Stakeholders in Rmel River Basin to Address Challenges

24 June 2014
Rmel, Tunisia

The third BeWater stakeholder meeting will take place in Rmel, Tunisia.  The meeting will bring together Consortium partners and key local stakeholders continuing the stakeholder interaction meetings at local level.

Aquest article en català

The participatory process promoted by the BeWater project in the River Tordera and other Mediterranean basins, aims to involve society in a dialogue on current water uses and to collectively develop water management plans adapted to future climate change scenarios.

Future climate change projections indicate that extreme events, like droughts and floods, may increasingly occur in the Mediterranean region.

Članek v slovenščini

The 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.

Članek v slovenščini
Aquest article en català

More than 30 participants from around Europe gathered in Barcelona, Spain, for the first meeting of a new European project which will involve the active participation of society in water adaptation to global change.

The stage for collaboration over the coming three and a half years was set at the BeWater project's Kick-off Meeting, held on 13 – 15 January. In line with the approach of the project, participatory techniques were used in the meeting in order to define working methods, agree a common language and identify the challenges involved in implementing this complex project effectively.

Projections of future climate change point to increasing water scarcity and drought in the Mediterranean region. This will cause serious socioeconomic loss and have significant environmental impact.

In this context, BeWater, a new European project, aims to promote dialogue and collaboration between science and society in sustainable water management in the Mediterranean. Led by the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), project partners will organise participatory processes involving scientists and other stakeholders in four pilot river basins throughout the Mediterranean (Catalonia, Cyprus, Slovenia and Tunisia). Each will identify and share the challenges of climate change in their particular region and the various water management options available. Based on this information, all stakeholders will design joint plans for adaptation to climate change in their regions. "These plans will allow an increase in the resilience of social and ecological systems linked to each river basin," said Diana Pascual, CREAF researcher and one of the project coordinators.