Hungary hosts Water CoRe conference in November
By Nathan Johnson
Approximately 40 individuals from throughout Europe travelled to Morahalom in south Hungary for a regional experience-sharing workshop titled "Connecting Regions and Stakeholders", which took place on November 14-15. The workshop was part of a Water CoRe project on water scarcity and drought, sponsored by INTERREG IVC and the EU's European Regional Development Fund. The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development and the Lower Tisza Directorate, also from Hungary, organised the two-day event.
This 40-month Water CoRe project involves 14 institutions and seven regions-Hessen (Germany), Aragon (Spain), Emilia-Romagna (Italy), North Brabant (Netherlands), Lower Tisza (Hungary), Covasna (Romania) and Herault (France)-and will conclude in March 2013, and operates with a budget of EUR 2.55 million. Four main aims were established for the regional workshop in Morahalom. The first was to present good practice examples related to water scarcity and drought. The second aim was to share results of the Water Core project with representatives of authorities and key stakeholders from regions throughout Europe. The third aim was to learn about ongoing efforts and planned strategies for developing and implementing action plans on water scarcity and drought management. Finally, the fourth aim was to identify needs of authorities and stakeholders for capacity building to achieve the aforementioned goals.
Project outcomes
Published in December 2010, the Water Core project's "Good Practices Handbook" [http://www.watercore.eu] offers 103 good practices related to water scarcity and drought from the partners and regions involved. These practices cover five themes: water demand-side management from a technical angle, water demand-side management from an economic angle, drought management, climate change, and communication and participation.
The Handbook contains individual factsheets that provide project summaries and practical information, such as: general project description, target group, results, success factors, repeatability and transferability, costs and contact information. An online version, still being developed, will use keywords for helping interested parties identify the most suitable best practices.
Another important Water CoRe publication will appear soon: the "Guide on Water Scarcity & Drought". The purpose of the Guide is to help water professionals search for solutions to problems unique to their situation. Drawing from the 103 best practices detailed in the Handbook, the Guide uses cases to illustrate general applicable concepts, based around the five main themes listed above.
Tied to the problem-solving aspect is an e-learning module that the Water CoRe project plans to launch in summer 2012. Specially prepared course modules teach "how to improve regional policies and instruments to mitigate water scarcity and drought effects resulting from climate change developments," according to Frank van Lamoen, senior officer and researcher from Noord-Brabant Province in the Netherlands and key moderator for the Morahalom conference. "The e-learning course will allow dissemination of collected good practices, proposed regional actions and policy recommendations to other EU regions." The digital platform, in addition to being made available in English, will also be translated into languages of the partner regions.
"Climate change is slowly but surely having an impact on Europe's water resources," said Barbara Ehrle-Manthey from the Ministry of Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of Hessen in Germany, one of the Water CoRe partner regions. "Water scarcity and drought are not just problems in the southern and warmer climates of Europe. There are also shortages in places where water is typically in abundance, such Noord-Brabant in Holland, where water use and demand is intensive, or if the soil has difficulty retaining water."
If regions are to present cases of best practices that are to be helpful to other regions encountering similar problems, then what is essential is that data be collected accurately and effectively distributed in a way that is easy and straightforward to interpret, continued Ehrle-Manthey. As a project focal point, the REC has played a key role in bringing the partners together, strengthening public participation and raising awareness among civil society and authorities. The REC will continue to provide information about water scarcity and droughts to interested parties and stakeholders in CEE even after the project is completed.
Water scarcity and drought: regional and international context
As large riparian systems often spread over parts of several countries, regional strategies are needed to make coordinated efforts to protect them. Regional strategies targeting the Danube and Tisza rivers were outlined by two speakers present at Morahalom, Peter Bakonyi and Diana Heilmann.
