Coping with Water Scarcity' is the theme for World Water Day 2007, which is celebrated each year on 22 March. This year's theme highlights the increasing significance of water scarcity worldwide and the need for increased integration and cooperation to ensure sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources, both at international and local levels.

The Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), together with the United Nations Environment Programme/Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP/ROWA), have organized the Environment Outlook for the Arab Region (EOAR) Production Meeting which was held in Cairo, Egypt, from 27 to 29 March 2007. The objectives of the meeting were to: revisit the comprehensive outline developed at the inception meeting, that was held at the premises of the League of Arab States from 7 to 9 May 2006; examine the authors' guidelines; sort out the roles and responsibilities after MOUs have been signed; discuss effective coordination of the work and information flow; revisit the implementation plan and deadlines; and discuss impact and communication approaches and mechanisms.

The 2010 target of significantly reducing the rate of biodiversity loss, as adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and endorsed by the WSSD, makes the efforts on synergy and harmonization among biodiversity related agreements important and urgent. The national implementation of biodiversity related Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), where the actual implementation takes place, remains a huge challenge, mainly because of limited financial and human resources. It requires significant effort to cascade international initiatives down to national synergy levels where there is need for improved coherence both in implementation as in policy setting. It is therefore necessary to develop practical tools to encourage and facilitate the coherent implementation of MEAs at national level.

This project aims at developing such practical tools based on the assumption that often several MEAs deal with certain common topics and themes. In response to the Decision 23/1 of the 23rd UNEP Governing Council to support implementation by parties to MEAs of their obligations under those MEAs, UNEP, with the assistance of the Belgian Development Cooperation, and in cooperation with UNEP-WCMC and IUCN, developed Issue-Based Modules for the coherent implementation of biodiversity related conventions.

Increasing concern as to how human activities impact the Earth has led to documentation and quantification of environmental changes taking place on land, in the water, and in the air. Through a combination of ground photographs, current and historical satellite images, and narrative based on extensive scientific evidence, this publication illustrates how humans have altered their surroundings and continue to make observable and measurable changes to the global environment.

In light of continuous cooperation between CEDARE and ITU, a joint Regional Conference is organized on “Disaster: Relief and Management: International Cooperation & Role of ICT”. The event will take place in Alexandria, Egypt, from 14 to 17 April 2007. The objectives of the conference are to provide an update on on-going activities related to disaster  communications in Arab countries and to identify suitable technologies, features and technical options for  disaster communications;

The meeting was attended by 384 participants from Governmental, Non-Governmental , Non-Governmental, International Organizations and the Private Sector.

After the successful completion of Environment 2003, the 5^th edition of the international conference and exhibition will be held at the Cairo International Convention Center (CICC) in the end of May 2007.

Environment 2007 is organized by the Egyptian Ministry of State for the Environment, with the support of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) and the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations (CEEBA), the German-Arab Chamber of Industry & Commerce and implemented by MAGICX.

The Arab Organization for Administrative Development in co-operation with Saudi Arabia Award for Environmental Management, UNEP, The Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Arab Association for Environmental Management, is organizing the Six Arab Conference for Environmental Management - Human Development and its impacts on Sustainable Development. The event will take place at Rotana Hotel, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from 27 to 31 May 2007. The objectives of the Conference:

-  identification of the advanced human resource development policies;
- improve the skills and capabilities for the environmental management decision makers;
- the possibility of increasing the effective participation of groups traditionally marginalized in the decision making process;
-  to identify effective strategies for fighting poverty

World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

The World Environment Day slogan selected for 2007 is Melting Ice – a Hot Topic? In support of International Polar Year, the WED theme selected for 2007 focuses on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, and the ensuing consequences around the world.

The main international celebrations of the World Environment Day 2007 will be held in Norway. UNEP is honoured that the City of Tromsø will be hosting this United Nations day (read the press release). Please visit the Norwegian Polar Institute WED website for more information on the celebrations in Norway [English] - [Norsk].

The day's agenda is to give a human face to environmental issues; empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development; promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues; and advocate partnership, which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future. World Environment Day is a people's event with colourful activities such as street rallies, bicycle parades, green concerts, essays and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, as well as recycling and clean-up campaigns.

The Centre for Environment & Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) is organising the meeting in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme, Division of Early Warning and Assessment (UNEP/DEWA).

The Atlas of Africa's Changing Environment is a graphic presentation of environmental change in each of the 53 countries in Africa using satellite images of selected sites supported by ground photos and text. It also reviews the countries progress towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) number 7 that is 'Ensuring Sustainability'.

The Atlas will Increase the concern as to how human activities impact the Earth has led to documentation and quantification of environmental changes taking place on Africa's land, water, and in the air. Through a combination of ground photographs, current and historical satellite images, and narrative based on extensive scientific evidence, the Atlas will illustrate how humans have altered their surroundings and continue to make observable and measurable changes to Africa's environment.

The meeting will bring together representatives of African countries from ministries of environment, remote sensing agencies and national statistical organisations.

The Eighth Annual Global Conference on Environmental Taxation is part of an annual series of international conferences focussing on environmental fiscal reform.

The conference provides a forum for legal scholars, economists, political scientists, conservationists, representatives of the private sector and non-governmental organisations to exchange the latest research on the use of environmental taxes and other market-based instruments, as well as other economic instruments such as tax relief and subsidies, to advance environmental policy objectives.

This year’s conference will focus on the positive effects of environmental taxation and environmental fiscal reform. The focus will not only or indeed primarily be on their ecological benefits, as these are already well-documented, but rather on less well-publicised aspects of EFR, such as the stimulation of innovation, the development of new technologies, and job creation.

CEDARE has participated in the first Regional Conference on "Sharing Experience on best practicies and services for persons with disabilities". The conference was organized by ITU in cooperation with WHO/EMRO under the patronage of Egyptian Ministry for Communication and Information Technology.

The conference was attended by over 200 participants including high officials and experts.

The objectives of this conference was to increase awareness of the Arab Region with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities and to exchange of expertese and information between Arab countries and sharing success stories in the field of sponsoring people with disabilities using modern Information and Communication Technologies.  

Coast Day is a unique event in the Mediterranean. It aims to raise awareness of policy makers and the public of the value of the coast, as well as of applying an integrated approach to planning and management of the coastal zone. Coast Day is a celebration of life on the coast. It is a day dedicated to the protection of natural coastal environment and its interaction with human culture and socio-economic activities.

This day is dedicated to celebration of the beauty of the coasts: the coast as a home to half of the world's population and as a vacation destination to most of the tourists; the coast as a source of inspiration, creation and as an important stake for the well-known "coastal life style". Finally, Coast Day is dedicated to the vision of the future coasts we want. The intention is that Coast Day spreads into other countries and that lives on in the years to come.

The Conference, hosted by the Government of Indonesia, is taking place at the Bali International Convention Centre and brings together representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and the media. The two week period includes the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. A ministerial segment in the second week will conclude the Conference.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is celebrating the launch of its Fourth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4) report, Cairo, 5 December 2007, in cooperation with the Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE) – League of Arab States (LAS), and the Arab Media Forum for Environment and Development (AMFED).