The Water Framework Directive: a tale of rivers and people
Dr. Alberto Pistocchi
is a Project Officer of Scientific Research at Joint Research Centre, JRC (Dir D - Sustainable Resources, Water and Marine Resources Ispra, Italy).
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the Commission's science and knowledge service. The JRC employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to EU policy.
November, 16th
h. 12.30
Room Trasporti, Viale Risorgimento 2, Bologna
Abstract: The global implementation of Integrated water resources management (IWRM) by 2030 is now one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. The European Union has adopted the Water Framework Directive 60/2000/EC, representing in practice the legal instrument of IWRM for the EU Member States. However, many years after its entry into force, the WFD still struggles to achieve its objectives. The seminar elaborates on the current implementation of the WFD to reflect on the reasons for its difficulties.
Some difficulties relate to the scientific understanding of river basins as systems, but many others may be rooted in a limited capacity to connect river basin management to the quality of life of people, the well-being and prosperity of communities and the economy as a whole. Using IWRM as a tool for economic growth and community building requires rethinking river basin management, but also river basin research and assessment: researchers and river basin communities must co-define the questions to address, and find together the responses.
Increasingly, managing water requires managing a full array of interconnected aspects (the "Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems Nexus" or the "climate, land-use, energy and water strategies" - CLEWs), and specialist science loses its relevance if disconnected from a systemic view and an orientation to problem solving. This is illustrated through some real-world examples, suggesting ideas for the river basin management plans to come.