Editorial

The 3^rd semester of INECO saw the continuation of the development of a participatory process for the identification of sustainable solutions towards the mitigation of significant water management issues faced in selected regions around the Mediterranean Basin.

This 2^nd Issue of the INECO Newsletters presents highlights and main outcomes of the Project workshops held in Egypt (July 2007), Syria (September 2007), Lebanon (September 2007) and Cyprus (October 2007). The events demarcated the official launch of the effort fostered by the project to offer a platform for constructive dialogue among parties with conflicting interests and positions, and open the floor for discussing on innovative economic and institutional instruments that can contribute to successful problem mitigation. The workshops further strengthened the alliance between the INECO Research Team and local stakeholders, and encouraged the development of a process where each contributor gains a better understanding of the problem, but also insight on how other participants perceive both the issue and its causes. 

Furthermore, this issue presents the outcome of a joint effort undertaken by EC-funded projects on water management in the Mediterranean Region, and supported by the European Commission, for initiating an open discussion on problems and criteria for the coordination, dissemination and exploitation of EU-research outcomes relevant to the implementation of IWRM in the Mediterranean region. This effort was developed through a joint event organized in Cyprus, on October 25^th 2007, through the financial support of the INECO and Nostrum-DSS projects and resulted in the collection of suggestions  and proposals for:

• Coordinating the activities of different projects, in order to reach a critical mass of products to be delivered to potential end-users;
• Combining the activities of projects with different timing with the aim to  support the maintenance of a common stream of actions;
• Expanding the collaboration outside the range of projects that were represented in the Cyprus event;
• Improving the effectiveness of future EU-funded research.

The acronym "INECO" stands for "Institutional and Economic Instruments for Sustainable Water Management in the Mediterranean Region". INECO is a Coordination Action Project, supported by the European Commission (6^th Framework Programme). For more details, please visit the INECO web site: http://environ.chemeng.ntua.gr/ineco