Transcript River Basin Management Plans and Decision Support

MODELS AND DECISION SUPPORT
SYSTEMS FOR PARTICIPATORY DECISION
MAKING IN INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
A. Sgobbi a,b , C. Giupponi c,b
a Università Ca Foscari, School for Advanced Studies in Venice Foundation,
Venice International University, Italy
b Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Italy
c Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
IWRM
 Integrated Water Resources Management
(IWRM) “is a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of
water, land and related resources, in order to
maximize the resultant economic and social
welfare in an equitable manner without
compromising the sustainability of vital
ecosystems”
(GWP-TAC, 2000)
The WFD
 The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims at
establishing “a framework for the protection of inland surface
waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and
groundwaters”, (Dir. 2000/60/EC, art.1) for all European
Member States.
 The WFD adopts a holistic approach for water protection
and management, to be implemented in a 15-year long
process which foresees many actions including:
 the development of a River Basin Management Plan
(RBMP) in each European River Basin District (RBD)
Competent authorities need to integrate environmental,
social and economic analyses and involve interested
parties in the formulation of strategies
The MULINO Project
MULtisectoral, Integrated and Operational
Decision Support System
for sustainable use of water resource
at the catchment scale
Funded by the EC-5FP-EESD programme
Sustainable Management and Quality of Water
WFD requirements targeted by MULINO
 Integration
– “integration of a wide range of measures, including pricing and
economic and financial instruments, in a common […]
approach”
– “integration of disciplines, analyses and expertise”
 Planning and public participation (PP)
– planning should be “a systematic, integrative and iterative
process” which “culminates when all the relevant information
has been considered and a course of action has been
selected”
– planners should tackle the planning process with “the
appropriate toolbox” “to make right priorities concerning the
program of measures”
New methods and tools are needed for supporting integrated
assessment and management, PP, and decision making
Quoted from WFD-CIS Guidance documents
Methods and tools: “modelling as a process”
 Methods:
– Participatory modelling: a process in which
the formulation of a conceptual model and
its formalisation is carried out by
disciplinary experts with the direct
involvement of stakeholders/experts
 Tools
– Simulation models
– Decision Support Systems (DSSs)
– Cognitive mapping,…
Case studies
Romania
1950 km2
Bahlui
National
“What is the best farming strategy to minimise sediment and nitrate loads while preserving living standards
of rural communities?”
Portugal
780 km2
Caia
National
“What is the optimum level of water retention (control) in the Caia dam for multi-sectoral water
management?”
UK
UK
Portugal
2500 km
2
Yure & Bare
National
“What are the optimal seasonal water prices for maximising irrigation while minimising the adverse
ecological impacts on the rivers?”
Belgium
Belgium
Nethan
55 km2
Regional
“How can we reduce the risk of flooding? If we use storm basins, how big should they be and where should
they be located?”
Italy
Italy
100 km2
Vela
Local
“What are the best solutions to reduce the nitrate discharges to the Venice Lagoon from the rivers of the Vela
sub-basin?”
Italy
Romania
EU
Cavallino
23 km2
Local
“How can we substitute groundwater with surface water for irrigation? Which is the best treatment method for
guaranteeing water quality standards?”
Italy
Arborea
100 km2
Regional
“What is the best way to reduce the contaminants entering the phreatic aquifer in Arborea?”
Europe
-
3216000 km2
“What is the most efficient option for spatial implementation of the Nitrate Directive?”
European
Experiences from the Mulino Project and elsewhere
 Experiences show that the management of stakeholders’
involvement is still poorly organised and supported, and so
is the selection of the stakeholders to take part in the
process
 Participatory modelling showed to be a promising approach.
Some open questions:
 What incentives for policy makers to invest in innovative
approaches?
 How can the training requirements of potential end-users be
best addressed?
 How to find the right balance between generic tools and
customisation?
 How to find the right balance simplification and complexity
of the issues to be dealt with?
Adoption of research products
Two strategies for facilitating the adoption of
innovative research products:
 a regulatory approach, by which using
participatory modelling and tools becomes a
legal requirement, embedded in national
and/or European policies;
 a needs approach, in which policy makers
are indirectly induced to use participatory
modelling and tools addressing exact
legislative requirements and reporting rules.
Capacity building
Possible strategies:
 strengthen the role of trained professionals acting as
facilitators in the participatory planning process and
offer specific courses;
 promote an extended campaign of in-house
expertise development enabling policy makers to
meaningful undertake participatory planning (a
“normative” entry point is needed);
 increase research efforts on developing tools and
methods for the use of mediators (i.e. consultants),
who would then provide external support to decision
makers.
Conclusions: lessons learnt
 there is a strong need for scientific and technical support for the
meaningful involvement of stakeholders in planning and
implementation through participatory modelling;
 modelling in IWRM needs to be understood in a much more general
way, as a process of engaging both decision makers and the general
public to help making participation worthwhile;
 in order to bridge the gap between research products and actual
decisional processes, model development should be brought within
the process of PP, where the tool is developed with heavy
involvement of end-users and stakeholders through participatory
modelling, and it is geared to addressing their priority needs;
 yet, there is a trade-off between specificity and re-usability of both
participatory planning methodologies and the resulting tool, thus
requiring flexible and, possibly, modular approaches to be developed,
all together with specific investments in capacity building