Awareness-Raising Seminar on Irrigation Subsidies in the Mediterranean
MADRID – 21 February 2011 − To raise awareness of the importance of irrigation subsidies, their significance in achieving sustainable water management, and in responding to future issues such as climate change, the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation held a one-day seminar, The importance of the irrigation sector for all: a seminar on irrigation subsidies in the northern Mediterranean, in order to bring together journalists, media representatives, researchers and experts from international organizations, NGOs, universities and the agricultural sector.
The seminar featured representatives from international organizations such as the OECD, NGOs such as WWF, and representatives of the irrigation community in Spain from FENACORE, to discuss the use of irrigation subsidies. The seminar was designed to connect journalists and stakeholders with water experts in order to promote a better understanding of the positive economic and social benefits, financial costs and environmental impacts of irrigation subsidies in the Mediterranean region.
The agenda and presentations from the event are available below:
- Seminar agenda (PDF – 249 KB)
- Chris Charles (Project Manager, Global Subsidies Initiative, IISD) – Irrigation subsidies and the Global Subsidies Initiative (PDF – 201 KB)
- Damon Vis-Dunbar (Communication Coordinator, Global Subsidies Initiative, IISD) – Reporting on subsidies (PDF – 360 KB)
- Alberto Garrido (Director, Centro de Estudios e Investigación para la Gestión de Riesgos Agrarios y Medioambientales, CEIGRAM) – The nature of scale of irrigation subsidies in Spain and Mediterranean region (PDF – 404 KB)
- David Hernández Gómez (Representative of FENACORE) and Mr. José Pascual (Board of Directors of FENACORE) – Feeding the future: Policies for water management in the agriculture sector (PDF – 683 KB)
- Eva Hernandez (Freshwater program, WWF Spain) – Strategies for conservation: How are water savings being used, the modernisation of irrigation systems, and the illegal pumping of ground water (PDF – 3.37MB)