wca infonet final report stein 2002[1] · Back to office report: 27 February - 12 April 2002, Australia and Sri Lanka 17 Back to office report: 18 - 19 December 2001, France 24 Back

INDEX Page [1/63]

Thomas-M. Stein Saved [21/03/2005 05:09] wca_infonet_final_report_stein_2002[1]

IPTRID Secretariat Land and Water Development Division Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome Italy Tel.: +39 06 570 55322 Fax: +39 06 570 56275 Email: [email protected]

WCA infoNET

Information System on Water Conservation and Use in Agriculture

Final report 2002

by

Thomas-M. Stein Information Officer IPTRID

WCA infoNET - Water Conservation and Use

08/11/2002

WCA infoNET Page [2/63]


WCA infoNET

Information System on Water Conservation and Use in Agriculture

http://www.wca-infonet.org



Table of content 1. Overview of purpose of WCA infoNET- Phases 1, 2 (completed) and 3 (projected) 4 2. Summary of Achievement in Phases 1 and 2 4 2.1 Achievement in Phase 1 5 2.2 Achievements of Phase 2 5 2.2.1 Overview of Phase 2 5 2.2.2 Achievements against Purpose 6 2.2.3 Achievements against Outputs 6 Output 2.1 Completion of system development (upgrade the prototype into a fully functional system) 6 Output 2.2 Build up mass of information (and create access for users ) 7 Output 2.3 Final review and continuity of WCA infoNET 10 References 11 ANNEX 12 Back to office report: 20-28 July 2002, Canada 13 Back to office report: 27 February - 12 April 2002, Australia and Sri Lanka 17 Back to office report: 18 - 19 December 2001, France 24 Back to office report: 12-18 August 2001, Sweden 28 Back to office report: 28-31 May 2001, France and The Netherlands 32 Back to office report: 6-16 February 2001, Australia 39 Back to office report: 16-22 March 2000 , The Hague, The Netherlands 47 Minutes: Meeting of GWP Information Networks, 11 and 12 December 2000,

IPTRID/FAO, Italy 52 Back to office report: 05-07 December 1999, Germany 56 Minutes: Meeting at the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI)/

Global Water Partnership (GWP), 23rd September 1999 62



1. Overview of purpose of WCA infoNET- Phases 1, 2 (completed) and 3 (projected) The overall purpose of the WCA infoNET is to disseminate knowledge and information on productive water use and development in agriculture. The service will select, review, and deliver carefully targeted quality-controlled and electronically available information from an international network of partners. The information will include synthesized knowledge and capacity building information on water use and development in agriculture, in particular and sustainable food production, in general. The objective will be achieved in three phases: Phase 1: develop a dedicated Internet web page and a prototype WCA infoNET

system to be demonstrated at the Second World Water Forum at The Hague (in March 2000); and

[completed] Phase 2: to extend the development, to test-run and manage the site for an initial

period, and to recommend how to operate the WCA infoNET beyond the initial project period on a continuing basis; and

[completed] Phase 3: to deliver substantial amount of information while operating and

improving WCA infoNET. [projected] DFID provided funds to IPTRID to implement the phases 1 and 2 of the project. These two phases were successfully completed leading to a system which is now fully operational and tested in practice since August 2001. To be able to better cope with current and future requests and information loads it has recently been moved to an independent and new server under the domain of http://www.wca-infonet.org. This service is fully integrated into other IPTRID capacity building and knowledge delivery strategy. DFID provided funds to IPTRID to implement the phases 1 and 2 of the project as an associated programme of the Global Water Partnership. Funding was requested for phase 3. 2. Summary of Achievement in Phases 1 and 2 The WCA infoNET information system was established as an internet-based integrated information platform. The system merges high-quality information resources and expertise allowing direct access to publications, documents, data, computer programs and discussion groups. WCA infoNET is governed by an international task force comprising of leading research and development institutions ensuring the technical quality and reliability of the information included. The task force members at present are: Cemagref, HR Wallingford, ILRI, IWMI, USBR, AGLW/FAO and ICID. The current topic tree in WCA infoNET comprises of six top level categories, (also known as worldviews) of Water Resources, Water Development, Water Use, Water Environment, Water Institutions and Policies and Water Regional Views. These six categories breakdown into second level topics which are again refined to varying level of detail. At present the system has over 1300 knowledge objects (pieces of information). WCA infoNET provides a knowledge base and a global platform for information exchange on water conservation and use in agriculture to the main target group of stakeholders and users of WCA infoNET including policy makers, practitioners (such as water managers, water users associations, farmers), planners, researchers, trainers and extension services.



2.1 Achievement in Phase 1 During Phase 1, the development of WCA infoNET went through various stages of system development and improvement governed by the requirements of the expected user demand as well as the media of transport and exchange of information - the Internet. The initial development took place when new technologies were just emerging for interactive information systems. The conceptual design also took into account expected system growth and changing user demands by building in flexibility and using standards that would allow the easy exchange of information as well as ensure sustainability in the use of the system. The system was planned and designed by IPTRID staff. Development of the prototype system was overseen by an international task force and supported by a development team at FAO. The first prototype was demonstrated at the Second World Water Forum in The Hague in March 2000. At this stage, the system already contained an extensive information structure and some basic information that was used to demonstrate the scope and characteristics of the system as well as leading to further development and testing in the subsequent phase. IPTRID achieved the outputs of Phase 1, and DFID agreed to fund Phase 2 of the WCA infoNET project. 2.2 Achievements of Phase 2 2.2.1 Overview of Phase 2 Phase 2 of the WCA infoNET project was governed by two major goals: (1) establishing a technically advanced, stable and powerful system that included the security needed for interactive operation on the Internet; (2) populating the system with good quality and relevant information. Emphasis was initially put on the system development because a stable system had to be ensured before information could be entered safely. Once system stability has been assured, information development was accelerated and the number of partner institutions (information providers), editors and other professional staff working on screening and uploading quality information was expanded. In August 2001, WCA infoNET was officially launched, and the public was given full access to information available as well as to interact and contribute to the information build-up. The system URL is: http://www.wca-infonet.org The launch of WCA infoNET was promoted through various media such as GRID, IPTRID E-News, FAO Land and Water Newsletter, as well as being registered with the main search engines such Google, Altavista and Yahoo. The publicity resulted in over 40,000 pages being accessed daily during weeks after its launch. The number of visitors reduced to a lower value after the first wave but usage has been growing since. Not only has the number of users been increasing but there has also been an exponential growth in distinct users (IP addresses) which means that there is an increasing number of new visitors. By May 2002 (nine months after the launch) the number of knowledge object (pieces of information) available on WCA infoNET has tripled. Most of the recent inputs are full text on-line documents either in html or pdf format. In addition, the number of events listed has increased along with the links to other relevant websites. Overall, WCA infoNET has been positively received by the community and is establishing itself as one of the major sources of information and exchange. The system provides good quality information on water management and conservation but its success will strongly depend on the being able to provide and receive information from institutions in developing countries as well as from developed country institutions. Developing country institutions have a large amount of relevant information readily available in electronic form to be uploaded and delivered through WCA infoNET, but institutions in developing countries are often constrained by limited access to the Internet, particularly in Africa. The usefulness of WCA infoNET as a powerful communication and exchange tool enhancing the



generation and transfer of quality knowledge on productive water use to improve food security and livelihoods for people of developing countries, was also confirmed by a study commissioned by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The comprehensive study analyzed and compared several existing information systems and concluded that WCA infoNET was the best system available. On the basis of recommendations of the study, the French government has agreed to provide funds to extend WCA infoNET with an addition of a French section and French information as well as additional linkages to French speaking developing countries and institutions. The French funded support is through a project component named ‘Virtual Center for Water in Agriculture.’ The funding has now been approved by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will cover the period until 2004. To secure project continuity and improve outputs, WCA infoNET needs to be supported by a larger number of institutions and donors providing access to modern technologies, funds and information as well as supporting staff. The French initiative is a valuable to widen the support base for the system. Other institutions are being approached and possible synergies on cooperation and different joint hosting arrangement evaluated. 2.2.2 Achievements against Purpose The purpose of Phase 2 of the WCA infoNET Project is to disseminate best practice and promote awareness for better water use and conservation in agriculture (see Appendix 1). The purpose of the project has been achieved by establishing an internet-based integrated information platform WCA infoNET on 1st August 2001 as website with URL: http://www.wca-infonet.org The WCA infoNET system merges high-quality information resources and expertise and allows direct access to publications, documents, data, computer programs and discussion groups. The website has been successfully operated and maintained since its launch, and the system has been improved and expanded to include more information, links to other websites and other features. System and information development has been supported by international research and development institutions from France, USA, UK, Australia, the Netherlands as well as international organisations such as FAO, IWMI and ICID. Institutions in developing countries such as Egypt have also been involved in the development of WCA infoNET. 2.2.3 Achievements against Outputs Output 2.1 Completion of system development (upgrade the prototype into a fully

functional system) The first production version (version 1.0a) of WCA infoNET was completed at the end of March 2001. The first version had advanced security and management functions in place, and allowed safe and protected interaction through the Internet. In the following period until July 2001, work was focused intensively on improving and reengineering the input forms and the development of additional modules such as the crawling and indexing modules. In addition to the development of new modules, the system was subject to intensive testing and bug fixing to improve system stability and ensuring the system functioned smoothly once it was released to the general public. Core-system development was completed by the end of July 2001 and WCA infoNET was launched on the Internet on the 1st August 2001. The official domain name was ‘http://www.WCA-infonet.org.’ The WCA infoNET system has been operational and accessible since its launch, except from minor ‘down times’ for maintenance. The development of the system was taken as completed when the system was launched and the public could access the system with basic functionality and groups of information providers and editors could interact with the system by structuring and uploading information directly. Since the completion of the basic system in August 2001, additional work was undertaken to increase the functionality of the system by improving the exchange, compatibility, integration and handling of data as well as user-to-system and user-to-user interaction. In this context, a major re-engineering of



the underlying data layer was made to allow easier handling and exchange of information by using files in the xml structure and format. This change was also needed for intersystem connections and exchange as well as allowing the development of offline data inputs and uploads through, for example, the use of emails. In addition, some initial development was done to put a base for a better user-to-user exchange by providing email archiving functionality for professional discussion lists, allowing offline discussions by email, but on-line reading and searching of the archives. Work is still in progress to complete some of these modules fully. In addition, to functionality improvements testing and bug fixing, the ‘polishing’ of the system has been undertaken on a regular base to gradually improve the usability and quality of the service. Output 2.2 Build up mass of information (and create access for users ) The build up of information available in WCA infoNET was strongly linked to the technical sound information being available and security measures of the system, to allow for distributed information sources as well as information management. The supply of information into WCA infoNET initially started with only a few partner institutions (members of the taskforce) acting as information providers/editors. With increasing system security and stability, the numbers of institutions and individuals acting as editors and providers of information were gradually increased, leading up to the launch , since when the public could also participate in suggesting on-line information to the system’s editors for approval (see Figure 1).

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Other InstitutionsPrinz, Kay, Clemmens etc.

Other EditorsEditors(Individuals or from Institutions)

...Public

Individual professionals - public(Internet community) ...

... Figure 1. Information Development Activities of WCA infoNET.

When the system was launched in August 2001, approximately 400 knowledge objects (pieces of information such as on-line documents, books, discussion list etc.) were already entered. Contacts and negotiations with information providers/editors from institutions and editors as professional individual were continued and contracts were developed to cover the subject areas in WCA infoNET. In addition, professionals (consultants) in the field of irrigation, drainage and water resources management, were recruited to assist in information screening and uploading. Since the launch of WCA infoNET the knowledge base has tripled reaching more than 1300 knowledge objects in May 2002 (Figure 2).



WCA infoNET allows a variety of types of information to be added ,tailored to specific user needs by referencing or direct uploading into the system. The information may be categorized and summarized as ‘document related’, ‘website related’, ‘discussion related’, ‘projects related, ‘media related’ and ‘contact related.’ Most of the recent inputs are full text on-line documents either in html or pdf format. In addition, the number of events listed as well as other website of technical focus and interest started to increase. The current state of information development categorized by the type is shown in Table 1. Table 1. Numbers and types of ‘knowledge objects’ ( May 2002)

Description

Document types No. of Knowledge Objects

(1) On-line documents, books, software & multimedia objects, spreadsheets, etc.

Document related 850

(2) Thematic websites, databases, on-line encyclopedia, directory of individuals and institutions, etc.

Website related 275

(3) Discussions, newsgroups, document related discussions, etc.

Discussion related

42

(4) Project descriptions, project websites, etc.

Projects related 6

(5) Individual contacts, institutional contacts, donors, etc.

Contact related 101

(6) News, events, polls, etc.

Media related 42

Total Number of Knowledge Objects 1316

To establish of a broad base of quality controlled information, various strategies have been applied. Evolving from the members and participants of the first INFONET task force held in 1999, various institutions, as well as individuals, were approached to cooperate on information supply and screening. Currently there are 18 editor and information provider/editor accounts of either individuals or institutions acting in that function. The overall number of professionals involved is higher ( for example, an institution may work under one account but the inputs are supplied by several professionals). The institutions and professionals who have actively been involved in information providing and editing during the various stages of project development are summarised in Table 2.

