Transcript No Slide Title

The EU Water Initiative and
its research component
Marialuisa Tamborra
European Commission - DG
Research
International Cooperation
[email protected]
Introducing the EU Water
initiative – Water for life
 EU initiative launched at the WSSD
(2002)in Johannesburg
 Contributing to MDG and WSSD on water:
 Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without
access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation;
 develop Integrated Water manag. and efficiency
plans.
 EUWI at present under review
EUWI: Objectives
 Reinforcing political committment towards
action and innovation-oriented partnership;
 Promoting improved water governance, capacity
building & awareness;
 Promoting improved efficiency & effectiveness
of water management through multi-stakeholder
dialogue;
 Strengthening cooperation through promoting
river basin approaches in national and
transboundary waters;
 Identifying additional financing resources to
ensure sustainable financing
EUWI: structure
 Governing bodies:
 Secretariat (Commission DGs),
 Steering Group and
 Multi-stakeholder Forum;
 Regional components/WGs:




Africa,
EECCA,
Latin America,
Mediterranean;
 Horizontal components/WGs:
 Research,
 Finance,
 Monitoring
Research in Integrated Water
Resources Management (IWRM)
•
The EU Water initiative (EUWI) has given boost to IWRM
research and its global dimension, with FP6 introducing
topics in its calls for proposals since 2002 in support of
EUWI and the MDGs.
•
IN FP5 IWRM research involving international cooperation
was carried out essentially under INCO.
•
In FP6 funding was available both under INCO & priority
“Global Change & Ecosystems” with a budget of ~130Mio€
•
IN FP7 this area of research will be carried out mainly
under the Environment Theme (areas: Sustainable
Management of Resources and also Environmental
Technologies)
•
Possible contribution from Health Theme & Food,
Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnologies theme.
Examples of ongoing RTD activities
with expected lasting impact
•
Coordinating Member States and EU Research Programmes in
Water Science and technology for the Developing World:
The EU WI ERA-NET, the main achievement of the EUWI
Research Working Group
•
Contributing to the analysis of joint European and developing
Countries approaches to IWRM
The Review ‘EU-INCO water research from FP4 to FP6 (1994-2006)’
•
Contributing to capacity building and awareness raising through
the uptake of research results at the local level:
The River Twinning projects under FP6 - Thematic Priority “Global Change
and Ecosystems”
Networking and co-ordination activities – FP6 Co-ordination actions
EU WI ERA-NET:
Co-ordination of MS Research Programmes
in Water Science and technology for the
Developing World
• Objective: To improve communication, collaboration and
coordination of water research funded by Member States
in developing countries to increase the effectiveness and
benefits, reduce duplication and repetition and enhance
synergy between actions under the Commission
Framework Programme for RTD and Member State
research programmes
• 15 research programme owners/managers from 11
Countries: UK (Department of International Development
- Co-ordinator), Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Italy, Czech Rep., Norway,
Switzerland
• Several international organisations as observers
EU WI ERA-NET:
Strategic objectives
• Systematic exchange of information and good
practices on existing research programmes and
improvement of access to this information;
• Identification of common strategies on specific
thematic and/or regional reseaarch activities through
mapping of activities;
• Development of joint activities between national and
regioanl programmes (personnel exchanges,
workshops, sharing research facilities, clustering of
programmes)
• Explorative analysis in view of implementing joint
research programmes (towards ERA-NET plus?)
Introducing the Review ‘EU-INCO
water research from FP4 to FP5’
• Background: Stronger commitment at
EU level not only at the project level
but also at programme & policy level
towards Impact Assessment
(COM(2002)276 of 5/6/2002)
• A sample of 67 international S&T
cooperation projects supported by the
INCO Programme through Research
Framework Programmes (FP4, 5, 6)
have been reviewed by a panel
• This represents an investment of >50
MEuro
• International expert group to analyse
what we have learnt through this
cooperation.
International Review Panel of the
Review
• Pragya Dipak Gyawali,
Nepal (Chair)
• Prof. Anthony Allan,
UK (Rapporteur)
• Prof. Paula Antunes,
Portugal
• Dr. Basim Dudeen,
Palestinian Authority
• Dr. Pietro Laureano,
Italy
• Prof. Cassio Luiselli,
Mexico
• Dr. Pedro Monteiro,
South Africa
• Dr. Hong Khanh
Nguyen, Vietnam
• Prof. Pavel Novácek,
Czech Republic
• Prof. Claudia PahlWostl, Germany
Scoring methodology of the Review
• Has research addressed social, economic &
environmental priorities (Sust)? E.g. Was Sustainable
Development at the core of research?
• Was an integrated approach practiced (Intg)? E.g.
Was co-dependence of the water sector and other
sectors clear?
• Were there policy–relevant impacts (Impc)? E.g.
Contribution to societal problem solving?
What was the uptake by others?
Legacy – capacity building, educational etc.
• Was there constructive engagement (Comm)? E.g.
with governments, civil society, private sector,
education system etc.
• Was there communication with the society (Narr)?
