The fifth edition of BeWater News briefs you on the forthcoming River Basin Adaptation Plans. In this edition, you will also find information on the recent project meeting in Tunisia, youth activities and activities to ensure the sustainability and continued impact of BeWater.

This edition also includes videos of stakeholders, other news and upcoming events such as the River Basin Adaptation Conference.

BeWater News, Edition 5, July 2016

Subscribe!

The BeWater project developed an approach to formulate and evaluate water management options, as a basis for adaptation planning. EFI researcher Hans Verkerk will present this approach at the EcoSummit 2016 conference, which will take place from 29 August to 1 September 2016 in Montpellier, France.

EcoSummit 2016 - Ecological Sustainability: Engineering Change is the 5th International EcoSummit Congress. This conference series was founded in 1996 in Copenhagen as a forum to meet the demands of scientists working in several new ecological disciplines, and who required a better understanding of the concepts and methods for a holistic use of ecology in environmental management.

To ensure the sustainability and continued impact of BeWater, its project partners are exploring options how projects results can be taken up in future research on water management. This is done by identifying relevant models or approaches that are used in European research projects to international cooperation and by identifying national support mechanisms to international water management research.

The BeWater project partner Europe for Business Ltd is leading the tasks within the work packages 2 and 7 with regards to the heritage of BeWater and has completed two activities. The first activity intended to analyse and outline the results of previous, ongoing and future projects under similar topics as addressed by BeWater, which are developed in target countries: Spain, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Germany, the United Kingdom, Finland, Tunisia, Slovenia, Belgium, Greece, Italy. The main goal of this activity was to perform an assessment of the effectiveness and impact of different approaches of water management cooperation, and enhance the positive impact of BEWATER activities benefiting from those lessons learned, particularly through projects funded by the European Union’s 7th framework and Horizon2020 programs. It allows preparing a summary of the best practices, which could be applied and adapted to the EU-Mediterranean cooperation context, not only for the water sector but also for other sectors such as Energy or Environment, to the attention of policymakers and cooperation programme owners. 

BeWater is continuing its involvement with the Tunisian youth in the Rmel river basin and the Zaghouan region, to strengthen their role in water resources management and climate change adaptation. To achieve maximum added value, BeWater linked up with the Global Water Partnership’s “Youth for Water and Climate”, another initiative wishing to raise the youth’s voice on the international level, organising interventions at UNFCC COP21 and 22, MEDCOP 21 and 22 etc.

Following the recommendations from the national consultation workshop held in July 2015, the Global Water Partnership – Mediterranean (GWP-Med) that runs the BeWater youth initiative developed an action plan for a stronger youth engagement in water resources management. The action plan contains two main activity pillars: i) training activities addressed to youth NGOs to enhance their capacities; and ii) awareness raising activities aimed at civil society, on the youth’s potential to contribute to a more sustainable water resources management.

The action plan’s implementation started with a national capacity building workshop targeting youth NGO stakeholders active in water resources management in November 2015, with the objective to raise their capacity to address the challenge of sustainable water resources management under climate change constraints; in specific, to mobilize them in the planning and implementation of an awareness raising campaign. This effort led to the ÔVI campaign (eau=vie/water=life) during February and March 2016, a national campaign in Tunisian primary schools for awareness raising on water scarcity and the importance of water saving. Apart from guidance provided by GWP-Med and coordination by the NGO “International Lions Club”, the events were organised by the respective NGOs.

Using a novel approach developed within and for the BeWater project, four River Basin Adaptation Plans are being developed that aim at fostering adaptation to climate change within targeted river basins. These plans have been formulated over the course of the project and represent the result of intense team effort, wide stakeholder involvement, targeted information gathering, critical analysis and thoughtful planning. The plans will be available in August 2016.

A key objective of the BeWater project is the collaborative development of adaptive water management approaches at the river basin scale in the Mediterranean region, and specifically of a River Basin Adaptation Plan for each of four pilot case studies: Tordera (Spain), Pedieos (Cyprus), Rmel (Tunisia) and Vipava (Slovenia). These plans have been formulated over the course of the project and represent the result of intense team effort, wide stakeholder involvement, targeted information gathering, critical analysis and thoughtful planning. The plans developed for these basins will serve as a reference for other basins - within the Mediterranean region and beyond - that wish to increase their resilience and undertake such a participatory development process.

The BeWater project is entering its final year. The project partners gathered in Hammamet (Tunisia) on 19 and 20 April for the 6th steering committee meeting to discuss major project tasks that will be completed during remaining months. These tasks include, amongst others, the completion of the River Basin Adaptation Plans for four case study river basins, the development of a handbook on best practices, the policy analysis and the organisation of several events and the final conference. The project partners will meet again in spring 2017.

On the first day, the project partners briefed each other on recent achievements and tasks ahead. During March and April 2017 the third round of stakeholder workshops was organised in in the Pedieos, Rmel, Tordera and Vipava river basins. The outcomes of these workshops were presented by the case study partners CyI, INRGREF, CREAF and IzVRS and Ecologic Institute, illustrating how these outcomes will be used to finalise the River Basin Adaptation Plans, which will be published during summer 2016. Lessons learnt during the development of these river basin adaptation plans will be synthesised in a handbook. This handbook aims to constitute a reference for other Mediterranean river basins by offering experience-based guidelines outlining the different steps and considerations involved in designing a river basin adaptation plan. The handbook will be published by the end of 2016.

Članek v slovenščini

During a conference which took place the 12 October 2015 at the Vipava river basin, participants expressed their opinions about the methodological approach of the BeWater project. Check out the videos and listen to their views.