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Figure 2. Growth of Knowledge Objects in WCA infoNET



Table 2. Number of Institutions and Professionals Providing Information

Category

Acronym Description No of professionals

involved Institutions Cemagref Cemagref, France 1 CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research

Organization, Australia 2

FAO/AGLW Water Resources Development and Management Service at FAO

3

HR Wallingford

Hydraulic Research Wallingford Ltd., United Kingdom 1

ICID International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage 1 IPTRID International Programme for Technology and

Research 5

ISIA Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture, Australia 3 ILRI International Land Reclamation Institute, the

Netherlands 1

IWMI International Water management Institute, Sri Lanka 1 UWS University of Western Sydney, Australia 1 Professionals Clemmens, B. Director USDA ARS, USA 1 Garces, C. Consultant, IPTRID 1 Kay, M. Freelance Consultant, United Kingdom 1 Maheshwar, B. Senior Lecturer, Australia 1 Malik, A. Scientific Staff of University of Karlsruhe, Germany 1 Prinz, D. Professor University of Karlsruhe, Germany 1 Wolff, P. Professor emeritus, Germany 1 1 Profess. support staff

Mao, Y. Consultant, Syria 1

Salman, M. Consultant, Somalia 1 Smith, R. Consultant, United Kingdom 1 TOTAL 30

To provide a sound start for information development, emphasis was put on involving strong partner research institutions that had information readily available in electronic form. These institutions would play a continuing role of allowing a better exchange and transfer of knowledge generated in developed countries, with the institutions and researchers working on solutions for sustainable water development in rural areas of less developed countries. During several international meetings, where WCA infoNET was demonstrated, an increasing number of members of developing country institutions showed strong interest in the usage as well as in the active participation in building up the WCA infoNET knowledge system. A lack of appropriate infrastructure or an infrastructure which is still under development, prevents many of them in playing a more active role. But the demand was clearly and widely expressed. As one example, the National Water Research Center Cairo, showed a strong interest and was invited to participate in the IPTRID communication meeting in February 2002. At the meeting, staff from the Center were given further demonstrations and explanations on the usage of WCA infoNET. A member account was created for the Center, and further involvement of the Center in WCA infoNET is being developed. Another example is that three scientists from developing countries research institutions (China, Nepal, Pakistan) signed on to WCA infoNET when working in Australia during an exchange programme. They showed great interest and agreed to promote the usage of WCA infoNET and provide contributions to the system from their home institutions. More work is required to develop linkages and active participation of institutions in developing countries, that is providing the ‘last mile’ or ‘final link’ for the information transfer and exchange between the system and the institutions. With the launch of WCA infoNET on the Internet on the 1st August 2001, the system was readily available to users worldwide and all available information could be retrieved. It was widely publicized through the registration with the major search engines as well as repeatedly announced through more targeted newsletters and publication in the area of rural agricultural water use. As a result of the publicity, a large number of hits were monitored in the weeks after the official launch. The number of



hits dropped after the first ‘rush’ and the numbers were subject to strong fluctuations, with approximately 1000 different ‘clicks’ (pages/screens) currently being processed each day. In addition to the repetitive use of the system by the same users, the number of new users is also growing rapidly showing that the news about WCA infoNET is spreading and the interest is growing. The information may be accessed anonymously by any user, but a login is needed to interact with the system to suggest and/or add information. Currently 97 members are registered of which 26 are from developing countries. It may be noted that most of the recent subscriptions (registrations) came from developing countries indicating the growing demand for information exchange and discussion from professionals in these countries. Output 2.3 Final review and continuity of WCA infoNET Based on the usage data as well as oral and written communications from users, the WCA infoNET initiative has been positively received by the user community and has received enthusiastic support from editors and information providers. The potential of WCA infoNET was also recognized by an independent study commissioned by the French Ministry of Foreign Affaires. In this comprehensive study current existing information systems and concepts on water conservation were analyzed and compared. The study concluded that WCA infoNET is the most advanced approach in this sector and recommended that the French Government should support further development of the system (see output 2.1). During the IPTRID meeting in Frascati, (on 22nd and 23rd November 2000), representatives of IPTRID partner institutions as well as members of the WCA infoNET Taskforce discussed future communication and information exchange in relation to WCA infoNET. Based on the recommendations of the meeting, IPTRID developed their Communication Strategy with WCA infoNET as an integral part:

“Communication Strategy [CS] – the core of the IPTRID programme is the implementation of a communication strategy to deliver synthesized knowledge and good quality information to those who need it and can use it. This will require the development of innovative communication techniques to deliver the results of the Knowledge Building Strategy to stakeholders using both traditional and emerging communication tools and routes ...” (Minutes of the Consultative Group Meeting, FAO, Rome. May 2001)

The combination of traditional and modern information pathways and systems allows synergies as well as the targeting of a wider group of stakeholders. The role of WCA infoNET within IPTRID’s communication strategy is shown in Figure 3. The strategy is based on the delivery of synthesized knowledge and information through the development and use of innovative communication techniques using both traditional and electronic tools and pathways. IPTRID and its partner institutions/taskforce members have realized the value and potential of the WCA infoNET concept and system and therefore have decided to make it as one of its core crosscutting future activities. As a result most recently issued Letter of Agreements issued (LOA) with partner institutions (e.g. IWMI) contain the support to WCA infoNET as an integral component. In addition to the support and integration through the IPTRID secretariat and partner institutions, WCA infoNET needs to be supported by a larger group of institutions and donors to allow more widespread access to information as well as to a greater number of supporting staff. The French support to the 'Virtual Centre for Water in Agriculture' is an excellent example of the type of support required, and other institutions and donors are being approached to identify possible synergies and different joint hosting arrangements. The future contribution of WCA infoNET to helping IPTRID achieving its goal of sustainable agricultural production to provide food security and acceptable livelihoods lies with stronger involvement of stakeholders from institutions in developing countries (sometimes referred to as ‘the last mile’ in the network). This is achievable by IPTRID facilitating collaboration between developing and developed counties institutions to secure the continuity and sustainability of knowledge delivery system.



References: WCA infoNET is an Internet based Information system and hence most information such as background publications, presentations, help files, etc. are available on-line through WCA infoNET. The list below is only a selection of information which is available on-line on WCA infoNET. [1] WCA infoNET - Information System on Water Conservation and Use in Agriculture - on-line. - http://www.wca-infonet.org [2] WCA infoNET - Background information - on-line. - http://www.wca-infonet.org Select: "About WCA infoNET" from the left menu, or directly: http://www.wca-infonet.org/iptrid/infonet/info/about_i.htm and the subsections: - Introduction - Information source - Contributions - How to use & add [3] WCA infoNET - How to use & add - on-line. - http://www.wca-infonet.org Select: "How to use & add " from the left menu with the sub sections: - Overview - How to use - How to contribute - Conventions - Terminology - FAQ - © Copyrights

Research Output Good Practices Technology Innovations

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Figure 3. WCA infoNET Modules and IPTRID’s Communication Strategy



[4] WCA infoNET Presentation - an introduction for members and editors (1408 KB - pdf) http://www.wca-infonet.org/iptrid/infonet/info/infonet_www01.pdf [5] WCA infoNET: Selected highlights and hints on how to find information.- http://www.wca-infonet.org/iptrid/infonet/info/about_i.htm or http://www.hrwallingford.co.uk/projects/IPTRID/grid/pdf-files/grid19articles/G19pg12b-14a.pdf [6] WCA infoNET: Selected highlights and hints on how to find information.- http://www.wca-infonet.org/iptrid/infonet/info/about_i.htm or http://www.hrwallingford.co.uk/projects/IPTRID/grid/pdf-files/grid19articles/G19pg12b-14a.pdf [7] WCA infoNET launched - Using WCA infoNET and its need for participation and information.- http://www.wca-infonet.org/id/6467 [8] Report to the Consultative Group of IPTRID on WCA infoNET .- http://www.wca-infonet.org/id/4874 [9] WCA infoNET - IPTRID's new internet information retrieval system on water conservation.- http://www.wca-infonet.org/id/6469 [10] WCA INFONET - Information System on Water Conservation and Use in Agriculture on the

Internet .- http://www.wca-infonet.org/iptrid/infonet/info/cg/wca_infonet_report_cgm1999.pdf

WCA infoNET - ANNEX Page [13/63]


Country visited Canada

Dates 20-28 July 2002

Traveler Thomas-M. Stein Information Officer, IPTRID Land and Water Development Division

Purpose The purpose of the duty travel to Canada was to attend the yearly IPTRID Consultative Group Meeting, the IPTRID Advisory Committee as well as to present and promote the usage and active involvement in WCA infoNET at the IPTRID day and various events during the 18th ICID conference.

Follow up - Elaboration of future strategies for the continuation of WCA infoNET.

- Elaboration of possible linkages with the "Smallholder Technology and Marketing Initiative" .

- Involvement of the Australian ICID (WATSAVE) in being an 'editor' in WCA infoNET.

- Stronger collaboration with the GWP Toolbox group.

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IL 46/14 LA 6/1 Stein

This report has been authorized by Programme Manager, IPTRID, for distribution as indicated above. Date: 1 August 2002



THE MAIN REPORT 1. Locations

Congress Center of Montreal, Canada The various meetings and workshops were attended from 21 - 26 July during the 18th ICID conference.

2. Presentations and discussions Background WCA infoNET has been developed over a period of three years and was officially launched in August 2001 on the Internet under URL http://www.wca-infonet.org. and may also be reached through the IPTRID web site. It is now fully operational and information is being added subsequently. The second project phase of WCA infoNET came to an end in June 2001 and future strategies and funding arrangements need to be elaborated to secure the continuation of this service. The progress of WCA infoNET was reported to the IPTRID CG as well as the continuation needed to be discussed with members of the CG, professionals and donor. Summary of presentations and conclusions The IPTRID CG as well as the donors expressed their appreciation about the intensive work done on the development of WCA infoNET and its subsequent launch on the Internet. It became clear that such a system needs a continuation with strong support from donors as well as from institutions. Funding could also indicatively be allocated from the core received by DFID, although it was made clear that this could not cover the entire costs needed to successfully maintain such as a complex system. Despite these problems it was generally expressed that a solution needed to be elaborated allowing the continuation of this valuable system and service provided by IPTRID. Various options were discussed but details need to be elaborated. It was noted that the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs positively supports the developments of WCA infoNET with a French section called "The Virtual Centre for Water in Agriculture". Inspite of these positive developments it became clear that this may only serve as an addition to what already exists but will not support sufficiently the developments needed for the entire system and may in no way be a substitute for the time and funds needed to maintain, develop and manage the current overall system and service. For future cooperations where WCA infoNET may play the 'hosting' function for other systems, real costs need to be considered to allow the sharing of the management as well as development costs. Consequently the Swiss "Smallholder Irrigation Technology and Marketing Initiative" was mentioned. It is currently being discussed and it may look for a possible cooperation for its implementation. WCA infoNET could play a hosting role while the project could be located at the IPTRID Secretariat or within IPTRID partners. The ICID WATSAVE work team had a meeting and following earlier discussions for a stronger support and involvement of ICID in building up the WCA infoNET knowledge base, WCA infoNET was discussed. ICID had nominated Mr. Ian Bell from ANCID (Australia) to be the focal point and editor in WCA infoNET for water saving technologies in irrigation area. The reporter was asked to give his view on this matter. Mr Ian Bell mentioned the latest developments as well as areas of possible cooperations on information dissemination and on thematic as well as on country focus. WCA infoNET could be an ideal partner in presenting the results of the working group to the professional public channeled through Mr. Bell. It was mentioned that first contacts were already established and that details would follow. During the meeting agenda it was mentioned that an



honorarium would likely to be received by the editor from IPTRID. This point was rectified as this issue has not been discussed before. The Global Water Partnership (GWP) has recently (December 2001) launched the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) 'ToolBox' on-line which is now available under http://www.gwp.ihe.nl/. The IWRM ToolBox is an on-line information system focusing on case studies in IWRM. The reporter was asked by the Manager of the ToolBox, Jan Hassing, to participate in the GWP ToolBox secession with an option to present WCA infoNET highlighting synergies and the complementary nature of both systems. WCA infoNET is an Associated Programme of the GWP and naturally related to the GWP. Various issues were discussed and a consensus was found that stronger linkages should be envisaged by cross-referencing and possibly by extending the search capabilities to include the other system. The reporter also mentioned that WCA infoNET could form a knowledge base for the referenced source materials of those case studies available from the IWRM ToolBox. Besides the discussions which took place on a broader forum, several professionals showed interest in WCA infoNET. Details could be discussed and information material was distributed.

3. Further steps to be taken

As funding could not be secured for WCA infoNET in its full extend future strategies for the continuation of WCA infoNET need to be elaborated. The 'Smallholder Technology and Marketing Initiative" will most probably need a hosting system or even an executing programme. WCA infoNET as a hosting system as well as IPTRID as an executing programme could play a role and details needs to be elaborated when approached. The ICID has nominated Mr. Ian Bell from ANCID (Australia) to be the editor for WCA infoNET for the WATSAVE group. Further contacts and details need to be elaborated to put the collaboration into praxis. WCA infoNET is an Associated Programme of the GWP. Stronger collaboration with the GWP Toolbox group shall be envisaged to make best use of each other's resources.

