Web Site and Knowledge Management Platform of EU Water and Energy Initiatives (EUWI - EUEI)

The EU Water and Energy Knowledge Management Platforms, respectively www.euwi.net, www.euei.net , have been developed by the JRC in the framework of an Administrative Arrangement with the DG AIDCO (EuropeAid/ENV/2007/147693/TPS). The EUWI ¿ EUEI core system was designed in a modular way, this web-based information system can easily be up-graded and up-dated at a minor cost. The system was though as re-usable and therefore EUEI ¿ EUWI websites are replications of the same core system that has been customized differently for these two thematic platforms where the interaction between an expert community is requested. In details, the use of this system allows in a general way a specialised community to work in a virtual network. EUWi/EUEI members can share information, data, documents, news, special events, meetings, establish e-conferences in a dynamic manner in order to improve the communication in the thematic community. These platforms also offer more visibility through web dissemination of the activities, results of the EU initiatives and thus facilitate involvement of additional members willing to contribute to these initiatives.JRC.DDG.H.3-Global environement monitorin

Software description: Regional frequency analysis of climate variables

This document provides the technical description of a software to be developed in the context of the EUROCLIMA project. EUROCLIMA is a cooperation program between the European Union and Latin America with a special focus in knowledge sharing on topics related to socio-environmental problems associated with climate change. The objective of the project is to improve knowledge of Latin American decision-makers and the scientific community on problems and consequences of climate change, particularly in view of integrating these issues into sustainable development strategies. The software described in this document will have as a general objective to process time series of data from ground stations (initially precipitation and temperature) in order to generate products in the form of spatially-explicit maps. The software will also be able to process any other time series of environmental spatial data. The main aspect characterizing this software is the use of statistics called L-moments to estimate the probability distribution function of climate variables. The L-moments are similar to other statistical moments, but with the advantage of being less susceptible to the presence of outliers and performing better with smaller sample sizes.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

A Web Based Knowledge Management Platform For Development Cooperation in the Water Sector: Aquaknow.Net

In line with EU international cooperation policies supporting the water sector in developing countries, we researched on the feasibility, identification and design of solutions and on their sustainability towards the improvement of knowledge management for sector development. Consequently, we developed an innovative web-based platform for knowledge management in order to improve information and data gathering, communication and knowledge sharing among communities of stakeholder involved in the development of the water sector. The platform (http://www.aquaknow.net/), which is a content management system, was developed around an open source project (DRUPAL) able to address the requirements expressed by a very heterogeneous user community and the related technical constraints. Other open source tools such as Web GIS have also been explored and their integration recommended into the platform.JRC.DDG.H.3-Global environement monitorin

The Water and Energy facilities InfoRmation System (WEIRS)

The Water and Energy Facilities are programmes from the European Commission for funding projects in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Their main objective is to help achieving the Millennium Development Goals in this region through the improvement of water/energy supply and sanitation coverage. The increasing number of project proposals and historical data from the different projects calls requires information infrastructure for evaluating and analysing call-related data. This paper explains the technical architecture specifications for an information system that facilitates the management of the water and energy project proposals, the WEIRS database. The system, based on open source software, allows the incorporation of external data sources and indicators in a very flexible way, enhancing the assessment of projects in their national contexts. The paper also describes the system design, interoperability, and adoption of Web Map Services standards. WEIRS is a decision support prototype tool for the European Commission services for defining and implementing sustainable policies as well as identifying priority needs for development. The system is accessible on-line for authorized users through the www.aquaknow.net and www.euei.net web portals.JRC.H.1-Water Resource