Inland Waterways International..canals, rivers, boating, waterways restoration & conservation

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Inland Waterways International

campaigning for inland waterways worldwide since 1995

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IWI brings together people and organisations who support the conservation, use, development and proper management of inland waterways worldwide. It aims to raise public awareness of the benefits of using waterways for a wide range of activities, from inland shipping to pleasure cruising, towpath walking and other recreational uses. It also promotes restoration, where appropriate, of waterways which have become derelict.
Its membership includes leading navigation authorities, as well as voluntary bodies, museums and commercial companies. Individual members include both users and experts in the various disciplines.
All have a keen interest in both the history and the modern significance of inland waterways for commercial carrying and leisure use. Today the membership covers 17 countries from around the world.

IWI hosts World Canals Conference Steering Committee

IWI is now the official home to the committee which selects the sites to host the annual World Canals Conference.

The committee's chair Rory Robinson (of the US National Parks Service), after consultations with his colleagues, had filed a proposal to IWI's Council which was considered at its meeting in Kingston, Ontario, on 14 September 2008, and unanimously accepted. It was felt by past conference organisers that the WCC mission statement and the statutory objectives of IWI were so close that IWI could be considered a 'natural home' for an otherwise loosely structured group of organisers of past conferences. The proposal was then presented to the association's AGM two days later and was warmly welcomed. Rory Robinson accepted to remain chair of the committee for one year.

See details of the forthcoming events (WCC 2009 Serbia and WWC 2010 Rochester, NY) on our Events page. For the foreseeable future, the WCCSC will continue to have its separate web site worldcanalsconference.org.

IWI's 13th Annual general meeting

took place at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Kingston, ON (Canada) on Tuesday 16 September 2008
The president's and treasurer's reports were approved.
Members present welcomed the decision to incorporate the World Canals Conference Steering Committee under the banner of IWI.
President Dave Ballinger declared his aim to see the association provide more value to all its members, through the Member's Space and regular information.

Join IWI

Members receive regular news of campaigns and developments in all areas through the magazine World Wide Waterways and newsletter IWI News. World Wide Waterways No 20 is currently in preparation.

IWI officers

President David Ballinger Canada

Secretary David MacDougall Canada

Treasurer Michael Reid UK

Vice-presidents

Thomas X. Grasso USA
David Edwards-May France

Ulster Canal
restoration - first phase

The Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern announced on November 4, 2006 that his government plans to restore and re-open the Ulster Canal. This is a significant new North-South project, in the wake of the 1998 "Good Friday" agreement. The €200 million project, which also includes several cross-border roads, will be implemented jointly with the UK government departments responsible for infrastructure investments in Northern Ireland. The 74km canal links Lough Erne and Lough Neagh.

Local authorities expect the canal to be a catalyst for regeneration in the economically depressed border region, as was the Shannon-Erne waterway reopened in 1994. Brian Cassells, president of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, welcomed the news in a statement issued on November 8, thanking the Taioseach (prime minister) for his commitment. IWAI believes that re-instating this "missing link" in Ireland's inland waterways network will bring major benefits to the communities living in the canal corridor and will be a major boost to the development of tourism in the region. Mr. Cassells also acknowledged the support and commitment shown by Eamon O'Cuiv Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands for several years. IWI has also regularly featured the Ulster Canal in its publications.
Ireland's Waterways Map & Directory available to order.

World Canals Conference

IWI's World Canals Conference Steering Committee selects the site to host this annual event. See on our events page details of the 2009 event in Vojvodina and the Iron Gate, Serbia (September 21-27), as well as accounts of past conferences. The conference currently alternates between North America and Europe.

Brussels exhibition

Netherlands MEP Corien Wortmann-Kool cuts the ribbon on the exhibition to promote the cause of inland waterways, which was held at the European Parliament in Brussels on October 4-8, 2004. She is watched by Magnus Anderberg, president of EBA. The exhibition was sponsored by MEP Martin Callanan, and combined with a high-profile symposium on October 6. IWI took part in organisation of the event, with Alliance Internationale de Tourisme (AIT), the European Boating Association (EBA), ICOMIA (EURMIG) and DBA The Barge Association.
The Symposium was opened by Karla Peijs, Netherlands Minister of Transport. The event contributed to raising awareness of the value of all recreational waterways among MEPs, as well as the staff of the various EU institutions and specialist bodies.

EU directive on engine
noise and emissions

Thanks to a persistent effort by dedicated specialists over a period of 3 years, IWI (with other organisations) was able to contribute to a number of key changes in the proposed directive, which makes the final version more logical and realistic. It was for this kind of activity that the IWI was conceived, but advice and information is also regularly offered to individual members who are users of the waterways.

IWI founder