4. Female candidates and national consulting firms

Nothing to report

5. Itinerary 20/07/2001 (Saturday) - Departure

from Rome to Montreal, Canada (via Zurich): 09:35 hrs - Arrival in

Montreal, Canada: 15:05 hrs 21/07/2001 (Monday) - 26/07/2002 (Friday) - All sessions took

place at the Montreal Conference Center 8:00 to 18:00 hrs 27/07/2001 (Saturday)



- Departure from Montreal, Canada (via Zurich) to Rome: 17:10 hrs

28/07/2001 (Sunday) - Arrival in

Rome, Italy: 08:40 hrs ANNEX 1

List of Persons Met

During the various IPTRID sessions and the conference numerous professionals were met. The only persons with whom WCA infoNET matters were discussed are listed below.

− Vlaar, J. (Donor) The Netherlands − Lee, P. (Chairman IPTRIC CG) UK/India − Hassing, J. (GWP) Denmark − Mohtadullah, K. (GWP) Sweden − Ritzema, H. (ILRI - Alterra) The Netherlands − Bos, M.G. (ILRI - Alterra) The Netherlands − Vlotman, W. (ILRI - Alterra) The Netherlands − Burton, M. (ITAT - Water) UK − Bos, R. (WHO) Switzerland − Kay, M. (RTCS Ltd) UK − Aeuckens, V. (Departments of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry) Australia − Mapson J. (ANCID) Australia − Hofwegen, P. (IHE DELFT) The Netherlands − Segeren, W. (Netherlands Water Partnership) The Netherlands − Sharma, K.N. (ICID - Central Office) India − Kulkarni, S.A. (ICID - Central Office) India − Pearce, G. (HR Wallingford) UK − Hall, A. (HR Wallingford) UK − Rieu, T. (Cemagref) France − Merret, S. (Freelance Consultant) UK



Countries visited Australia and Sri Lanka

Dates 27 February - 12 April 2002

(annual leave taken 18 March - 05 April 2002)

Traveler Thomas-M. Stein Information Officer, IPTRID

Purpose Australia The purpose of the duty travel to Australia was to meet with representatives and staff of several Australian institutions and individuals dealing with water conservation and water use in Australia. It was a follow up to last years mission and contracts with Australian Institutions as well as to find new competent partners who could serve as information providers and editors for the WCA infoNET. Sri Lanka The purpose of the duty travel to Sri Lanka was to follow up a contract (LOA) with IWMI who is serving as an information provider for WCA infoNET as well as to evaluate possibilities of cooperation with the Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment Programme.

Follow up Australia - New support for the University of Western Sydney, New

South Wales who agreed to cooperate on WCA infoNET by being an information provider and editor.

- Follow up on possible cooperation on WCA infoNET with the Murray Darling Basin Commission in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

- Continuing support for the Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA) in Tatura, Victoria, to work on WCA infoNET.

- Follow up on possible cooperation on WCA infoNET with CSIRO publishing in Melbourne, Victoria.

- Continuing support for the Land and Water Division of the CSIRO in Griffith, New South Wales, to work on WCA infoNET.

- Follow up interest expressed by the CSIRO Land and Water Headquarter to cooperate on WCA infoNET as well as becoming a partner institution of IPTRID.

Sri Lanka - Supply details for the contact person who will be assigned

with the task to work on WCA infoNET - No follow up for the Dialogue Programme.

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The mission consisted of two parts: Australia The mission involved long travels between the states of New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (Victoria) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to visit the various institutions. The original itinerary had to be adjusted to adapt to changing conditions and availability of contact persons. The main stations of the mission were the University of Western Sydney, Penrith (NSW), Murray Darling Basin Commission in Canberra (ACT), the Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture in Tatura (Victoria), the CSIRO Publishing in Melbourne (Victoria), the CSIRO Land and Water Research Station in Griffith (NSW) and the CSIRO Land and Water Headquarters in Canberra (ACT). More details are given under the itinerary section of this report. Sri Lanka The mission in Sri Lanka consisted of a visit to the IWMI headquarters in Colombo where the Dialogue Secretariat is also located.

7. Presentations and discussions Background WCA infoNET, which is run by IPTRID, has been developed over a period of more than two years and was officially launched in August 2001 on the Internet under URL http://www.wca-infonet.org. While the system development (programming) is being conducted in collaboration with FAO (AFIS) the information development of the system is based on the collaboration with a number of institutions and professional who are acting as information providers as well as editors assuring that quality standards of information entered are met. To achieve this goal cooperations and contracts are negotiated with institutions and professionals covering various thematic areas within the system. In the case of Australia as well as Sri Lanka existing cooperations need to be examined as well as new ways of cooperations need to be discussed. Australia - Summary of presentations and conclusions University of Western Sydney, Penrith (NSW) The School of Environmental and Agriculture at the University of Western Sydney, is one of the key Universities in Australia working in the areas of irrigation, environmental hydrology, water management and soil conservation. Following previous contacts and discussions with the Senior Lecturer Dr. Basant Maheshwari, WCA infoNET was shown to him as well as to other staff. Details of possible collaborations were discussed and it was agreed that Dr. Basant Maheshwari would work as an Editor for WCA infoNET and that the necessary details would be elaborated. Based on this first contact a more extensive cooperation could be envisaged. Murray Darling Basin Commission in Canberra (ACT) The Murray-Darling Basin Initiative is the partnership between the governments and the community, which has been established to give effect to the 1992 Murray-Darling Basin Agreement. It is 'to promote and co-ordinate effective planning and management for the



equitable, efficient and sustainable use of the water, land and other environmental resources of the Murray-Darling Basin'. The Initiative is the largest integrated catchment management program in the world, covering the watersheds of the Murray and Darling rivers, an area of over one million square kilometres. With its resources and experiences it forms an ideal partner for the collaboration on WCA infoNET. During the main meeting with Scott Keyworth, Director Natural Resources Projects and Viv Martin, Web Liaison Officer in Canberra (ACT) the WCA infoNET approach was demonstrated and discussed. Special emphasis was put on possible cooperation in the sense of automated data exchange on areas to be agreed with the goal to provide descriptions and links to relevant full text documents. The meeting was positively received and no conceptual hindrances expressed. The underlying system structure (XML) also supports this approach. It was agreed that details need to be elaborated to start collaboration on automatic (meta) data exchange. Institute of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture in Tatura, ISIA (Victoria) Based on the last year's mission an agreement was reached with ISIA (located in Tatura, Victoria) and a LOA was signed. A working meeting was arranged with the key people discussing details of the work done so far and the work to be done as part of the agreement. The main focal persons were Dr. Peter Fisher, Senior Scientist Soil and Water and leader of the WCA infoNET cooperation at ISIA, Mr. Abdi Qassim, Research Officer working on irrigation systems and Mr. Alfred Heuperman, Senior Scientist and Consultant working in the area of bio-drainage. It was highlighted that more emphasis had to be put on the inclusion of full text documents. Beside these intensive working meetings a seminar was held demonstrating WCA infoNET in the plenary hall to the staff of the research centre. It was agreed to look into possible follow ups of current LAO besides technical follow ups. CSIRO Publishing in Melbourne (Victoria) CSIRO PUBLISHING is Australia's foremost science and technology publisher of research journals, books, magazines and CD-ROMs. It is an autonomous business unit within Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, CSIRO. Contact with CSIRO Publishing was established to evaluate possibilities of a cooperation with a publisher who is a 'seller' of information. The bulk of the relevant information within the irrigation and drainage sector is still 'locked up' by the publishers through copyrights and sales constraints. This makes the information inaccessible for stakeholders such as WCA infoNET users, who are not in the position of buying the information needed to overcome knowledge deficits in their development work. A meeting was arranged with Mr. Nick Alexander, Publishing Director. Details on WCA infoNET and access constraints to published material was discussed. Some models of possible cooperations with synergies for both sides were discussed in detail. In addition WCA infoNET was demonstrated on-line and discussed with Mr. Nick Alexander as well as Ms. Vanessa Muir from the On-line Publishing unit. The discussion was received very positively and additional contacts and discussions were agreed to be useful to elaborate details, which may lead to collaboration with WCA infoNET. CSIRO Land and Water, Research Laboratory Griffith (NSW) CSIRO Land and Water is one of the two Australian institutions currently involved as information providers in WCA infoNET. This agreement was based on the last year's mission, which resulted in the appointment of two Scientists, Dr. Evan Christen and Dr. Shahbaz Khan to work on the system. Several meetings were held with the two focal points as well as the Officer in Charge of the Griffith Research Laboratory Mr. John Blackwell to discuss details of the work. In addition a general on-line demonstration was held presenting the WCA infoNET system and concept to staff as well as to several visiting scientists from developing countries at the research center. CSIRO Land and Water showed interest in the continuation of the work and details need to be evaluated. During discussions with the Officer in Charge of the Griffith Research Laboratory Mr. John Blackwell interest was expressed to evaluate the possibility to continue the WCA infoNET cooperation and to



extend it into other areas of the IPTRID work. A meeting was therefore arranged with Dr. John Williams, Chief CSIRO Land and Water in Canberra (ACT). CSIRO Land and Water Headquarters in Canberra (ACT) CSIRO Land and Water covers major land, water and environmental issues and is the leading institution in Australia in this field. Based on the good cooperation with WCA infoNET (Griffith Laboratory) an additional meeting was held between Dr. John Williams, Chief CSIRO Land and Water and the Reporter at the CSIRO Headquarter in Canberra. This meeting was arranged and suggested by Mr. John Balckwell, Officer in Charge of the Griffith Research Laboratory to discuss current arrangements and experiences with WCA infoNET as well as possibilities to broaden the cooperation with IPTRID also in other areas of common interest. WCA infoNET specifics as well as the IPTRID's programme were discussed in details. It was agreed that more details should be elaborated and possibilities of a stronger involvement in WCA infoNET and IPTRID work should be evaluated. Sri Lanka - Summary of presentations and conclusions IWMI Based on a broader LOA between IWMI and IPTRID, IWMI has agreed to cooperate on WCA infoNET and to act as an information provider and editor. Several meetings with Dr. Mada Samad, Senior Regional Researcher and supervising Scientist for the work on WCA infoNET were held to discuss details and arrangements of this cooperation. It was pointed out that IWMI was in the process of recruiting a scientist who would be responsible for the WCA infoNET work and that this work would be included in the TOR of that scientist. This Scientist would work under the supervision of Dr. Mada Samad. It was agreed that once the person has been recruited the details would be sent to work on WCA infoNET. In addition to those meetings WCA infoNET could also be demonstrated to and discussed with other scientist such as Dr. Francois Molle, Principle Researcher at IWMI. The Dialogue for "Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment" hosted by IWMI Based on earlier discussions with the Director of the Dialogue Programme, Dr. Hans Walter and the Senior Researcher Dr. Hugh Turral some interest was shown to evaluate the possibility for WCA infoNET to server as a 'host' for the Dialogue Knowledge base. Several meetings were held with Dr. Hugh Turral (as the Director was on duty travel) and pros and cons discussed in detail. It became clear that the Dialogue has gone for a different approach choosing another FAO system to be used (yet to be adapted) for their purpose. No follow up is needed.

8. Further steps to be taken Australia - New support for the University of Western Sydney, New South Wales, who agreed

to cooperate on WCA infoNET by being an information provider and editor. - Follow up on possible cooperation on WCA infoNET with the Murray Darling

Basin Commission in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. - Continuing support for the Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA) in

Tatura, Victoria, to work on WCA infoNET. - Follow up on possible cooperation on WCA infoNET with CSIRO publishing in

Melbourne, Victoria. - Continuing support for the Land and Water Division of the CSIRO in Griffith,

New South Wales, to work on WCA infoNET. - Follow up interest expressed by the CSIRO Land and Water Headquarter to



cooperate on WCA infoNET as well as becoming a partner institution of IPTRID.

Sri Lanka - Supply of details for the contact person who will be assigned with the task to work

on WCA infoNET - No follow up for the Dialogue Programme.