Peter Bakonyi, deputy director of VITUKI in Hungary, explained how the Danube Region Strategy (DRS) is divided into four main pillars, the second of which is "environment". There are a number of priority areas within this pillar, including water quality, risks and biodiversity. The main target established by the EU under the "risks" category is for each country in the Danube region to implement flood management plans by 2015. Focusing on risks, Bakonyi outlined eight separate actions, the first three of which have specifically to do with flooding. The remaining actions encompass coordination efforts, revised data collection for spots prone to accident, development of rapid response procedures, anticipation through advanced research, and spatial planning and construction relative to flooding patterns. The latter two are most closely linked to climate change adaptation efforts, and therefore most relevant to concerns of water scarcity and drought. In the interest of integrating these water-related concerns, the DRS steering committee, comprising representatives from 14 countries, will select a flagship project in mid-December. More information is available at: groupspaces.com/EnvironmentalRisks/files
Diana Heilmann spoke on behalf of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) Tisza Group, generally about ICPDR activities and specifically concerning Tisza Group efforts to address water scarcity and drought. The principle objective of the EU Water Directive is to ensure "good" status for all EU waters by 2015; thus it is necessary to establish the status of the Tisza River as it flows through five countries (Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Hungary) and to identify key problems and pressures specific to each. Flood, excess water, water scarcity, drought and climate change have emerged as top quantitative concerns that also affect water quality, along with industrial and organic sources of pollution. An integrated approach is being taken to address these issues.
Heilmann mentioned that parts of the Tisza River basin often experience flood and drought in the same year, sometimes from one month to the next. Water scarcity and drought are expected to become more serious threats in Hungary and the Carpathian Basin if annual mean temperatures continue to rise as a result of climate change. An increase in extreme weather events also appears likely, so coordinated adaptation efforts will be required to diminish the impacts of these environmental threats. Proposed measures are not the sole prerogative of national government bodies; input for measures from municipal, county and regional authorities is also very important, according to Heilmann. Important work remains to be done in terms developing indices for water scarcity and groundwater regeneration, in addition to mapping water distribution and monitoring demand, especially during periods of shortage.
Water scarcity and drought: national context
Hungary, a country with 100,000 square kilometres of surface water area and richly endowed with thermal springs, is nonetheless vulnerable to upstream water dynamics, according to Peter Kovacs, head of department at Hungary's Ministry of Regional Development. Furthermore, rising temperatures are gradually causing the country's climate to become more Mediterranean-like, resulting in a greater number of extreme weather events. Kovacs claimed that 90 percent of problems in Hungarian natural areas are related to water scarcity. And while drought is a proven historical problem, it has occurred with greater frequency in the 19th and 20th centuries.
To address its water-related concerns, Hungary is taking a number of actions, including the adoption of a national strategy on climate change (adopted in 2006) the implementation of river basin management plans. Hungary also joined the International Commission on Drought in 2003, developing its own national drought strategy in 2006. While the country has 70 measures alone that relate specifically to water scarcity and drought, Kovacs identifies the following as the most important: implementing Water Framework Directive objectives, revising existing water licenses, developing a monitoring system, raising awareness among multiple stakeholders, and expanding research and development efforts.
In a country as densely populated as the Netherlands, there is plenty of competition for space and good, clean water. Frank van Lamoen, from the Noord Brabant region in the south of the country, remarked that this is especially true for the beer breweries and food producers in the region. "We have a good groundwater supply, and would like to keep it that way for future generations," Lamoen said.
The allocation of space for agriculture and nature in the Netherlands is also highly competitive. Recognising the value of healthy biodiversity and flourishing ecosystems-even at small scale-groundwater levels are monitored in order to prevent agricultural overuse of water from adversely affecting neighbouring natural habits. In developing a regional action plan, Noord Brabant, a Water CoRe partner, has opted to work with existing platforms rather than developing one from scratch. Noord Brabant is currently involved with three regional platforms: a wide-ranging provincial water plan, a river basin management plan through the Water Framework Directive, and the so-called Deltaplan that addresses problems in dry rural areas. Pilot projects under the provincial water plan are good vehicles for attracting political attention and, of course, necessary funding, which is not always easy to come by. The water plan is an integrated effort that deals with groundwater, and surface water quantity and quality. There is a policy document linked to the action, and water policy itself is linked to spatial planning, Lamoen explained.
Sharing good practices
Following some welcoming remarks from Zoltan Nogradi, a member of the Hungarian Parliament and Mayor of Morahalom, two speakers from the University of Szeged (Hungary), Drs. Janos Szanyi and Katalin Margoczi Bozso, address the session topic of water scarcity and drought management. Szanyi provided some physical details of Hungary's groundwater flows and well depths, expressing the need to put data into action, one reason being for the proper enforcement of pricing mechanisms for water use in the Hungarian-Serbian border region. "Some models are wrong," Szanyi cautioned, "but the best ones are useful."
