Home: Germany

Description: Information Portal for Water People

Geographical Focus: Worldwide

Web site language: English

URL: http://www.iahr.org/keywater/index.html

Home: USA

Description: International Rivers' mission is to protect rivers and defend the rights of communities that depend on them. We oppose destructive dams and the development model they advance, and encourage better ways of meeting people's needs for water, energy and protection from damaging floods. To achieve this mission, we collaborate with a global network of local communities, social movements, non-governmental organizations and other partners. Through research, education and advocacy, International Rivers works to halt destructive river infrastructure projects, address the legacies of existing projects, improve development policies and practices, and promote water and energy solutions for a just and sustainable world. The primary focus of our work is in the global South.

Geographical Focus: Worldwide

Web site language: English

URL: http://www.internationalrivers.org/

Home: France

Description: A sound and balanced management of water resources is a prerequisite to ensure quality of life on our planet and a sustainable socio-economic development.

The issues thus raised are numerous and complicated.

The solutions brought must allow for :

- contending with natural catastrophes and the risks of erosion, floods or drought, taking into account physical and water management,

- reliably meeting the urban and rural populations requirements in terms of good quality potable water, in order to improve hygiene and health and to prevent important outbreaks of disease,

- purifying farmlands and developing appropriate irrigation systems to produce enough agricultural food,

- harmoniously developing industry, energy production, recreational activities and, in some areas, tourism and waterways navigation,

- preventing and controlling pollution of all kinds and origins, in order to preserve the aquatic ecosystems and more especially, to protect fauna and optimize fish breeding for human consumption, while meeting the requirements of various utilizations and more generally, preserving the biodiversity of the aquatic environment

Geographical focus: Worldwide

Web site language: English, French, Spanish, Russia

URL: http://www.inbo-news.org/

Home: Austria

Description: We work across political borders through an ecoregional approach based on model projects, influencing policy, networking, capacity building, communication and crisis response.

Geographical focus: Danube-Carpathian Region

Web site language: English

Home: Sweden

Description: Initiated by the Prime Ministers of the Baltic Sea countries in 1996, Baltic 21 is a regional expression of the global Agenda 21 adopted by the United Nations "Earth Summit." Being an open and transparent network for cooperation, Baltic 21 links together a wide range of stakeholders in a common endeavor for regional sustainable development.

As a multinational team, our members are various government ministries and agencies from the 11 Baltic Sea states, the European Commission, numerous intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, academic and financial institutions, as well as local, city and business networks. We bring together people who are active in a variety of different sectors, including agriculture, education, energy, forests, industry, tourism, transport and spatial planning. By acting as a bridge between stakeholders, we aim to help them make progress towards transforming our part of the world into sustainable region.

Geographical focus: The Baltic Sea Region

Web site language: English

URL: http://www.baltic21.org/index.php

Home: Kenya

Description: The aim of GIWA is to produce a comprehensive and integrated global assessment of international waters, the ecological status of and the causes of environmental problems in 66 water areas in the world, and focus on the key issues and problems facing the aquatic environment in transboundary waters.

Geographical focus: Worldwide

Web site language: English

URL: http://www.unep.org/dewa/giwa/

Home: Finland

Description: The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

Geographical focus: The Baltic Sea Region

Web site language: English

URL: http://www.helcom.fi/home/en_GB/welcome/

Home: Latvia

Description:

The BEF was founded by the Baltic Ministries of Environment, Germany and the European Commission as a technical assistance project aiming at strengthening the co-operation among the Baltic environmental authorities. With EU accession the technical assistance projects ended.

However, to keep the networks active and to implement more projects in the Baltic Sea Region the BEF team has founded in 2003 NGOs in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Germany.

Geographical focus: The Baltic Sea Region

Web site language: English, Latvian

URL: http://www.bef.lv/

Home: United states

Description: Waterscape International Group is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization formed in California for research and educational purposes. We are interested in developing forward-looking strategies for understanding and managing environmental problems, in particular those relating to water resources and public health.

Our areas of interest are:

1) surface water and groundwater management;

2) salinity and agriculture;

3) public health and the environment;

4) citizen environmental monitoring and education;

5) technology training for environmental protection.

Our current goals are:

1) to engage in international research and projects in these areas;

2) to provide technical expertise to governments and organizations to initiate and carry-out projects and research in these areas.

Geographical focus: United States, Eastern Europe, Newly Emerged states

Web site language: English

URL: http://www.waterscape.org/joomla1/index.php

Home: Sweden

Description: In Helsinki, February 1990, non-governmental environmental organizations from the countries of the Baltic Sea Region united and established Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) in order to co-operate in activities concerning the Baltic Sea. CCB is a politically independent, non-profit association. At present, CCB unites 27 member organizations from Belarus, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Ukraine and Sweden. The CCB member organisations combined have over half a million members in all countries around the Baltic Sea.

The main goal of CCB is to promote the protection and improvement of the Baltic Sea environment and natural resources.

Common denominators for the CCB network include seeking opportunities to encourage new and constructive approaches and engaging people to become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Being an international network organization, CCB has the advantage of being able to work both at the international and national policy levels as well as with concrete field projects.

FOUR WAYS TO REACH THE GOAL:
CCB is a politically unaffiliated, non-profit organization working primarily through
- lobbying
- information, environmental education and other activities to raise public awareness
- concrete co-operation projects in the field
- support to member organizations.

Geographical focus: The Baltic Sea region

Web site language: English

URL: http://www.ccb.se/

Home: Hungary and Austria

Description: Danube River Basin-wide platform of environmental NGOs. Their mission is to protect the Danube River and its tributaries, their biodiversity and resources, through enhancing co-operation among governments, non-governmental organisations, local people and all kinds of stakeholders towards sustainable use of natural ecosystems.

Geographical focus: Entire the Danube River Basin, Czech Republic and Montenegro

Website language: English

URL: http://www.def.distelverein.at/en/home/index.html