Nothing to report

10. Itinerary Duty mission to Australia 27/02/2002 (Wednesday) - Departure

from Rome to Sydney, Australia (via Bangkok) 23:35 hrs 01/03/2002 (Friday) - Arrival in

Sydney, Australia 06:10 hrs 04/03/2002 (Monday) 08:00 to 20:00 hrs - Travel

Sydney (NSW) to Penrith (NSW) - Meeting: University of

Western Sydney - Travel

Penrith (NSW) to Canberra (ACT) 05/03/2002 (Tuesday) 08:10 to 17:00 hrs - Meetings:

Murray Darling Basin Commission in Canberra (ACT)

06/03/2002 (Wednesday) 07:45 to 19:45 hrs - Travel

Canberra (ACT) to Tatura (Victoria) 07/03/2002 (Thursday) 08:30 to 17:00 hrs - Meetings:

Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture in Tatura (Victoria) 08/03/2002 (Friday) 07:45 to 20:00 hrs - Meetings:

Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture in Tatura (Victoria) - Travel Tatura

(Victoria) to Melbourne (Victoria) - Meetings: the

CSIRO Publishing in Melbourne (Victoria) - Travel

Melbourne (Victoria) to Tatura (Victoria) 11/03/2002 (Monday) 08:30 to 17:00 hrs - Travel Tatura (Victoria) to Griffith (NSW) 12/03/2002 (Tuesday) 08:30 to 17:00 hrs - Meetings and work: CSIRO Land and Water Laboratory, Griffith (NSW) 13/03/2002 (Wednesday) 08:30 to 17:00 hrs - Meetings and work: CSIRO Land and Water Laboratory, Griffith (NSW) - WCA infoNET maintenance and work on-line (office supplied by CSIRO)



14/03/2002 (Thursday) 08:30 to 17:00 hrs - Meetings and work: CSIRO Land and Water Laboratory, Griffith (NSW) - WCA infoNET maintenance and work on-line (office supplied by CSIRO) 15/03/2002 (Friday) 08:30 to 17:00 hrs - Meetings and work: CSIRO Land and Water Laboratory, Griffith (NSW) - WCA infoNET maintenance and work on-line (office supplied by CSIRO) 18/03/2002 (Monday) until 05/04/2002 (Friday) ANNUAL LEAVE 07/04/2002 (Sunday) 08:30 to 17:00 hrs - Travel

Griffith (NSW) to Canberra (ACT) 08/04/2002 (Monday) 08:30 to 19:00 hrs - Meetings:

CSIRO Land and Water Headquarters - Travel

Canberra (ACT) to Sydney NSW) Duty mission to Sri Lanka 09/04/2002 (Tuesday) - Departure

from Sydney, Australia (via Singapore) to Colombo, Sri Lanka 15:50 hrs 10/04/2002 (Wednesday) - Arrival in

Colombo, Sri Lanka 00:20 hrs 11/04/2002 (Thursday) 09:00 to 17:00 hrs - Meetings: IWMI (Colombo) - Meetings:

Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment at IWMI (Colombo) 12/04/2002 (Friday) - Departure

from Colombo, Sri Lanka (via Dubai) to Rome, Italy 03:15 hrs 12/04/2002 (Saturday) - Arrival in

Rome, Italy 11:35 hrs ANNEX 1

List of Persons Met During the various sessions numerous professionals were met. Persons with whom WCA infoNET matters were discussed more intensively are listed below. AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA − Maheshwari, B. Senior Lecturer

University of Western Sydney Penrith New South Wales

− Keyworth, S. Director Natural Resources Projects

Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) Canberra Australian Capital Territory



− Martin, V. Web Liaison Officer Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC)

Canberra Australian Capital Territory

− Atkinson, C. Information Officer Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC)

Canberra Australian Capital Territory

− Campbell, M. Institute Director (ISIA)

Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA) Tatura Victoria

− Fisher, P. Senior Scientist Soil and Water Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA)

Tatura Victoria

− Qassim, A. Vegetable Research Officer Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA)

Tatura Victoria

− Heuperman, A. Senior Research Scientist / Consultant Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA)

Tatura Victoria

− Maul. C.R. Horticultural Decision Support System Institute for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA)

Tatura Victoria

− Alexander, N. Publishing Director

CSIRO Publishing Melbourne Victoria

− Muir, V. On-line Publishing CSIRO Publishing

Melbourne Victoria

− Blackwell, J. Officer in Charge

CSIRO Land and Water - Griffith Laboratory Griffith News South Wales

− Christen, E. Senior Research Engineer CSIRO Land and Water - Griffith Laboratory

Griffith News South Wales

− Khan, S. Senior Research Engineer CSIRO Land and Water - Griffith Laboratory


− Xevi, E. Research Scientist CSIRO Land and Water - Griffith Laboratory


− Cheng, X. Senior Visiting Scientist from China CSIRO Land and Water - Griffith Laboratory


− Timsina, J. Senior Visiting Scientist CSIRO Land and Water - Griffith Laboratory


− Singh, B. Senior Visiting Scientist CSIRO Land and Water - Griffith Laboratory


− Williams, J. Chief CSIRO Land and Water

CSIRO Land and Water Headquarter Canberra Australian Capital Territory

SRI LANKA SRI LANKA − Samad, M. Senior Regional Researcher

International Water Management Institute Colombo Sri Lanka

− Molle, F. Principal Researcher International Water Management Institute

Colombo Sri Lanka

− Weligamage, P. Consultant/Agriculture Economist International Water Management Institute

Colombo Sri Lanka

− Turral, H. Senior Researcher / Representing the DIALOGUE

International Water Management Institute Colombo Sri Lanka



Country visited France

Dates 18 - 19 December 2001

Traveller Thomas-M. Stein Information Officer, IPTRID Land and Water Development Division

Purpose To discuss details on the "Virtual Centre for Water in Agriculture" project proposal as a contribution to WCA infoNET.

Follow-up Details of the project proposal will be elaborated. Inputs will be needed from WCA infoNET for The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to launch that application.

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French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Paris) Two meetings were held at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, France: 18 December 2001 from 14:30 to 18:00 hours. 19 December 2001 from 08:00 to 17:00 hours.

12. Presentations and discussions

Background In 2001 an extensive feasibility study was prepared by Mr. Ivan Chaintreuil from The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, analyzing and comparing various modern Internet based information systems in the area of "water and agriculture". This study was aimed at looking into the possibilities of establishing a French "Virtual Centre for Water in Agriculture". During this study Mr. Chaintreuil visited the IPTRID Secretariat and WCA infoNET. Based on this study, a recommendation was made to The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs: to consider joining forces with the IPTRID managed WCA infoNET system by supporting this initiative rather than going for a stand-alone solution. This contribution should support and enlarge the scope of the existing system by adding missing components and extend it with communication activities as well as French information. The meeting was a follow up on various communications between The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IPTRID Secretariat to finalize a project proposal which would take into consideration both components leading to best synergies on both sides. Summary of presentations and conclusions Various technical as well as organizational options where discussed in depth alongside WCA infoNET and the proposed "Virtual Centre for Water in Agriculture". It was concluded that: The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to act as an active partner with IPTRID along the path opened by WCA infoNET. The French initiative is welcomed by IPTRID as contributing to the design, funding and implementation of a common project supporting some aspects of the development of WCA infoNET within the framework of the IPTRID communication strategy. The project component in support to WCA infoNET will be called "Virtual Centre", or fully "Virtual Centre for Water in Agriculture". It was expressed by The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it would like to build on a joint and multi donor funding arrangement for their support and therefore would appreciate other commitments e.g. DFID who is currently the only donor of WCA infoNET. Other Institutions may start or continue to cooperate as well by providing information (AFEID, EIER-ETSHER, etc.), expertise (editors like Cemagref, etc.), within thematic or regional scopes.



IPTRID will have the responsibility of writing a detailed "Virtual Centre" project document, submitting it through FAO and the French representation in Rome, to the French government in Paris for funding. It is expected that funds might be credited not earlier than April 2002 to a special IPTRID/FAO bank account for implementation of the whole project by IPTRID. The project should specify that IPTRID/FAO would recruit a 'Communication Officer' (French or strong French Background) for two years against the project budget. Further extension of this staff contract would require raising extra funding. Whenever French expertise will need to be identified and activated for implementation of part of the “Virtual Centre” project, AFEID (French branch of ICID) will be the normal entry point. The timeframe for the implementation of the "Virtual Centre" project against French funds can be two to three years starting from April 2002.


IPTRID will have to take responsibility of writing a detailed "Virtual Centre" project document and of submitting it through FAO and the French representation in Rome to the French government in Paris. On the French side, Sara Fernandez is going to follow up the project preparation during the next few months of her work in Paris (employed by The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs from January to April 2002, for one-third of her time). She will dedicate this time for consultation with IPTRID, until project submission by IPTRID, then to administrative support to the handling of the IPTRID request in Paris. After this time (May 2002), it is highly expected that she will be recruited by FAO as a young professional officer seconded to IPTRID in Rome for various tasks but mainly on irrigation modernization. She will also be able to assist in the supervision of the implementation of the Virtual Centre” project.


Nothing to report

15. Itinerary 18/12/2001 (Tuesday) - Departure from Rome to Paris

10:20 hrs - Arrival in Paris:

12:25 hrs - First meeting with staff at the French Ministry of

Foreign Affairs: 14:00 to 17:30 hrs 29/05/2001 (Wednesday) - Second meeting with staff at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs: 09:00 to 17:30 hrs - Departure from Paris to Rome: 20:00 hrs - Arrival in Rome: 22:00 hrs



ANNEX 1

List of Persons Met

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Main meetings: − Jean-Marc Hoffmann (Chargé de mission, DCT/EPS) − Sara Fernandez (Chargé de mission, MAP) − Ivan Chaintreuil (Stagiaire DCT/EPS)

Briefly met − Bruno Vindel (Directeur DCT/EPS)



Country visited Sweden

Dates 12-18 August 2001


Purpose To participate in the Stockholm Water Symposium with special emphasis on the workshop on Dialogue Knowledge Base, and to present WCA infoNET and IPTRID at the GWP meetings such as Associated Programmes meeting and working groups.

Follow-up Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment: No immediate follow up action is required at this stage. GWP: WCA infoNET is an Associated Programme of the GWP and this status is advantageous to promote WCA infoNET. A stronger collaboration with other information services of the GWP was agreed. Action will be taken to maintain this collaboration.

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THE MAIN REPORT 16. Location

Stockholm (Sweden) The meetings and workshops took place during the Stockholm Water Symposium which included the side events of the Global Water Partnership Annual Meeting (GWP).


17.1. The Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment - The Knowledge Base

Background Ten of the primary international actors in the fields of water resources management, water resources research, environmental conservation and health, have joined forces to initiate a dialogue to examine the question of future water needs for nature and food production in developing countries. The Dialogue Programme is hosted by IWMI in Sri Lanka. The overall objective of this effort is to develop a science-based consensus between all stakeholders which will help achieve water-food security and poverty eradication, through the sustainable use of water resources. One of the specific objectives of the Dialogue is to strengthen the knowledge base on this topic, and develop conceptual, research and assessment tools to clearly understand the situation. Summary of presentations and discussions WCA infoNET is an operational and established Internet based knowledge and information system with advanced technical features. As such it could support the Dialogue Knowledge Base with information and exchange on advanced technologies and concepts of knowledge management. The Reporter participated in the discussions and working groups to share experiences in setting up and managing a knowledge and information system. Various discussions and presentations took place in a plenary session as well as in smaller working groups. WCA infoNET experiences were presented and offered as one of the possible solutions for establishing a Internet based knowledge system. It was suggested during discussions by the Director (designate) of Dialogue that WCA infoNET should be used by Dialogue. It became clear that the Dialogue Knowledge Base was still at a very early conceptual stage and that no clear ideas were developed yet on how the system itself could be implemented on a practical basis. The challenge is to establish a system using most recent and advanced technologies and hence allow a decentralized knowledge generation in a partly centralized system with quality control put in place. It was therefor suggested by the Reporter to arrange an additional meeting with experts on Internet based IT knowledge management to elaborate further details. It is important to prevent a "classical" approach already in the design phase and take into account the potential of modern and extending features available on the market.



In addition, it was pointed out that it would be important to have transparency in the knowledge finding process during the various stages through the system. This would give transparency to the results and allow documentation on how dialogue processes developed and agreement reached.

17.2. WCA infoNET and IPTRID at the GWP members meeting

Background WCA infoNET as well as IPTRID are members of the GWP and the GWP Associated Programmes (AP). WCA infoNET was established through the GWP 'Water Conservation in Agriculture' window and since its establishment was linked to GWP as an Associated Programme. Summary of presentations and discussions WCA infoNET as well as IPTRID were presented at the GWP meeting through posters. WCA infoNET was officially launched and presented to the public through an on-line stand at the 'Global Water Village' by the Reporter. The Reporter participated in various GWP meetings and working groups exchanging information on WCA infoNET as well as evaluating other information, both existing systems and those under development. The meeting was used to promote WCA infoNET and to strengthen linkages with GWP and other information systems in the area of integrated water resource management (IWRM). Some further systems are SAWINET/GLOBWINET and other systems under development such as the GWP TOOLBOX, CAPNET and others. It became clear that WCA infoNET and SAWINET/GLOBWINET were the only functional systems available to the public at that stage. GWP has put enormous efforts in the development and promotion of the GWP TOOLBOX which from the systems point of view, has functions similar to WCA infoNET. The GWP TOOLBOX will be launched to the public during the Bonn Meeting in December 2001. Only a demo was available at the GWP meeting. As already reported by an Information Systems Meeting of the APs in December 1999, it was reconfirmed that many institutions have chosen to develop their own systems and platforms rather than sharing the platforms most probably for allowing more flexibility, even accepting higher developing costs. The main advantage of a closer collaboration lies in the exchange and synchronizing of data , the sharing of experiences and setting standards such as "controlled vocabulary" in the form of dictionaries and thesauri. It was agreed to reinvigorate the links and to continue the collaboration by meeting in the autumn 2001. A meeting location envisaged was The Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) which is developing the GWP TOOLBOX system. One of the main areas of discussion should be the use of common vocabulary to make cross-system searches and information exchange easier.

