The approach developed through the BeWater project to make society an active participant in adapting river basin management to climate change is now available online. The paper, published in the journal Water, describes the participatory approach used to identify and evaluate river basin management options and details the application and evaluation of the approach in four case-study river basins across the Mediterranean.

A special session organised in the framework of the ADINA seminars , held at the Pablo Olavide University in Sevilla on Tuesday April 25th 2017, allowed the CREAF team to present the BeWater project.

This research group coordinated by Pilar Paneque Salgado, researcher at the department of human geography, is composed of doctoral and postdoctoral students, professionals and researchers from a variety of disciplines and sharing interested in innovative contributions in the field of adaptation to climate change at river basin scale.

The agenda allowed a thorough presentation of the overall project layout and approach, as well as focussing on case study findings and lessons learned. Participants posed very interesting questions, inspiring a stimulating debate on key aspects of the project’s methods and implementation.

BeWater project is featured in IMPACT magazine as part of the broad project dissemination.

The article includes interviews with the project coordinator and Case Study leaders, as well as an overview on the project and its main achievements.

Download the article

The seventh edition of BeWater News features the BeWater Handbook and reports from the River Basin Adaptation Conference, European and international events.

In this edition, read all about the publicity campaigns from the four Case Study River Basins, as well as links established for outscaling project results more widely.

This edition includes also other news as the publication of BeWater in IMPACT magazine, and the BeWater brochure, highlighting the BeWater approach and presenting the most important outcomes, promoting the potential for replicability.
 

BeWater News, Edition 7, March 2017

BeWater developed a replicable, participatory approach on how society can play a meaningful role alongside science in the development of adaptive solutions to global change.  In the framework of the V Mediterranean Forest Week, Inazio Martínez de Arano (EFIMED), Sihem Jebari (INRGREF) and Eduard Pla (CREAF) presented the EU funded project to the Mediterranean forest research community, policy-makers and other relevant stakeholders.

Participation of stakeholders is widely acknowledged to enhance the quality and acceptance of environmental policy measures, including in the field of water management. The BeWater project developed an approach for a structured engagement of the society for increasing local resilience to global change in four river basins across the Mediterranean. The BeWater Outscaling Campaign intended to reach out to the wider community to share experiences obtained within the project.

What the BeWater Outscaling Campaign was about?

The Outscaling Campaign supported outreach of the BeWater’s outputs to stakeholders beyond the boundary actors of the case study river basins. A number of targeted events were organized by BeWater and presentations were made in international, EU and Mediterranean events. Linkages were made with key international and regional policy processes like the UNFCCC COP, UfM, UNEP MAP, etc. Through these, BeWater messages reached a wide audience of institutions and stakeholder organisations with competencies on climate change adaptation, integrated water resources management, and stakeholders’ participation.

In addition, it was decided to give more attention on Youth as a featured partner for local adaptation and sustainable development at large. This was translated into a rich set of activities in Tunisia, including with an emphasis on the Rmel basin at the Zaghouan province.

Engaging stakeholders in adaptation planning is widely considered to enhance the degree of acceptance and political relevance of environmental policy measures. Yet significant room exists for improvement in the design and implementation of stakeholder participation in environmental and climate change-related decision-making processes.

A European Policy Event entitled ‘Implementing COP22 agreements: River basin adaptation planning through stakeholder engagement’ was organised by Ecologic Institute within the EU-funded BeWater project. 

Results from the BeWater project in Rmel river basin, were shared with a range of stakeholders and the wider public,  through a publicity campaign which took place between September 2016 and March 2017.

The Rmel mobile exhibition was held in the ecological museum in Zaghouan during the month of September 2016. This exhibtion targeted the wider public, aiming to increase their awareness on water sector issues in Tunisia and show the added value of the BeWater project.

BeWater card game at Zaghouan Youth Centre, photo: INRGREF

Results from the BeWater project were brought to the wider public in Tordera river basin, through a publicity campaign which took place between September 2016 and March 2017.

The mobile exhibition of banners, which have been used throroughout the project to raise awareness, was completed with a final banner portraying the full set of water management options obtained during the process to develop the Tordera River Basin Adaptation Plan. The complete collection of banners was exhibited from 19 January to 19 February 2017, at the Blanes Municipal Library, mostly targeting the local community and students of different grades.

Publicity Campaign event in Blanes, photo: CREAF

BeWater project outcomes were shared with stakeholders and the wider public in Vipava, during a publicity campaign in the river basin from  September 2016 to March 2017.

The mobile exhibition, developed during the course of the project, was hosted in various places around the Vipava river basin to inform the wider public about sustainable water management and increasing social responsibility in the field of water management in the Vipava River Basin. These included exhibitions at Škofijska Gimnazija Vipava, the University of Nova Gorica, the Library of France Bevk, the Youth Centre and hostel Ajdovščina, and the Hotel Perla, Nova Gorica, for the international River Basin Adaptation Conference.

Publicity Campaign event at the Third meeting of the Council for Vipava, Photo: IVzRS

The wider public were targeted in Pedieos river basin by a publicity campaign, which took place between September 2016 and March 2017. The campaign shared the results of the BeWater project in the basin and raised public awareness on the issues of managing the basin.

The Cyprus Institute research team presented the Pedieos River Basin Adaptation Plan to the Environment Committee of the Cyprus Parliament, on 15 February 2017. The Committee Members acknowledged the importance of scientific research in adapting to climate change, highlighting the eminent need for implementing the prioritised adaptation options and expressed their willingness to cooperate in finding viable solutions.

World Water Day event, Nicosia: Photo: Christos Zoumides, CyI

Adaptation strategies initiated at local level are those best suited for rolling out into implementation. This was one of the key messages among the conclusions derived from an intense day of presentations, lightning talks, individual reflection and a final panel discussion at the River Basin Adaptation Conference, held in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, on 7 March 2017.

27 March, Centre Cívic Pati Llimona, Barcelona

The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) organizes in collaboration with other organizations the workshop: "Water supply and water stress – what roles for Economic Instruments?"

The event focuses on areas as capacity building, programmatic development and communication in the field of environmental taxation and budgetary reform.

Read the workshop agenda

This article in Catalan

On Tuesday 24 January, the final local event of the BeWater project, a European project coordinated by CREAF was celebrated in Sant Celoni (Vallès Oriental).

Initially, the BeWater project coordinator, Anabel Sanchez, presented the process of project development in the  Tordera basin, which has developed one of the four plans produced within the project along with three others in Cyprus, Slovenia and Tunisia, as well as the methodologies and the approaches used.

Then Annelies Broekman, responsible for the Tordera case study, presented the final results of the project: the 33 actions included in the Tordera River Basin Adaptation Plan, in which scientists, managers and a wide range of people and groups related to the basin have contributed to.

A new BeWater infographic shares a recipe for participation from science and society in river basin adaptation planning.

Veure el vídeo a YouTube amb subtítols en català!