Objectives
The ComEnvir project is funded through the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission in the seventh Framework Programme. The project aims to improve the visibility and uptake of environmental science and technology evidence in policy making and shaping of public opinion, and increased public awareness.
The ComEnvir members decided to focus on the world's water problem and show how European scientists contribute to help understand the issues and mitigate the future risks. The UN calculates that if the present development continues the 2/3 of the world population will live with serious water scarcity or nearly without water by the year 2025. Despite the high profile of water problems, in industrialised countries people still take water for granted and there is scant engagement in water research with European citizens. To start a dialogue on water research, the many stakeholders must view it in a different light. ComEnvir aims to narrow the gap between EU-sponsored water research and European citizens, driving engagement with this field and science more broadly in two key target groups: teachers and students, and the general public. To accomplish this task, ComEnvir will create knowledge packs on EU water research, with films aimed at TV broadcast for the general public and internet knowledge-packages with background reading materials, news, FAQs, a glossary and links to other resources. A major deliverable of the project is a book providing an overview of the challenges in supplying a growing world population with good quality water. Primarily targeting educators, the publication gives an overview of global water challenges in its introduction, followed by chapters on headwaters, pollutants in fresh waters, reuse of wastewater and ocean biodiversity. It illustrates new technologies to treat waste waters and innovative bio-monitoring approaches to help scientists assess water quality risks. ComEnvir aims to highlight the impacts of EU funding and to communicate what European scientists are doing to understand and mitigate threats. We think European citizens should hear about these activities, not only because scientific results will touch their everyday lives, but because they can learn something about themselves: how we deal with water reflects our attitudes to nature and to each other.
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