The videos are in Slovenian, but you can turn-on English subtitles by clicking on the video's CC button.

Climate change is expected to lead to decreasing precipitation, increasing temperature and occurrences of extreme dry years in the Rmel river basin. These impacts, together with an expected increase in the use of water for irrigation, drinking water, tourism, and industry, represent important challenges for the future management of the river basin. A plan is now being developed by citizens and scientists on how to adapt the management of the Rmel river basin to these changing conditions in the future.

During a workshop on April 7th in Tunis, 31 participants discussed how management options could be implemented in an adaptation plan to address the challenges of climate change and other pressures on the Rmel river basin. The workshop explored how 19 water management measures identified in previous workshops can be combined and whether there are potential synergies and conflicts between them, as well as their implementation in practice. The participants of the workshop identified and discussed potential synergies and conflicts between the different suggested measures.

Europe for Business Ltd representative Leonardo Piccinetti, Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Centre (CREAF) representative Olga Roig-Herrera and University of Palermo representative Giovanni Galasso disseminated information about the BeWater project at Joint Programme Initiative in Water (Water JPI) conference in Rome, Italy on 19 May 2016.

Representatives presented project objectives and results achieved so far. The main purpose of the attendance was to engage Water Research Funding Organisations (RFO) and create a strong synergies and links with the other European Union research initiatives and projects that go in line with the BeWater project.

Climate change is affecting our environment and our water resources. Research and dialogue are needed to identify how to adapt to longer droughts, higher temperatures and more intense rain events. A participatory workshop at the Cyprus Institute on March 18th engaged representatives of governmental and local authorities, including the Departments of Water Development, Agriculture and Town Planning and Housing, as well as Municipalities and Community Councils to develop an adaptation plan for the Pedieos river basin.

To address the challenges of climate change and other pressures on the Pedieos river basin, the workshop explored how water management measures identified in previous workshops can be combined and whether there are potential synergies and conflicts between them, as well as their implementation in practise. The thirteen participants of the workshop identified and discussed potential synergies and conflicts between 30 individual measures. Participants identified the implementation timeline of the measures based on their effectiveness over time and their preferences. They also highlighted the effectiveness of implementing bundles of measures compared to implementing individual options. Participants identified the lack of environmental awareness among society, limited political interest and the absence of a mechanism for coordination between different authorities as potential obstacles in the implementation of climate change adaptation measures.

Aquest article en català

Climate change and other pressures are affecting the environment and water resources in the Tordera river basin. A plan is needed on how to adapt the management of the river basin and its water resources to changing future conditions. During a workshop on April 8th in St. Celoni, 20 participants discussed how identified management options could be implemented in an adaptation plan for the Tordera river basin.

To address the challenges of climate change and other pressures on the Tordera river basin a workshop took place 'la Rectoria Vella', St. Celoni. The workshop aimed to develop plans to adapt management of the Tordera river basin to these pressures. Participants of the workshop identified different combinations of management options and their phasing in time with the aim to enhance the effectiveness of the implementation process. Synergies with existing plans and programs were highlighted and key stakeholders declared their willingness to foster the integration of the proposals that were elaborated. Participants highlighted that to overcome the main barriers for implementing management options it is need to increase inter-department coordination and simplification of bureaucracy is needed to access funding.

Članek v slovenščini

Climate change and other pressures are affecting the environment and water resources in the Vipava river basin. A plan is being developed on how to adapt the management of the river basin and its water resources to changing conditions in the future. During an open consultation event on March 23rd in Ajdovščina 21 participants discussed how identified management options could be implemented in an adaptation plan for the Vipava river basin.

As part of the BeWater project, scientists from the Institute for Water of the RS together with experts from Ecologic Insitute from Germany organised the event in Ajdovščina at the premises of the regional Chamber of Craft and Small Business. The main objective of the event was to discuss and to optimize the content of the adaptation plan that is being prepared for the river basin in a participatory process. The open consultation was attended by 21 stakeholders from different sectors, united by joint concern for the Vipava river basin.

Participants of the open consultation on 12 October 2015 in the Vipava river basin and 24 October 2015 in the Tordera river basin tell what they think about the BeWater Approach. Watch the videos and hear what they think.

Aquest article en Català

Climate change and other pressures are affecting the environment and water resources in the Tordera river basin. Plans are needed on how to adapt the management of the river basin and its water resources to changing future conditions.

Scientists from the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) are involved in the BeWater project and have organised several workshops to discuss water management in the context of global change for the Tordera river basin. In a first workshop the participants identified challenges related to water management and discussed options to deal with these challenges. In a second workshop and a consultation, no less than 33 options were refined and evaluated. Preferred options were establishing ecological flows and recovery of groundwater levels, access and availability of information, the involvement and commitment of citizens and agreements for adaptive forest management.

Cet article en Français

هذا المقال باللغة العربية

Climate change and other pressures are affecting the environment and water resources in the Rmel river basin. Plans are needed on how to adapt the management of the river basin and its water resources to changing future conditions.

Scientists from the National Research Institute for Rural Engineering Water and Forestry (INRGREF)are involved in the BeWater project and have organised several workshops to discuss water management in the context of global change for the Rmel River Basin. In a first workshop the participants identified challenges related to water management and discussed options to deal with these challenges. In a second workshop and a consultation, no less than 19 options were refined and evaluated. Preferred options were Consolidation of existing water and soil conservation techniques, use of water irrigation technologies and awareness campaign and learning on natural resources management.