18. Outcome and conclusions for WCA infoNET

The Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment - The Knowledge Base



WCA infoNET may provide key technologies in the area of knowledge systems as well as it may support the development of concepts on how the Dialogue Knowledge Base could be turned into a functional system. This would be possible once content, issues and information structures have been elaborated for the Dialogue Knowledge Base. Within an agreed framework WCA infoNET could host the Dialogue Knowledge Base as the subjects covered by the Dialogue Knowledge Base form a subset of WCA infoNET subjects. WCA infoNET at the GWP members meeting WCA infoNET is one of three currently functioning information systems linked to the GWP and GWP AP Programme. New systems are emerging and collaboration with existing as well as with new systems should be strengthened to make best use of resources and allow cross platform exchanges. Participation in meetings and workshops to elaborate technical as well as conceptual details should be continued.


The Dialogue on Water Food and Environment - The Knowledge Base: No further steps are required at this stage. WCA infoNET at the GWP members meeting: Participation in meetings and workshops to elaborate technical as well as conceptual details on information exchange should be continued.

20. Other Persons met and private sector Various persons from institutions, donors as well as from the private sector were met and the use of WCA infoNET and work of IPTRID were discussed.

21. Female candidates and national consulting firms Not relevant.

22. Itinerary 12/08/2001 (Sunday) Departure from home: 13:00 hrs Flight: Rome - Brussels - Stockholm: 15:35 - 21:45 hrs Arrival at hotel: 23:00 hrs 13/08/2001 (Monday) - 18/08/2001 (Saturday: 12:00 hrs) Meetings, Seminars, workshops at the Stockholm Conference Center 18/08/2001 (Saturday) Flight: Stockholm - Zurich - Rome: 17:10 - 21:50 hrs Arrival home: 22:45 hrs



Country visited France and The Netherlands

Date 28-31 May 2001


Purpose The purpose of the duty travel to France and The Netherlands was to discuss technical and organizational issues at Cemagref (France) and to elaborate details on cooperation between ILRI (The Netherlands) and IPTRID on the WCA infoNET information system. It was aimed at strengthening the work of the Partner Institution (Cemagref) as well as finding an agreement with ILRI to serve as information provider and editor for the WCA infoNET knowledge and information system

Follow up Cemagref: Technical advice to manage the system has been given. No immediate follow up is foreseen. ILRI: Once agreement is reached a contract has to be issued and signed. Assistance will be given to upload existing data into WCA infoNET. A

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Cemagref (France) Two meetings were held at the Research Centre of 'La recherche pour l'ingénierie de l'agriculture et de l'environnement' (Cemagref), Montpellier, France. ILRI (The Netherlands) The morning session of the meeting took place at the International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement (ILRI) in Wageningen, The Netherlands. In the afternoon it was continued with staff at the De Haaff Library which is part of the Wageningen University and Research Center and linked to ILRI.


24.1. Cemagref (France)

Summary of presentations and discussions

Apparently there had been conceptual problems in understanding and using WCA infoNET in the past. WCA infoNET was presented in detail to the staff involved and assigned to this duty and various detailed technical issues were presented and discussed. Specific solutions for integrating information and other services such as part of the "Database on Irrigation and Drainage Projects" were elaborated. The Library section of Cemagref could play an increasingly important role in collaborating with other Cemagref staff on WCA infoNET. With the recently recruited new staff, more on-line publications are encouraged. In addition it became clear that other units such as the 'Canal Simulation Group' may be interested in supplying relevant information to WCA infoNET. The list of persons met are given in Annex 1.

24.2. ILRI (The Netherlands)

Background This mission was a follow-up to earlier communications and draft LOA between ILRI and IPTRID on WCA infoNET and the ILRI - Memo on a previous meeting between Mr. Wouter Wolters (ILRI) and Mr. Arum Kandiah (IPTRID), on 7 February 2001. This resulted in an invitation by ILRI to visit the Institute and present the WCA infoNET system to Institute staff as well as to the De Haaff Library who would be involved in the envisaged collaboration. A MOU has been signed in May 2001 between ILRI and IPTRID including cooperation on WCA infoNET. Summary of presentations and discussions

At ILRI

During the meeting at ILRI various general issues of collaboration as well as technical



issues concerning WCA infoNET were discussed.

ILRI is at the stage of moving from a governmental institution towards a private entity as part of Alterra with strong links to the De Haaff Library. This change of status will take place on the 1 June 2001. A different contractual modality will have to be chosen, as an LOA will no longer be possible between ILRI and FAO/IPTRID.

The subject area to be covered was discussed and consensus expressed on the one proposed which is "Drainage and land reclamation". As this area covers a very wide range of topics and cascading subtopics, co-operation with other editors and institutions was not considered to be a problem in future.

To outline and define the scope of topic areas, a situation analysis paper will be elaborated and put on-line to be linked to the appropriate sections. Certain chapters and subsections should be extracted and modified to be used to describe and define subsections of the topic tree and then linked into the appropriate areas. Synergies with other papers prepared may be used to complement the analysis done.

As the modern De Haaff Library will be linked to ILRI, it should be evaluated to determine on what extent common resources could be used to improve and increase the output for the WCA infoNET-ILRI collaboration. A lot of sources have already been put online through the library.

The DRAiN database has been maintained by ILRI and holds descriptions of well selected subsets of monographs, articles and gray literature from a wide range of topics related to drainage and land reclamation. A lot of work has been put into the screening and description of relevant literature which is maintained in this database. The use of this valuable resource should be evaluated even though no updates have been done recently. WCA infoNET needs to have full text documents linked to the system and it was noted that this was not the case in DRAiN.

At the De Haaff Library

As the De Haaff Library will play an important role for any activity linked to ILRI's library and information matters, a meeting was arranged to evaluate possible cooperation with the library on WCA infoNET matters. WCA infoNET was presented including details of the concept behind it. It was pointed out that WCA infoNET is aimed at: − establishing an information system facilitating the finding of

information rather than keeping all the information stored locally; − establishing an information system which is an Internet

information system and hence extends the traditional type of information such as publications, books, monographs, etc. found in libraries;

− extending the services to make available full text documents and publications wherever available;

− keeping the information where it is being produced and preferably describing and then linking to it rather then using the upload functionality; and

− making available information in a web-compatible format on a server, which would be preferably html (pdf may also be used depending on the circumstances), to allow a global retrieval of information.

As DRAiN holds a lot of expertise various options for continuation and possible ways of incorporating DRAiN were discussed. The current on-line version of DRAiN is not maintained anymore and was taken from the net. There is a complete version in MS Access available at ILRI. The main constraint on using and linking DRAiN to WCA infoNET is



the lack of full text documents which are currently not part of DRAiN.

As one of the options, it was proposed to reactivate DRAiN as an on-line version maintained as part of the library system. This on-line version could then be extended to hold full text documents. At a second stage this version could then be linked to WCA infoNET by extracting and mirroring the meta data (descriptions) into WCA infoNET leaving the full text documents which are on the ILRI or library server.

The second option which arose during the discussion was to fully upload and merge the current DRAiN database (work) into WCA infoNET (after an initial screening) and then continue DRAiN within WCA infoNET. The DRAiN objectives and subjects coincide very well with WCA infoNET and with ILRI's proposed subject area . The main discrepancy of DRAiN is that it does not hold any full text documents. This may be overcome by using WCA infoNET as the base to maintain the DRAiN content within WCA infoNET. WCA infoNET extends the current limitations and provides additional functionality and enables the DRAiN resources to link with other resources in this field (e.g. full on-line texts).

The merging of DRAiN resources into WCA infoNET would mean that as the first step a bulk upload of the meta data (all the descriptions currently held in DRAiN) would have to be performed. This may be done at FAO. Before the upload, some amendments need to be applied for classifying DRAiN entries within the subject tree of WCA infoNET (subject ID numbers). Similarly, the subsequent subject tree would have to be developed beforehand to allow the placement of the new entries. Most of the work will fall into the second stage where the entries have to be gradually extended by adding links to full text documents which should be placed on ILRI's or the De Haaff Library's server. Once the initial merging works have been done the DRAiN entries will be maintained and complemented through ILRI by using WCA infoNET. DRAiN entries maybe marked as such (e.g. by adding "DRAiN - database" into one of the fields like "source" in WCA infoNET). A DRAiN entry page on ILRI's website may be established to access subsets of DRAiN/WCA infoNET resources.

Concerning on-line publications to be linked to WCA infoNET it was mentioned that those resources should stay preferably where they have been produced and should not be uploaded into WCA infoNET (even theoretically this option is given). The preferred file formats for WCA infoNET are html and if not possible, pdf. The De Haaff Library is at the stage of putting publications on-line which, in some cases, may be linked to WCA infoNET, depending on contractual framework with the publisher. A new way of allowing access to full text publications has been negotiated with the publisher and established at the De Haaff Library. The De Haaff Library agreed that this function may be used to allow the access through WCA infoNET. For WCA infoNET this would mean that the link supplied to the full text document would lead to a form which allows the automatic request of a scanned publication. The publication would be scanned only on request and would be placed on-line on the De Haaff Library server for a few days which will allow the user to download that file. According to the agreement with publishers this file has to be deleted again after it has been downloaded or a number of days have passed. Even this is not an ideal situation as the publication may not be indexed through the WCA infoNET crawling and index engines though it allows access to publications which normally would not be available electronically. Other ways of placing on-line publications need to be evaluated.

25. Outcome and conclusions for WCA infoNET

Cemagref During intensive work meetings Cemagref staff were introduced to technical details needed to use the system efficiently. Cemagref showed an overall strong commitment to WCA infoNET by starting to fill information into WCA infoNET. Structural changes need to be



implemented at Cemagref to facilitate information to be placed on-line linked to WCA infoNET. ILRI ILRI is very interested in cooperating with WCA infoNET in the areas of "Drainage and land reclamation" by serving as an editor and information provider. This would include describing, defining and structuring the topic areas as well as screening and adding various types of information. This would be done in strong collaboration with the De Haaff Library to make best use of resources. The DRAiN database would be merged in WCA infoNET and then maintained in future by using the WCA infoNET system. On-line publications will have to be added to allow access to full texts of the DRAiN entries. This will partly be done in collaboration with the De Haaff Library. ILRI will supply a slightly adapted MS Access version of DRAiN which will be bulk uploaded into WCA infoNET at FAO. WCA infoNET will supply the necessary accounts to allow the maintenance of data. The focal point for WCA infoNET will stay with ILRI.


Cemagref Assistance for managing the system has been given and no additional action, is needed from the WCA infoNET side (signed LOA already exists). ILRI Once agreement is reached, a contract has to be issued and signed. Assistance will be given to upload existing data (merging DRAiN) into WCA infoNET.


Not relevant.

28. Itinerary 28/05/2001 (Monday) Departure from Rome for Nice at10:40 hrs Departure from Nice for Montpellier at 13:00 hrs First meeting with staff at Cemagref: 15:00 to 17:30 hrs 29/05/2001 (Tuesday) Meetings with staff at Cemagref: 8:30 to 17:30 hrs 30/05/2001 (Wednesday) Departure from Montpellier for Paris at 10:00 hrs Departure from Paris for Amsterdam at 12:45 hrs Train from Amsterdam to Wageningen 15:10-16:12 hrs 31/05/2001 (Thursday) Meetings at ILRI and De Haaf Library 8:15 to 16:00 hrs Train from Wageningen to Amsterdam 17:00-18:00 hrs Departure from Amsterdam for Rome at 20:00 hrs Arrival in Rome at 22.20 hrs



ANNEX 1

List of Persons Met

Cemagref (France) − Thierry Rieu (Head, Irrigation Research Unit) − Christiane Vannobel (Cemagref) − Yves Lunet (Cemagref)' − Pierre-Olivier Malaterre (Cemagref)

ILRI (The Netherlands) Morning session at ILRI (30 May 2001) − Wouter Wolters (ILRI)

De Haaff Library Afternoon session at the De Haaff Library (30 May 2001) − Wouter Wolters (ILRI) − Henk Günther (Head, De Haaff Library) − Peter J.C. van Boheemen (Head, System Development and Database Management) − Ger Naber (Librarian also responsible for the DRAiN database) − Willem F. Vlotman (ILRI)

ANNEX 2 Agenda (Cemagref, France)

28 May 2001,

− Afternoon − Meeting with the Head of the Irrigation Unit and focal point for IPTRID − Meeting with other staff involved in WCA infoNET − Discussions on the agenda − Discussions on WCA infoNET - experiences and progress

29 May 2001

− All day event − Meeting with staff involved in WCA infoNET − Presentation of WCA infoNET. − Technical discussion on experiences and problems − Technical discussion on how to supply information to WCA infoNET (system, file formats,

website, etc.) − Technical discussion on ways of integration of the Research Database on Irrigation and

Drainage Projects − Meeting with the Head of the Irrigation Unit - summary and conclusions



Agenda (ILRI, The Netherlands) 31 May 2001

− Morning (ILRI) − Agenda − Contractual matters (type of contract) − Follow-up on current LOA proposals and areas of collaboration on: − Scope and subject tree − Situation analysis papers in WCA − Reviewing and screening of relevant literature − The DRAiN database − Other web resources − Acting as editor for the topic area agreed − Agenda for the afternoon meeting with the De Haaff Library

− Afternoon (ILRI, De Haaff Library) − Identification and selection of appropriate literature (internal and external) to be placed on-line

for WCA infoNET − Providing DRAiN database in a web-compatible format to allow full access through WCA

infoNET − Linking of other resources into WCA infoNET



Distribution of Duty Travel Report on Mission to Australia 6-16 February 2001 by Thomas-M. Stein, Information Officer, IPTRID, Land and Water Development Division

Approved: A. Kandiah Programme Manager, IPTRID From: Louise O. Fresco To: R.B. Singh, ADG, RAP H. Wolter Louise O. Fresco, ADG, AG A. Kandiah H. Wolter, AGLD R. Florin, AGLW A.P. Koohafkan, AGLL T.-M. Stein A. Kandiah T. Brabben A. Vidal H. Denecke A. Nepveu de Villemarceau G. Pearce, HR wallingford AGLW Officers TS/: 26 March 2001 IL 46/14 cc: AGLW S file Stein chron AGL Reg (2)



Duty Travel Report Duty Travel Report on Mission to Australia

6 - 16 February 2001

by

Thomas-M. Stein Information Officer, IPTRID

Land and Water Development Division

SUMMARY

Purpose The purpose of the duty travel to Australia was to meet with representatives and staff of several Australian Institutions and individuals, dealing with water conservation and use issues within Australia. It was aimed at finding competent partners who could serve as information providers and editors for the WCA infoNET knowledge and information system.

