A new year has begun filled with new resolutions. But there is a German city that can be especially proud of getting its homework done this year: Essen, located between the Rhine-Herne Canal and the Ruhr River debuts as European Green Capital 2017!
The European Green Capital Award is an initiative taken on by 15 European cities (Tallinn, Helsinki, Riga, Vilnius, Berlin, Warsaw, Madrid, Ljubljana, Prague, Vienna, Kiel, Kotka, Dartford, Tartu & Glasgow) and the Association of Estonian cities on 15 May 2006 in Tallinn, Estonia.
Their Green Vision has been recognised by establishing this award for leading the way with environmentally-friendly urban living. Since 2010 one European city who has consistently achieved high environmental standards and shown commitment to ambitious goals is selected as the European Green Capital of the year.
According to the European Commission – the official body behind this initiative- “Essen was singled out for its exemplary practices in protecting and enhancing nature and biodiversity, initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and its efforts to reduce water consumption.” Its water management has been one of the key factors that made Essen worthy of this year’s award.
So we want to take this chance to have a detailed look at its meaning:
According to the UN World Water Development Report 2012: “The term water management covers a variety of activities and disciplines. Broadly speaking, these can be divided into three categories: managing the resource, managing water services, and managing the trade-offs needed to balance supply and demand. The management of water is not merely a technical issue; it requires a mix of measures including changes in policies, prices and other incentives […]”
[su_note note_color=”#dcea0f”][su_button url=”https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16um7kvPWylGhIivCgAxzFYkUBZ7OT2gLEC5NmlYTAJE/edit#” style=”flat”]Contribute to IATE![/su_button] Update this term in your language. A terminologist for the respective language will revise your answer and decide whether to validate them. Given the implications of the process, a delay is to be expected.
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Written by Ana Baudot. Communication Trainee, DG TRAD – Terminology Coordination Unit
Sources:
- Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). 2017. From coal city to European Green Capital – Essen′s extreme makeover | DW Environment | DW.COM | 02.01.2017. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dw.com/en/from-coal-city-to-european-green-capital-essens-extreme-makeover/a-36975499. [Accessed 05 January 2017].
- Encyclopedia Britannica. 2017. Essen | Germany | Britannica.com. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Essen. [Accessed 05 January 2017].
- European Green Capital. 2017. European Green Capital. [ONLINE] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/europeangreencapital/applying-for-the-award/2017-egca-applicant-cities/. [Accessed 05 January 2017].
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 2017. 2012 – 4th Edition | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/water/wwap/wwdr/wwdr4-2012/. [Accessed 05 January 2017].
- UN-Water: Water resources management. 2017. UN-Water: Water resources management. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.unwater.org/topics/water-resources-management/en/. [Accessed 05 January 2017].
- Welcome to Essen! 2017. Welcome to Essen! [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.essen.de/aktuell/PortalAktuell_E.en.jsp. [Accessed 05 January 2017].
- YouTube. 2017. A short video about the European Green Capital Award (2010) – YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjNUBYviNNM&feature=youtu.be. [Accessed 05 January 2017].