This summer, the Global Bureau's Environment Center will sponsor a comprehensive environment training workshop targeted to all of the Agency's environment officers and other interested staff. The workshop will address a range of important issues in the environment sector as well as personnel concerns, future programmatic directions, new Agency leadership priorities, and other issues of interest to participants.

As a unifying theme, the Training Workshop will highlight the critical issue of water resources management, which provides important examples of integrated approaches to environmental management, and is emerging as one of the most urgent global issues faced by developing countries in the 21st Century.

Water is a vital resource for every ecosystem, society, and individual on earth and is a key element of every sector in which USAID works. Health, environment, agriculture/food security, economic development, democracy and governance, and natural disaster response and mitigation all have strong linkages with, and dependencies on, how water is allocated and used.

Water issues will be explored in depth in their own right in this Workshop, as well as in relation to a variety of other sectors of environmental management including biodiversity, energy, sustainable agriculture, and urban development. Other emerging, innovative and integrated areas within the environment sector will also be discussed throughout the week to round out the sessions offered.

Although the challenges are great, there are also many exciting approaches and innovative tools available to deal with water and other natural resources in a more effective and integrated way. Come join us in Cumberland for a stimulating week of information sharing, discussion, and exposure to practical tools and strategies related to integrated environmental management in the new millennium and cutting edge advances in the field of water resources management.