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Members' space Inland Waterways International |
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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. |
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. From left to right, IWA deputy National Chairman Roger Squires, American Canals Society President Dave Barber, Canadian Canals Society member Keith Manchester, IWI president Dave Ballinger, Waterways Ireland delegate Katrina McGirr, committee chairman Rory Robinson, former CCS secretary and magazine editor Bob Sears (hidden), IWI vice-president David Edwards-May, Danube Propeller president Krsta Paskovic and Canal Society of New York State president Tom Grasso
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IWI's 13th Annual general meeting took place at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Kingston, ON (Canada) on Tuesday 16 September 2008 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 officersPresident David Ballinger CanadaSecretary David MacDougall CanadaTreasurer Michael Reid UKVice-presidentsThomas X. Grasso USA
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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. Ulster Canal 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. |
European Waterways map - 2009 edition available
EU directive on engine 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. | ||
The third edition of the European Waterways Map & Concise Directory is now available. The map produced by Euromapping (which now has two full-time cartographers working with the author/compiler David Edwards-May), has been completely updated, with new mapping for many areas, especially in Eastern Europe. It also shows the planned route of the 106 km long Seine-Nord Europe Canal in France.
With the same format as the previous edition, 15x24 cm, the maps open out to 100 by 68 cm. Side A, the overview map, has been completely redrawn for Eastern Europe. Side B shows the network from the UK through to Bratislava on the Danube in remarkable detail.The new directory, running to 64 pages, has been significantly enriched and is abundantly illustrated with full-colour photographs, as well as some additional maps required to do cover certain parts of the network: the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Serbia and the Birmingham Canal Navigations in England. This new directory is a mine of information, where we can learn about a canal restored in Belarus, a terminal built on the Danube in Moldova, and the extraordinary ’double lift and aqueduct’ being planned to cross a motorway on the Göta Canal in Sweden.
There is a unique blend of practical information and snippets of the unusual or unexpected in Euromapping’s publications. Some of the editor’s choices may seem arbitrary, but on analysis they invariably reflect a balanced view of the present situation, and the result is a publication of value for studying, visiting and campaigning for the heritage of navigations throughout Europe. The directory gives addresses and web sites for waterway authorities. The map may now be acquired from Internat Ltd via our
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