Margoczi Bozso, a professor of Ecology, took part in the "Action plan for preservation of the 'good' environmental status of surface water of the south border region" and presented results and examples of the project. The project team prepared detailed vegetation maps of 70 ecological areas in southern Hungary in order to establish a biodiversity database and ensure their protection. As most of the study areas contained strongly modified water bodies, the project focused on how best to apply Water Framework Directive methodology. As most grassland has been converted to arable land, biodiversity depends on a channel system, which has been developed over the past century and a half. Referring to the special reclamation site of Lake Nagyszeksos just on the outskirts of Morahalom (to which conference participants paid a field visit), the key goal is water retention. Due to the success of this reclamation project, the habitat is now home to several hundred water buffalo and is rich in birdlife and other animal and plant species.
The REC's Kliment Mindjov has been involved with the Green Pack interactive education tool [GP link] from its very beginnings ten years ago. Having provided participants with some product background and history of its use, Serbian teacher Marina Drdanski drew from her own classroom experiences to explain some of the educational benefits of the Green Pack. Having participated in 30 teachers' seminars in Serbia, Drdanski finds the Green Pack suitable both for formal and non-formal education. It also encourages students to think for themselves, which is one of the best ways of promoting environmental values. The Green Pack topics that are most interesting to students, according to Drdanski, are biodiversity, human impacts, water properties and climate change.
Also from the REC, climate change expert Zsuzsa Ivanyi addressed the impact of climate change on food production in South Eastern Europe. It is expected that much of this region will be facing severe decreases in water and precipitation as temperatures rise in the coming years. Annual rainfall is expected to drop in Albania, for example, by 5-17 percent by the year 2050. This would have serious effects for a country in which 44 percent are employed in agriculture. Projections are also stark for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, said Ivanyi. Within 90 years, average mean temperatures in the country could rise by between 2.9 and 3.8 degrees Celsius, which would result in staggering decreases in crop yields of tomatoes, grapes and winter wheat.
Clearly, adaptation efforts need to coordinated and implemented quickly in order to avoid the worst outcomes from changing climate scenarios. Ivanyi lists increased awareness, adoption of legal rules and careful monitoring as key tasks that lie ahead, though there is a long way to travel in this regard. At present, Bosnia and Herzegovina has no adaptation or climate change strategies in place, while a country like Croatia faces problems that are mainly structural, as the breakup of formerly collectivised farms resulted in several, much smaller farming plots that today are not engaged in any harmonised farming practices. Meanwhile, some positive steps to be taken are: rehabilitating irrigation systems, optimising fertilisers and water application, and developing more climate-resilient seed varieties.
Ileana-Doina Vasilescu from Romania spoke of short and long-term actions that her country plans to take, given a projected 20-percent decrease in future water flow by 2050 and greatly increased susceptibility to drought conditions that will spread in a westward direction over time. Vasilescu highlighted a number of water scarcity impacts that Romania is feeling as a result of decreased precipitation and increased levels of water runoff: reduced water supply for human agglomeration, industry and agriculture; reduced hydropower production; disturbances of inland navigation; increased risk of eutrophication; changes in soil loads from stream samples; and damage to aquatic life and ecosystem biodiversity.
Short-term actions in Romania, according to Vasilescu, include: developing a plan for monitoring drought; carrying out a drought impact assessment; improving the response capabilities of legal, political and policy-making institutions; and calculating required infrastructural costs and needs. Long-term actions are focused on protecting water-system availability over time, and are concentrated on: water conservation and land management; education; raising social awareness; and advanced scientific research and technological development.
Building cooperation
The two-day conference in Morahalom concluded with a session on identifying needs and opportunities for cooperation with other Water CoRe partners. There were presentations by delegates from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia and Montenegro. These presentations included a great deal of technical information of specific interest to project partners, who had a good opportunity during this event to get to know one another and share knowledge and experiences.
As mentioned earlier, the group visited the site of the Lake Nagyszeksos reclamation project. The group then embarked on a tour of nearby Szeged, a city of magnificent architectural achievement and a history deeply imbued with the fortunes and ravages of its constant companion-the Tisza River.
