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BeWater partners prepare for first stakeholder interaction

Friday, 16 May 2014 Posted in Events, Tordera Society, Spain , News, BeWater News, Pedieos Society, Cyprus, Rmel Society, Tunisia

Članek v slovenščini

Brussels 1 250The first BeWater Steering Committee Meeting was held in Brussels on 24 April, attended by 19 project partners and a representative from the European Commission. Reflections on the first 6 months of the project and presentations on the BeWater Approach, Quality Assurance and Evaluation Methodologies led to useful discussions clarifying roles and responsibilities in the project and identifying important next steps.

Presentations and discussions around project communications highlighted the need for local language translations of news, posts and information for public consumption to facilitate dissemination of information and engagement of project stakeholders.

Policy issues were also reviewed offering participants the chance to discuss and identify opportunities for BeWater to influence policy design processes.  There is a clear need for policy reviews at national level, focusing on water related issues. It was agreed that one of the tasks of the project will be to develop materials with input from the Case Study River Basins (CRSBs) to be presented in policy arenas.

The afternoon session was dedicated to discussion on stakeholder identification and participation, and the forthcoming awareness campaign, which is an important milestone for the BeWater project. Posters, exhibitions and local media strategies are currently being developed for the campaign which will be launched soon and will incorporate various activities aimed at raising awareness among stakeholder groups identified in each of the in the four Case Study River Basins.

Brussels 2 250

Time was also dedicated to preparation for the forthcoming Stakeholder workshops, which will be held between May and July in Tordera (Spain), Vipava (Slovenia), Rmel (Tunisia) and Pedieos (Cyprus). The project will be presented to stakeholders and methodology for drafting Water Management Options will be shared and discussed with meeting attendees.

BeWater is an EU FP7-Collaborative Project that will promote dialogue and collaboration between science and society in sustainable water management and adaptation to the impacts of global change in the Mediterranean. BeWater is financed through the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission, under the Science in Society initiative.

More information: Anabel Sanchez: a.sanchez ( at) creaf.uab.cat
Photos: CREAF