Results of the Mission Comprehensive programs have already been put in place to ensure water conservation and sustainable use on a countrywide scale. This has led to a large number of solutions and a huge repository of information on efficient and sustainable use of water and irrigation practices. Australian institutions are therefore of crucial importance to WCA infoNET as partners, editors and information providers. The following institutions were visited, WCA infoNET was presented and details on possible collaboration discussed: − CSIRO. Land and Water, Griffith (NSW) and the CSIRO Headquarters, Land and

Water, Canberra, Canberra (ACT). A draft TORs and possible ways of collaboration were discussed in detail. It was agreed to follow-up on this matter by further discussions and interactions. The Canberra meetings showed openness to share information and willingness to contribute and participate in WCA-infoNET. The meetings have set a good foundation and signs for further collaboration with the laboratories, for example the Griffith laboratory.

− Institute of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA), Tatura, Victoria. It was agreed to

follow up the meeting and to elaborate possibilities of further collaboration. − National Irrigation Science Network (NISN). It was agreed to maintain loose contacts

and hold further discussions. − University of Melbourne, Melbourne, (Victoria). A follow-up to the discussion with

additional information was agreed.

Follow up Actions



In the context of quality and quantity of information it became clear that, at the current state, WCA infoNET should focus on dealing directly with strong institutions like the CSIRO or ISIA who are the primary information 'producers' in the area of water conservation and use. Contacts will be maintained and details of collaborations will be elaborated with the institutions and individuals met. THE MAIN REPORT 29. The Purpose The purpose of the duty travel to Australia was to meet with representatives and staff of several Australian Institutions and individuals, dealing with water conservation and use issues within Australia. It was aimed at finding competent partners who could serve as information providers and editors for the WCA infoNET knowledge and information system. This mission was a follow-up to earlier communications between the CSIRO and the Reporter, which resulted in an invitation by the Australia Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) to the Reporter to visit the Organization and present the WCA infoNET system. The mission was undertaken while the Reporter was on annual leave in Australia. 30. Objective Information exchange and possible collaboration with information providers and editors related to water conservation and use in agriculture 31. Locations The Reporter was mainly based at the CSIRO in Griffith (NSW) where the Institution generously provided him with facilities to undertake his mission in Australia. From Griffith various travels were undertaken to visit some key institutions in Canberra, Tatura and Melbourne. The opportunity was taken to visit various other scientists and representatives of the agricultural and IT information industries in Brisbane and Sydney which contributed to the dissemination of WCA infoNET. More details are given under the Itinerary section of this report. 32. Agenda - presentations and discussions After arriving in Australia and some initial discussions with the Officer-in-Charge at CSIRO in Griffith, it became clear that a slightly modified and extended itinerary would benefit the mission. It would also make WCA infoNET known to a broader group of potential information providers. This allowed the Reporter to visit other institutions such as the Institute of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture in Tatura and the University of Melbourne and meet with a representative of the National Irrigation Science Network (NISN).

CSIRO Land and Water, Griffith (NSW) The mission of CSIRO Land and Water Division, one of the leading institutions in Australia, is to generate knowledge, strategies and tools to manage land and water in Australia and internationally. CSIRO Land and Water has more than 500 staff and a budget of around $50 million a year, a third of which is derived from external and private sector sources. Research staff are located in eight locations: Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Griffith, Albury, Brisbane, Atherton and Townsville. Topics covered by CSIRO include: − Remediation of Contaminated Environments



− Sustainable Agriculture − Sustainable Catchment and Groundwater Management − Tropical Land and Water Management − Waterway Management and Landscape Function. CSIRO Land and Water represents one of the key organizations which could provide information and editorial support to WCA infoNET. During the visit at the CSIRO in Griffith, the Reporter gave a detailed on-line presentation on WCA infoNET to the staff and invited visitors from the Griffith area. The presentation was followed by an in-depth discussion with concrete a proposal for collaboration and possible areas to be covered. Besides the presentation, various discussions were held with Mr. John Blackwell (Officer in Charge of the Griffith Laboratory), Dr Elizabeth Humphreys (Leader of the CSIRO Land and Water Research Group on Resource Management for Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture) and other scientific staff at the laboratory. The Griffith group expressed strong interest in adopting certain topic areas in WCA infoNET and providing editorial assistance as well as information, in collaboration with the headquarters and IT units. A draft TORs and possible ways of collaboration were discussed in detail. It was agreed to follow-up on this matter by further discussions and interactions.

CSIRO Headquarters, Land and Water Canberra, Canberra (ACT) The CSIRO Land and Water Canberra Laboratories are part of a large CSIRO site housing a number of different Divisions. Work in the Canberra Laboratories concentrates on problems that span from the natural divisions of the biosphere to soil, plants, water and atmosphere. As the countrywide CSIRO Land and Water Laboratories are being coordinated through the central laboratory in Canberra, meetings with Dr John Williams, the Deputy Chief of CSIRO Land and Water and with Dr Warren Bond, Officer-in-Charge of the Land and Water Canberra Laboratories, were held to discuss the WCA infoNET project and possible contributions and involvement of the CSIRO Land and Water Division. These two meetings were chaired by Mr John Blackwell, Officer-in- Charge of the Griffith Laboratories. The CSIRO showed strong interest in WCA infoNET and it became clear that a very open policy is being followed in giving free access to most of the relevant information, publication and data e.g. through the Internet. This would form a very good base of information for WCA infoNET as all the released information has been carefully reviewed and passed high quality standards. Subsequently, a seminar was held at the CSIRO on WCA infoNET. It was presented on-line allowing time to discuss various technical issues and matters related to information provision, editing, quality control, etc. This seminar was broadly announced beyond CSIRO boundaries and in addition to the CSIRO staff and IT persons, it was attended by Members of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria and Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry, Australia. The Canberra meetings showed openness to share information and willingness to contribute and participate in WCA-infoNET. The meetings have set a good foundation and signs for further collaboration with the laboratories, for example the Griffith laboratory.



Institute of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA), Tatura, Victoria The Institute of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture (ISIA) is the major research and technology transfer institute of agriculture supporting sustainable irrigated agriculture. The major programmes relevant to WCA infoNET are Natural Resource Management (Soil and Water Management, Salinity Management, Regional Planning and Monitoring) and irrigation of Horticulture (Pome and Stone Fruit, Vegetable and Vine Production). Other relevant technology priorities covered by the ISIA are, for example, productive, profitable and sustainable irrigation farm systems; efficient irrigation and drainage management technologies; soil management practices for enhancement, preservation or reclamation of soil structure and fertility; salinity control strategies and technologies; farm management of nutrients; and wastewater, just to name a few. ISIA could be a major information provider and could cover a significant area needed within WCA infoNET. A seminar was organized through Mr Alfred Heuperman, Senior Research Scientist at the ISIA, to present WCA infoNET and discuss various technical as well information matters with staff of the ISIA and the representative of the National Irrigation Science Network. Following the presentation and discussion, a short meeting was held with Mr. Q.J. Wang, Principle Scientist for Soil and Water. It was agreed to follow up the meeting and to elaborate possibilities of further collaboration.

National Irrigation Science Network (NISN) The National Irrigation Science Network (NISN) was established, after consultations with industry stakeholders, by CSIRO Land and Water. The consultations identified the need for a major effort to coordinate irrigation R&D across the industry and to raise the profile of irrigation science activities. A meeting was organized through the CSIRO Griffith laboratories to meet with Mr. Jeremy Cape, Coordinator of the NISN, to evaluate possible cooperation on sharing the same information resources and structures in building up the information systems and making best use of possible synergies. The meeting and discussion took place at the ISIA after the seminar held for staff of the research station. It became clear that, at the current state, WCA infoNET should focus on dealing directly with strong institutions like the CSIRO who are the primary information 'producers' in the area of water conservation and use. Nevertheless, a link with the NISN could be interesting in the future as the area covered is a sub-sector of that covered by WCA infoNET as well as NISN and represents a number of key institutions (8) so that information could be channeled from a much broader base into the WCA infoNET system. It was agreed to maintain loose contacts and hold further discussions.

University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria The main focal point at the University was the International Development Technologies Centre (IDTC). The IDTC is a multi-disciplinary academic and research unit within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Melbourne. The staff of the Centre have expertise in the choice, development, operation and management of



technological systems appropriate to developing countries. Their experience and expertise can be made available in a wide range of technological disciplines like the following relevant to WCA infoNET: Water management with special emphasis on hydrology and waste treatment; irrigation management with special emphasis on soils management and operation as well as other adjacent areas. A lecture was presented, using an on-line demonstration of WCA infoNET to a wide range of professionals covering different disciplines like Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Irrigation and Water Resources, Web-based Teaching, Hydrology/ Environmental Engineering, Hydraulics, Coastal/Maths, catchment hydrology, modeling and others. During the ensuing discussions special interest to participate was shown by Dr. Graham Moore (agricultural engineering, environmental engineering, web-based teaching ) and Dr. Hugh Turral, IDTC (irrigation and water resources). A follow-up to the discussion with additional information was agreed.

Other Persons met The following persons were met outside the duty mission, which contributed to a wider dissemination of WCA infoNET. Mr Christopher Grosselin, Chief Executive Officer of InfoChoice Ltd. Meeting on: 02 February 2001. InFARMation which is owned and run by its parent company InfoChoice Ltd, is focused on meeting the needs of the Australian farming sector. It is designed to act as an agricultural community on-line, providing a marketing vehicle for buyers and sellers involved in Australia's rural sector. InFARMation has a strong presence in the Australian agricultural community, and is the major agricultural web content (http://www.infarmation.com.au/). WCA infoNET was discussed and presented and different concepts compared. Dr Freeman Cook and staff, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Land and Water, Queensland. Meeting on 19 and 20 February 2001. Working with the CRC for Sugar Research on acid drainage from cane lands. Field trials were visited and WCA infoNET and the need for editors for relevant scientific areas explained. 33. Outcome and conclusions for WCA infoNET With approximately 2 400 000 hectares currently under irrigation, Australia has the potential to be leader in productive well-managed irrigated agriculture. According to the CSIRO Land and Water, security of water supply is crucial, particularly under highly variable climatic conditions. Approximately 70% of Australia's developed water resource is used for irrigation to support farm-gate production. However, water use for the most part is found to be inefficient. It is estimated that even an improvement in water use efficiency, as small as 1% , would already provide opportunities to increase the value of production by at least $60 million per annum. Increasing environmental pressures (e.g. dryland salinity is affecting almost 2.5 million hectares of Australian farmland) and competing demand for water from other users and for environmental purposes, have evolved to meet the changing needs of the irrigation industry and to provide solutions for sustainable water use and irrigation practices. Comprehensive programs have already been put in place to ensure water conservation and sustainable use on a countrywide scale. This has led to a large number of solutions and a huge repository of information on efficient and sustainable use of water and irrigation



practice. Australian institutions are therefore of crucial importance to WCA infoNET as partners, editors and information providers. 34. Further steps to be taken Contacts will be maintained and details of collaborations will be elaborated with the institutions and individuals met. 35. Private sector As described above: Meetings on 2 and 3 February 2001 in Sydney. - Mr Christopher Grosselin, Chief Executive Officer of InfoChoice Ltd., InFARMation. One of the major commercially run agricultural web content provider. In addition: Meeting on 6 February 2001 in Griffith with Mr. Graem Mitchell, Managing Director and Mr Sean von Banchet Sales Engineer, Mantacom Technology Ltd. Data acquisition, communications and control. 36. Female candidates and national consulting firms Not relevant. 9. Itinerary 6 February (Tuesday) CSIRO, Griffith (NSW) Preparation of Seminars in Australia on WCA infoNET 7 February (Wednesday) CSIRO, Griffith (NSW) Preparation of Seminars; Discussion with staff (scientists) at the CSIRO lab on WCA infoNET. 8 February (Thursday) Travel to Tatura (Victoria) 9 February (Friday) ISIA, Tatura (Victoria) Seminar and discussions on WCA infoNET cooperation at the Institute of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture Meeting and discussion with the coordinator of the 'National Irrigation Science Network (NISN)' 10 February (Saturday) REST 11 February (Sunday) Travel to Melbourne (Victoria) 12 February (Monday) University of Melbourne, Melbourne (Victoria) Presentation and discussions on WCA infoNET to staff and Students 13 February (Tuesday) Travel from Melbourne Victoria) to Griffith (NSW) 14 February (Wednesday) CSIRO, Griffith (NSW) Presentation and discussion at the research station on cooperation on WCA infoNET. Travel from Griffith (NSW) to Canberra (ACT)



