On 23 and 24 February, the meeting “Mediterranean, water and droughts” will be held in Zaragoza. Its objective is to contribute to the development of strategies necessary to improve water management in contexts of scarcity, to ensure that these periods are not a cause of social fracture or deterioration of the environment. The purpose of this meeting is to analyse the direct and indirect effects that climate change can have on water management in Mediterranean countries.

The activities of the first day of the meeting will focus on the debate around three areas of work: Climate Change (group led by WWF/Adena), Administrative tools for drought management (group led by the General Directorate of Water of the Ministry of Environment of Spain) and Communication, society and drought (group led by the Zaragoza City Council and the Zaragoza Expo 2008 society). Participants in these discussion tables will attend by invitation, as experts, and will be asked to write conclusions that will be presented at the open day.

On the 24th in the Príncipe Felipe Auditorium there will be an open day. The objective of the plenary session is mainly to present the conclusions obtained on the previous day of the workshops and to publicize and disseminate the Mediterranean, Water and Drought Meetings, as well as the future projection of this initiative. To this end, a series of presentations will be made that will allow the problem of drought to be contextualized at the level of the Mediterranean region and compared with different international experiences. This plenary session will conclude with a round table that will clarify doubts and other issues.