Conference on integrated river basin management under the water framework directive

Objective

The conference will review technical challenges faced by Member States, stakeholder organisations and scientists, while developing the first River Basin Management Plan under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It will focus on aspects of integration, looking at the way cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary co-operation has developed, and how emerging issues such as adaptation to climate changes will be considered in the future.

This event aims to be a forum of exchanges between policy-makers, stakeholders, and scientists on issues that are closely related to the implementation of EU water policies. Discussions will hence not be limited to the WFD, but will open up to related policies concerning, for example, priority substances, groundwater, floods, climate change adaptation, etc.

Detailed programme

Day 1 - Monday, 26th April 2010: Towards RBMP implementation and revision
- Introduction and Policy
- Welcome by Chairmen of the Organising and Scientific Committees
- Opening Speech – Are we able to adapt water resource management practices in a fast-moving world?
- Welcome Address: Integrated RBM under the WFD: action programmes and adaptation to climate change - the Spanish case
- Welcome Address: The international dimension of Integrated Water Resources Management
- Scene setting: Climate change adaptation in river basin management planning in the European Union – policy recommendations and research trends
- Implementation of the WFD surveillance programme – first assessment of chemical and ecological status for rivers, problems and perspectives
- 'ClimateWater' so far: impacts of climate change on water and adaptation strategies identified: an ecohydrological RBMP is needed
- Water threats at river basin scale

Day 2 - Tuesday, 27th April 2010: What new scientific findings and experiences can facilitate RBMP implementation and revision?
Session 1 – Integrating a more Systematic Approach
- Water bodies in Europe – integrative systems to assess ecological status and recovery
- Groundwater and dependent ecosystems – new scientific basis on climate change and land-use impacts
- Sediment - an essential, integral and dynamic part of any river system - in European River Basin Management Plans

Session 2 – Integrating Climate Change Hazards
- Assessment of climatic change and impacts on the quantity and quality of water
- Improvements on flooding preparedness: ongoing research on flash floods forecasting systems
- Evaluation of the global water cycle's response to current and future drivers of climate change
- Role of soils in integrated river basin management under climate change

Session 3 – Securing Water Resources against Deliberate or Natural Disorders
- Security, monitoring and decontamination of drinking water distribution systems
- Climate change impacts on water and security: orientations of the research foreseen over 2010-2013
- Impact of toxic pollution on aquatic ecosystems: research trends and perspectives

Workshops on the three sessions of the day (parallel sessions)

Day 3 - Wednesday, 28th April 2010: How to integrate selected suggestions into the RBMP implementation and revision process
Session 4 – Stakeholders' Views and Science-Policy Interfacing
- Views of the water industry services on science-policy interfacing
- Laboratory networking needs: the experience of the NORMAN network on emerging contaminants
- Linking science to policy in support of IRWM – the CIS-SPI Initiative
- Practical experiences and perspectives in science-policy interfacing
- Reports on workshops 1, 2 and 3 outcomes

Workshop 4

Closing Remarks by Co-chairmen of the Organising and Scientific Committees