15 February (Thursday) CSIRO Center, Canberra (ACT) Seminar on WCA infoNET and discussions on cooperation. 16 February (Friday) Travel back Canberra (ACT) to Griffith (NSW) Closing discussions at the CSIRO



Distribution of Duty Travel Report on mission to The Hague, The Netherlands 16-22 March 2000 by Thomas-M. Stein, Information Officer, IPTRID, Land and Water Development Division

Approved: A. Kandiah Programme Manager, IPTRID From: L.O. Fresco To: C. Forthomme, OIC, REU H. Wolter L.O. Fresco, ADG, AG A. Kandiah H. Wolter, AGLD R. Florin, AGLW A.P. Koohafkan, AGLL T.-M. Stein A. Kandiah, IPTRID T. Brabben, IPTRID A. Vidal, IPTRID A. Nepveu de Villemarceau, IPTRID AGLW Officers TS/emf: 28 April 2000 IL 46/14 LA 6/1 Stein cc: AGLW S file Stein chron AGL Reg (2)



Duty Travel Report Visit to The Hague, The Netherlands

16-22 March 2000

by

Thomas-M. Stein Information Officer, IPTRID

Land and Water Development Division 37. Purpose

The purpose of the duty travel to The Hague, The Netherlands, was to demonstrate and present the Internet-based WCA infoNET information system on Water Conservation and Use in Agriculture at the Second World Water Forum and Fair. 38. Objective

To present WCA infoNET to donors, representatives of various organizations and individuals and to gather feedback from a wide range of interested groups and individuals. 39. Location

The Hague, The Netherlands 40. Background The WCA infoNET Information Service on Water Conservation and Use in Agriculture is an Associated Programme of the Global Water Partnership (GWP). The project is funded by DFID (UK) and is being managed by IPTRID. The major objective of the first stage was to design and develop a prototype of WCA infoNET and launch the prototype version at the Second World Water Forum in The Hague. 41. The Second World Water Forum, Fair and Ministerial Conference The Second World Water Forum and Ministerial Conference were to raise public awareness and generate commitment at a political level for sustainable water management of freshwater resources. It consisted of three parts: − Vision and Framework for Action: This was aimed to create a shared Vision for

Water, Life and the Environment and discuss ways and means for implementing the Vision and the Framework for Action.

− Ministerial Conference: The Ministerial Conference was to discuss the Vision and



Framework with the objective of political support for implementing the Vision and the Framework for Action.

− World Water Fair: The World Water Fair enabled a large number of national and

international exhibitors to present their products and programmes. The Fair also featured cultural events, speeches, interviews, presentations, TV and radio broadcasts and world-wide video conferences via the Internet.

The FAO delegation to the Forum consisted of: Mr. J. Diouf, Director-General; Ms. L.O. Fresco, Assistant Director-General, AG; Mr. H. Wolter, Director AGL; Mr. A. Kandiah, Programme Manager, IPTRID; Mr. J. Hoogeveen, Technical Officer, AGLW and Ms. Alexandra Bot, FAO Consultant. The Reporter attended the Forum as a consultant of the DFID (UK) which funds the WCA infoNET project. 42. Agenda − Presentation of the WCA infoNET system at the FAO/IPTRID information stand

at the Fair − Discussions with experts and organizations on the WCA infoNET system set-up − Presentation and demonstration of the WCA infoNET system at the GWP Wisdom

Arena at the Second World Water Forum − Participation in presentations and discussions − Assistance in the management of the FAO/IPTRID information stand 43. Presentations and discussions The WCA infoNET system was set up for presentation and demonstration within the FAO/IPTRID information stand at the Second World Water Fair which was closely linked to the World Water Forum and the Ministerial Conference. Two systems were installed allowing interactive on-line demonstrations and continuous automatic runs to reach a wide range of participants and to draw attention to the new system. A CD Rom was also produced and given to the Global Water Partnership (GWP) as WCA infoNET forms part of the associate Programme of the GWP and information should be given for promotion. Handouts on WCA infoNET were available for distribution. In addition the WCA infoNET system was set up at the ‘Wisdom Arena’. That area was set up by GWP to allow demonstrations and discussions on networks, web sites, documentation and special international programmes relating to water management. It was in the vicinity of the hall where the session on Framework for Action was held. The WCA infoNET system was set up and presented allowing interactive on-line demonstration as well as continuous run on various simultaneous linked big panel screens. During the five days a wide range of representatives of organizations, groups and individuals were reached and contacts were made. The WCA infoNET information system was very well presented and demonstrated to the public and valuable feedback was received to allow continuation and improvement of the system



development. Contacts were made with potential information providers from developing as well as from industrialized countries. It was also possible to give important demonstrations to representatives of the donor agency and hence assure continuation of the project. In addition, valuable experience was gathered in using the system from ‘outside’, through an external Internet line and with different operating systems. Besides direct system demonstrations, a comparison was drawn with other information systems presented at the Fair and discussion of different approaches of other projects gave valuable inputs for system improvements. 44. Outcome

The demonstrations showed a highly positive acceptance of the system through the public organizations and it became clear that the WCA infoNET system approach is placed near the top on the list of information systems available. It also became clear that there is a high demand for such an information system through lack of availability of ‘real’ on-line information in the area of water conservation and agricultural water use. This area has not yet been covered by other information systems with such a broad approach. It may therefore be concluded that WCA infoNET is on the right track of filling that gap. Notwithstanding the very positive acceptance of the WCA infoNET system, an analysis and comparison with other information systems available also confirmed that a very ‘aggressive’, flexible, and in some ways ‘unconventional’ approach has to be followed to assure a sustainable existence of an information system within this highly competitive ‘Internet information market’. In this respect FAO and IPTRID may have to adopt more flexible management structures allowing a more efficient adjustment of the system to the fast changing needs.

From these analyses and the feedback received by the Reporter it may be concluded that there are three key issues covering the supply and user side which will decide the success and sustainability of the information system. (1) Firstly, what type of information and how much will be available through the

system and how well will it adapt to modern Internet users and their expectations. Detailed information or the full document is needed and not only references to the information. For example, the publication or software itself should be directly accessible and not only the reference to that publication or software.

(2) Secondly, how and how easy will it be to add information to the system, as good

information is mostly being held by those who are already short on time: the easiness of information entry and maintenance plays a fundamental role.

(3) Thirdly, how easily can the right information (internal and external sources) be

found and retrieved. The speed and a clear structure and powerful search facility is of fundamental importance.

WCA infoNET has already addressed these issues and incorporated them in the system development outline.



45. Private sector and others

Universities, research organizations and the private sector play an increasing role as information providers for the WCA infoNET system. 46. Female candidates and national consulting firms Nothing to report. 47. Itinerary 16.02.2000 Departure from Rome 06:45 hrs Arrival in Amsterdam 09:25 hrs 22.03.2000 Departure from Amsterdam 18:40 hrs Arrival in Rome 20:50 hrs



Minutes

Meeting of GWP Information Networks IPTRID/FAO, Rome Italy 11 and 12 December 2000

Canada Room, A 356

Location: FAO Rome, Canada Room, A356 Date: 11 and 12 December 2000

Participants: Mr James K. Lenahan (Secretariat, GWP) Ms Brigitta Meier (SWAINET, GLOWINET, GTZ) Ms Zeria Benda (SAWINET, SAWP) Mr. Elroy Bos (e-Atlas, IUCN) From FAO (some participants with partial attendance) Mr Arumugam Kandiah (Programme Manager, IPTRID) Mr Thomas-M. Stein (WCA InfoNET Manager, IPTRID) Mr Andrea Vietri (AFIS) Mr Johannes Keizer (GILW) Mr Alain Vidal (IPTRID) Mr Giancarlo Mariotti (IPTRID) Background: Under the umbrella of the Global Water Partnership (GWP), a number of information-based Associated Programmes have been established, one of which is WCA infoNET. WCA-infoNET is managed by IPTRID/FAO and funded by the British Government (DFID). GWP has a coordinating and monitoring function for these information-based Associated Programmes. For this purpose, it holds periodic informal meetings which are hosted by the participating Associated Programmes in rotation. The first such meeting was hosted by GTZ (Germany) in December 1999. This was the second meeting, hosted by IPTRID/FAO and held in Rome from 11-12 December 2000. Objective: The objective of this meeting was to bring the developers of the GWP information-based Associated Programmes together, plus several other groups with good and relevant Internet database experience, to exchange ideas on how to further develop and maintain these information/knowledge systems to ensure relevance of content and services for users. In addition a stronger practical collaboration and information exchange within the information systems GWP Water Forum and WCA InfoNET was intended. Agenda: Over the two days the following key agenda items were elaborated - Outline of the purpose of the meeting - Extensive presentation of the systems involved. Concept, structure and state of

development of information systems - WCA infoNET,



- SWAINET, - GLOWINET and the - e-Atlas (projecting phase). - GWP Water Forum and Toolbox. - Content management. - Regional and thematic coverage - Use of thesaurus for indexing, searching and classification support. Existing and to be

implemented thesauri. - Marketing strategies. - Conceptual and technical forms of cooperation. - Future strategies and steps for cooperation. - Conclusions and future work. Outcome: It was concluded that there are substantial synergies between the information systems and that a stepwise practical collaboration should be commenced leading to a more extensive cooperation with a more efficient use of common information resources supporting each others systems and initiatives. This can be built on existing strong cooperation e.g. FAO and GTZ, and should be done in various steps and phases: - Cross-linking and referencing between systems. Simple cross references should be included on the systems home pages

outlining the cooperation towards the other AP information systems. - Improved linkages from within the systems towards the other systems. This could be done in a more advanced way by allowing a user to for example

take the search term directly into the other systems after he/she has conducted a query in the parent system.

- Exchange of existing thesauri and implementation of new ones. Exchange of existing thesauri, e.g. elaborated and used by GTZ, and

implementation of a new thesaurus based on the ‘Multilingual Dictionary of the ICID’ and the existing AGROVOC in cooperation with the Library and Documentation Systems Division (GIL) in FAO.

- Stepwise inter-linking of resources where appropriate depending on subject areas to improve thematic coverage through synergies and diversity.

- Cross-platform (system) use (search) of resources. As a long-term perspective a cross-system search facility should be projected

allowing a transparent search and use of the partial or entire partner system resources where appropriate. This should allow GWP to facilitate and develop a cross-AP-Information-Systems-entry-point

IUCN indicated interest in further collaboration with their projected information system for mutual benefit of information resources to be shared. It was agreed that these regular meetings should be continued approximately once a year and that they should take place on a rotational basis at each host institution. The next meeting is planned to be held in September 2001 host by of Aquadoc/EMWIS in France. Thomas-M. Stein



Annex 1:

Full list of participants (some with partial attendance)

at the Meeting of GWP Information Networks IPTRID/FAO, Rome Italy 11 and 12 December 2000

Canada Room, A 356 Mr. James Lenehan GWP Secretariat Stockholm, SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 6984554 Fax: +46 8 6985627 [email protected] Ms. Brigitta Meier Hydrologist Planning Officer Water Resources Management GTZ Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5 Postfach 5180 65726 Eschborn, GERMANY Tel: +49 61 96 79 – 13 69 Fax: +49 61 96 79 – 71 94 [email protected] Ms. Zeria Benda Information Officer SAWP/GWP 44 Downie Rd, Belgravia P.O. Box 745 Tel: +263 4 304927 Fax: +263 4 720738 [email protected] Mr. Elroy Bos Communications Assistant, Wetlands and Water Resources Tel: +41 22 999 02 55 Fax: +41 22 999 02 25 [email protected] Mr. Thomas-M. Stein Information Officer IPTRID/FAO FAO- Land and Water Development Division Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome, ITALY Tel: +39 06 570 55322 Fax: +39 06 570 56275 [email protected] Mr. Andrea Vietri FAO/AFIS Microcomputer Specialist



FAO – Information Systems and Technology Division Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome, ITALY Tel: +39 06 570 55181 [email protected] Mr. Arumugan Kandiah IPTRID Programme Manager FAO – Land and Water Development Division Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome, ITALY Tel: +39 06 570 54033 Fax: +39 06 570 56275 [email protected] Mr. Johanness Keizer GILW FAO – Land and Water Development Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome, ITALY Tel: +39 06 570 52729 [email protected] Mr. Alain Vidal IPTRID Regional Theme Manager, FAO – Land and Water Development Division Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome, ITALY Tel: +39 06 570 52891 Fax: +39 06 570 56275 [email protected] Mr. Giancarlo Mariotti IPTRID Secretariat FAO – Land and Water Development Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00100 Rome, ITALY Tel: +39 06 570 52075 Fax: +39 06 570 56275 [email protected]



Distribution of Duty Travel Report on Mission to Frankfurt/Eschborn, Germany

05-07 December 1999 by Thomas-M. Stein, Information Officer, IPTRID, Land and Water Development Division

