lessons learned, and the exchange and promotion of technical and policy best practices.

Specific objectives of the meeting included:

1. Identifying key issues and challenges related to water quality in the European context,
2. Facilitating scientific discussion, knowledge exchange and collaboration among experts and stakeholders,
3. Promoting and disseminating knowledge and scientific information as well as best practices on solving water quality problems by exchange on the state-of-the-art technological solutions and policy approaches,
4. Sharing successful cases and lessons learned from specific countries as a demonstration of the implementation of these tools and approaches.