Some Findings (1)
INCO - IWRM Review: Aggregated Data
Project Score Averages
3.00
2.50
Index
2.00
FP4
1.50
FP5
FP6
1.00
0.50
0.00
Sust
Tech
Intg
Comm
Impc
Narr
Criteria
The aggregated average scores on the six main indicators to
evaluate the performance of 67 EU-INCO water research projects
Some Findings (2)
INCO - IWRM Review: Aggregated Data
Project Score % Std Dev
100.00
90.00
80.00
%STD DEV
70.00
60.00
50.00
FP4
40.00
FP6
FP5
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Sust
Tech
Intg
Comm
Impc
Narr
Criteria
The standard deviation data reflecting the scatter of results of
the FP4, FP5 and FP6 scores
Main conclusions of the Review ‘EUINCO water research from FP4 to
FP6’
•
•
•
•
Increased role in raising awareness among
societal actors of the challenges facing political
leaders, policy-makers & water users.
Enhanced integration of science with policy
priorities
Increased emphasis on environmental, societal &
economic impacts of research
Promotion of new approaches to water policy
and policy-relevant water science thanks to
stronger interplay between EU & 3rd countries
research teams.
Introducing the River Twinning
initiative under FP6
Overall objective:
Promote twinnings of European and third countries river basins for the
development of IWRM to underpin the implementation of the EUWI
Regions involved:
Europe: Spain (Guadalentin River Basin), UK (Thames), Sweden (Norrstrom),
Germany (Neckar), Austria (Mur), Upper Danube River Basin (UDRB),
Norway (Glomma), Spain/Portugal (Tejo/Tagus) and various RBOs in France,
Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Hungary
Mediterranean countries: RBOs in Algeria, Morocco, Israel (Nahal Zin
Catchment - Negev Desert)
Africa: Namibia (Kuiseb Catchment), South Africa (Western Namaqualand),
Botswana (Okavango), Benin (Queme), RBOs in Niger and Senegal
EECCA Countries: Uzbekistan (Chirchik/Upper Syrdaria), Kazakhstan (Nura)
Latin America: Chile (Bio Bio) and RBOs from Mexico and Brasil
Asia: RBOs in Indonesia, Upper Brahmaputra River Basin, Vietnam/Cambodia
(Sesan), India (Tunga Bahdra)
The River Twinning initiative:
facts and figures in FP6
• Total EU contribution for this initiative of 13.8 Million €
with 1.3 to 2.8 Million € per project;
• Seven « twinning » projects: RIVERTWIN,
TWINBAS,WADE, TWINLATIN, TWINBASINxn,
BRAHMATWINN, STRIVER;
• TWINBASINxn: multi-regional CA co-ordinated by the
Office International de l’Eau with Algeria (BO of
Algerois-Hodna-Soummam) and Morocco (BO of
Sebou) promoting exchanges among Basin
organisations (http://www.twinbasin.org)
• Its success is also demonstrated by its continuation
under FP7: present call on South America under
Theme ‘Environment’ (published on 22/12/2006).
Some Important Features
of the River ‘Twinning’ initiative
• Emphasis on ‘global change’ concept…
• On-the-job training, capacity building …
• Public participation and End-Users…
• Blueprints for integrated river basin management
plans adapted to local conditions…
• Replicability…
Introducing Coordination
Actions in IWRM
• Objective: connecting different strands of
knowledge and translating scientific
knowledge in policy terms;
• A number of Coordination actions have
been set up in different regions, e.g.:
• Mediterranean: MELIA, NOSTRUM-DSS
• Asia: ASEMWATERNET, MAI-TAI
• Latin America: WAFLA
Coordination Actions in the
Mediterranean
NOSTRUM-DSS (http://www.feem-web.it/nostrum):
• Objectives:
•
•
•
To establish durable links between scientific institutions,
governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders and improve public
awareness on water management;
To improve scientific knowledge and applied methodologies in IWRM;
To promote the development of suitable DSS tools built upon real
needs of policy making.
• Algeria, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Turkey
MELIA (http://www.meliaproject.eu/):
• Objectives:
•
•
•
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Establish a dialogue and connect with other research projects dealing
with IWRM in view to enhange dissemination and improve uptake of
research results in local contexts;
Improve water regional planning and management under scarcity to
enhance Sustainable development in the Mediterranean region;
Involve stakeholders from the UE and Mediterranean countries in
view of understanding and applying the principles of the EU Water
Framework Directive
Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Israel/Palestine, Syria, Tunisia,
Turkey
Expectations towards future
research
• High impact through integrating previously disconnected
knowledge strands and perspectives along sustainability
dimensions
• High impact through connecting policy objectives
(sustainability, equity) to actionable lessons
• High impact through constructive engagement with
different social actors and their empowerment
• Increasingly effective use of the internet and a range of
other communication modes, to enable broad-based social
learning and use in practice.
• Awareness of political nature of water allocation, of cultural
preferences and contexts, and of traditional knowledge
• Targeted networking with other European, national and
international projects for critical mass, accountability &
impact.
To conclude:
Research has a great potential in
contributing to solve water
challenges in the World if research
results are translated into policy
terms. Science should devote more
efforts to this effect.
Information
EU Water Initiative
EUWI web Site: http://www.euwi.net/
EUWI Research Web Site:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/water-initiative
EUWI ERA-NET: http//www.euwi-era.net