Approved: A. Kandiah Programme Manager, IPTRID From: A. Sawadogo To: M. Lindau, REU H. Wolter A. Sawadogo, ADG, AG A. Kandiah H. Wolter, AGLD R. Florin, AGLW A.P. Koohafkan, AGLS/AGLN T.-M. Stein A. Kandiah T. Brabben A. Vidal AGLW Officers TS/emf: 13 December 1999 IL 46/14 Cc: AGLW S file Stein chron AGL Reg (2)



Duty Travel Report

Visit to Frankfurt/Eschborn, Germany 05-07 December 1999

by

Thomas-M. Stein

Information Officer, IPTRID Land and Water Development Division

48. Contents 1. Contents.................................................................................................................................... 57 2. The Purpose .............................................................................................................................. 57 3. Objective .................................................................................................................................. 57 4. Location.................................................................................................................................... 57 5. Participants ............................................................................................................................... 57 6. Agenda...................................................................................................................................... 58 7. Presentations and discussions................................................................................................... 59 8. Outcome ................................................................................................................................... 60 9. Conclusions for INFONET....................................................................................................... 60 10. Further steps to be taken........................................................................................................... 61 11. Private sector ............................................................................................................................ 61 12. Female candidates and national consulting firms..................................................................... 61 13. Itinerary .................................................................................................................................... 61 49. The Purpose The purpose of the duty travel to Frankfurt/Eschborn, Germany, was to meet with representatives of several European Information Networks, related to Integrated Water Resources Management. The workshop was hosted by GTZ in Frankfurt/Eschborn Germany. 50. Objective

Information exchange and possible collaboration within the information systems related to Integrated Water Resources Management in conjunction with the GWP Water Forum. 51. Location Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) Frankfurt/Eschborn, Germany 52. Participants Guy Alearts CAPNET International Network for Water Sector Capacity

Building - Delft, The Netherlands Jean Antoine Faby OIEAU Office International de L’Eau - Paris, France Jürgen Krombach SAWINET South African Water Information Network -



Consultant to GTZ, Germany James Lenahan GWP Global Water Partnership - Stockhom, Sweeden Brigitta Meier SWAINET South African Water Information Network - GTZ,

Germany Reinhard Meierjohann SAWINET South African Water Information Network –

Consultant to GTZ, Germany Gerhard Naschold SAWINET South African Water Information Network – GTZ,

Gemany Jutta Niemann SAWINET South African Water Information Network – GTZ,

Germany Felix Portmann SAWINET South African Water Information Network, Federal

Institute of Hydrology, Global Runoff Data Center– BFG/GRDC, Germany

Jo Smet IRC International Water and Sanitation Center – Delft The

Netherlands Thomas-M. Stein INFONET Information Network on Water Conservation and Use

in Agriculture – IPTRID/FAO Rome, Italy 53. Agenda - 06 December 1999

− 19:30 hours First informal meeting of the participants

- 07 December 1999

− 09:00 hours Stefan Helming (GTZ) Opening of the workshop − 09:15 hours Gerhard Naschold (GTZ) Introduction of the participants Objective of the workshop − 09:45 hours Jim Lenahan (GWP) Strategic assistance and the role of GWP Water Forum, Question and discussions − 10:15 hours Jo Smet (IRC) Update and status mode of network operation, Question and discussions − 10:45 hours Thomas-M. Stein (IPTRID/FAO)

WCA INFONET Information System on Water Conservation and use in Agriculture on the Internet Question and discussions

− 11:15 hours Jean Antoine Faby (OIEAU) Introduction of a subject matrix based on a review of the OIEAU Framework for Action Toolbox, Question and discussions



− 11:45 hours Brigitta Meier / Jutta Niemann (GTZ) SAWINET - Update and status mode of network operation, Question and discussions − 12:15 hours Guy Alaerts (CAPNET) CAPNET - Update and status mode of network operation, Question and discussions − 12:45 hours Lunch Break

− 13:45 hours Identification of areas of collaboration and

linkages between the Networks − 15:30 hours Summing up and next steps − 16:00 hours End of the workshop

54. Presentations and discussions Mr Naschold opened the technical part of the workshop pointing out the suggested objectives and outlines of the workshop meeting:

− Development of a framework which may be used by other networks − Software which may be shared

− Stage of development of the networks − Identifications of possible overlaps − Ways and possible co-operations A general overview on the GWP Forum and structure was given by Mr Lenahan (GWP) pointing out actual and future developments. It was suggested to use a common system of meta tags or information allowing an overall search on all sites through the GWP Water Forum entry point. The use of similar interfaces was suggested. GWP may focus on the overall structure forming an umbrella for the various services. Mr Smet presented the various IRC services like the IRCDOC documentation database and services. They form a nodal point on water, environmental sanitation and water resources management. A big volume of ‘lower’ quality information is already available on-line. Other services are been developed to allow to tailor made information and high quality information. There is a strong staff support at IRC. The proposed WCA Infonet system was presented by the Reporter. The general web based structure of a distributed information system, a combination of a CDS, search engine (‘crawler’), indexing system, database and the other components like email (email polling, email discussions, contacts) and ftp components (for download of documents of various formats, software etc.) were described and discussed. The necessity of developing means of collecting, categorising and updating also a great amount of information was stressed pointing out limitations of some systems. Mr Faby explained the development and structure of AQUADOC and EMWIS and their actual free accessibility through the web. As the services are been provided by a company it is though to introduce services on pay (partly) to cover the time after external funding is been terminated. The services will include various databases, documentation bases (scanned documents) which will including full text information and other service like news-groups, listservs and FAQ. The ‘portal’ is to be installed in 2000. Various specialised software tools are been developed (e.g. for automatic translations (linguistic base systems), search engine,



automatic classification system ‘class for you’, etc). Strong country (nodal points) and personal support is available. Ms Meier and Ms Niemann presented the actual state and development of SAWINET established at the GTZ. It was pointed out that the name SAWINET, which stands for ‘South African Water Information Network’, may be misleading as SAWINET will only be one part (module) of the overall system to be used. The final name has not been assigned to the network information system. A demonstration of the software used and under development, SHARED, was given. It was offered and suggested to use SHARED also for other information systems. The information system is based on a network of focal points. The EU supports the project by supplying 5000 ECU for the work of each focal point for 6 out of 10 institutions. A quality check for information is been built into the system. Mr Alaerts described the objectives and structure of CAPNET, the International Network for Water Sector Capacity Building. He pointed out that it is not developed yet in generally available form for the Internet. Information be readily available will be prioritized by adding value to it. It is planed to include distance learning, email moderated discussions, on-line simulation tools (simulation tools, decision making modules, calculation modules) and working with interactive databases. The practical implementation funding (5 mil. US$ for 3 years), vacancies to be announced and physical location at Delft has been negotiated. The various information systems and approaches presented were discussed by the workshop members stressing objectives, approaches and target groups. The pros, cons and limitations of various strategies, models and ongoing developments of Internet bases information dissemination systems were discussed. User aspects as well as the provider side and technical aspects were covered. 55. Outcome For actual and future perspectives in the classification/categorisation of information within the ‘water sector’ a common system should be approached allowing for improved searching within diverse data sources. The subject matrix shall be developed in co-operation and presented through GWP for discussion. The development of general subject matrix should be supported allowing different services to use the same classification system. As most system developments have already advanced the use of the same software/approach (e.g. SHARED) is not feasible in most cases. It was suggested by the Reporter to co-operate by exchanging data locations and system specifications to allow the access of other systems to data/documents relevant to the system. This would also allow GWP to generate a general access system. It was also pointed out by the Reporter that as data entry is time consuming and laborious different means of data entry should be developed (crawler). As from the various topic areas to covered by the INFONET system, the IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) section has not been covered yet by any information provider, it was suggested by the GWP to evaluate whether the GTZ could cover this area to be incooperated into INFONET. It was agreed to follow up this lead. 56. Conclusions for INFONET Comparing the various systems available and undergoing developments it was found that WCA INFONET follows a good and sound approach. The yet to-be-installed and adapted



CDS system and the to-be-included various important modules which are a crawler component (intelligent), e-mail discussions and on-line archives, e-mail polling and searchability within the entire system will give INFONET a sound system base compared with the other systems. It is to be emphasised that INFONET partly follows the very advanced approach like that described for AQUADOC and EMWIS presented by Mr Faby (Office International de Léau, OIEAU). Even those systems that are not comparable to INFONET due to their high financial input, countries and personal involved, still point out the importance of certain modules and approaches which will help to overcome problems to be expected in the near future especially when the information load and hence input and update work will be rising considerably on an exponential scale (most systems have no solution for that problem). In this context it should be emphasised that a search engine with an automatic classification system (‘class for you’) will be included in AQUADOC and EMWIS allowing the ‘crawling’ of a large amount of indicated information with little extra input on personal. As INFONET is planed to include the crawler component it has laid the base for a sustainable development and is advanced in comparison to most other systems. The results of the meeting showed that great care should be taken to follow up this crawler approach as soon as possible and to include the most ‘intelligent-type’ with an automatic classification system available. Only this approach will ensure a sustainable and leading position of INFONET within the professional information systems community. 57. Further steps to be taken It was proposed to meet more regularly picking up contacts to allow a stronger co-operation and exchanges. 58. Private sector Not relevant 59. Female candidates and national consulting firms Not relevant 60. Itinerary 05.12.99 Departure from Rome 06.50 hrs Arrival in Frankfurt 08.55 hrs 07.12.99 Departure from Frankfurt 21.35 hrs Arrival in Rome 23.20 hrs



Minutes

Meeting at the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI)/Global Water Partnership (GWP) on collaboration and strategies between the WCA Infonet project and the SEI and GWP services (GWP Water Forum) Location: Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI), Sweden Date and time: 23rd September 1999 – 930 - 1800

Participants: Mr Arno Rosemarin (Communications Director, SEI) Box 2142 S-103 14 Stockholm Sweden <[email protected]> Mr James K. Lenahan (Communications Director, GWP) GWP Secretariat Sida S-105 25 Stockholm Sweden <[email protected]> Mr Thomas-M. Stein (WCA Infonet Manager, IPTRID/FAO) FAO / IPTRID Viale delle Terme di Caracalle I-00100 Rom Italy <[email protected]> Objective: Collaboration and information exchange within the information

systems GWP Water Forum and WCA Infonet Agenda: - The proposed WCA Infonet information system - GWP Water Forum, experiences and future developments - Experiences, strategies and realisation of information

dissemination systems in the Internet - Information subject matrix of the water sector, ongoing work - Information users and providers - Ways of future collaboration and information exchange - Next steps and recommendations Presentations and discussions: The proposed WCA Infonet system was presented by Mr Stein based on the report which was distributed to the TF members. The general web based structure of a distributed information system, a combination of a search engine (‘crawler’), indexing system, database and the other components like email (email polling, email discussions, contacts) and ftp components (for download of documents of various formats, software etc.) where described and discussed into details. Experiences in setting up and maintaining the GWP Water Forum was presented by Mr Rosemarin. User behaviour and acceptance of the existing systems, its different levels of information providence and access was described and discussed extensively. Ongoing work



and future developments within the GWP Water Forum where added by Mr Lenahan. The ongoing developments and setting up of the subject matrix within the various water sectors of the GWP Water Forum was presented by Mr Lenahan and discussed in the group. The need and importance of a common subject matrix to help develop close collaborations and future possible transparent merging of various independent resources within GWP to avoid duplication and redundancy was emphasised. The pros, cons and limitations of various strategies, models and ongoing developments of Internet bases information dissemination systems where discussed. User aspects as well as the provider side and technical aspects where covered. Outcome: It was commonly agreed upon that the proposed WCA Infonet system including the search engine/crawler would be the right concept approach for a professional distributed information system. It has a high potential to include various types of information / documents and the flexibility adjust to possible changes in the future. The incorporation of different levels of information access and providence (email polling, (moderated) email discussions, ftp downloads etc.) has been identified as being an important component and approach within the WCA Infonet system. It should be an integrated part of www accessible searchable information (e.g. on-line threaded email archives on the web which will automatically be included by the search engine). The proposed model could serve as an ‘outrider’ for other services (Associated Programs —APs) within the GWP Water Forum to follow. Merging of data or resources and synergies when using the same sources could be transparent for the user. For the information provider data redundancy is avoided and double effort when providing to various services may be omitted. WCA Infonet could form one of the AP components within the GWP Water Forum. Close two-way links should be establish pointing at both services while preserving the autonomous nature of each individual service. For actual and future perspectives in the classification/categorisation of information within the ‘water sector’ a common system should be approached allowing improved searchability within diverse data sources. Ongoing work on a general subject matrix should be supported allowing different services to use the same classification system. The irrigation sector as the biggest water user should play an important role within this initiative. Further steps to be taken: A closer co-operations between WCA Infonet, the GWP Water Forum and the SEI should be aspired ensuring better use of common resources and co-ordination of activities. Arno Rosemarin - James K. Lenahan - Thomas-M. Stein

Documents

wca infonet final report stein 2002[1] · Back to office report: 27 February - 12 April 2002, Australia and Sri Lanka 17 Back to office report: 18 - 19 December 2001, France 24 Back