WaterCoG

Four European projects come together to discuss sustainable practices to water co-governance

09 March 2020 - Published by Alistair Maltby
WaterCoG attended a conference on the 24th to 26th February in Oldenburg to learn about sustainable water governance.

Hosted by OOWV in Oldenburg, four major European projects attended a conference on the 24th to 26th February, to learn about sustainable water governance and improving the effectiveness of (technical) measures through communication and co-governance approaches.

Download the conference summary.

Conference 2020

During the two-day conference, representatives from WaterCoG, goCAM, TOPSOIL and STEER discussed complex topics such as ecosystem services, climate change adaptation of regional water balance and citizen involvement. 

Running parallel to the conference, students in Oldenburg took part in a Climate Café to address public perception of climate change in the city, Climate Café is a multidisciplinary international governance tool set up as part of several national and international projects on water governance including WaterCog. Originally set up in the Netherlands, it is now a tool which is taken all over the world.

 Students in Oldenburg at the Climate Cafe

During just the 2-days conference, the students were asked to head out into the city of Oldenburg and talk to the public about their perception of climate change and possible solutions. The students then presented their findings and suggestions to the conference delegates.  Watch the video below about the Climate Cafe in Oldenburg: 

Presentations

Welcome by Egon HarmsOOWV 

Dealing with complex ecosystems: How can co-governance approaches support water management?

WaterCoG Danish pilot pt.1 (Susanne Mortensen)

- WaterCoG Danish pilot pt.2 (Sebastian Zacho, SEGES)

- WaterCoG in Sweden: To handle complex issues (Björn Lagerdahl, Vattenmyndigheten Västerhavet)

Preparing Water Rights Applications: Improving stakeholders’ support for water rights applications-  Lessons Learnt from German WaterCoG pilots (Ilke Borowski-MaaserInteressen Im Fluss) 

- How can co-governance approaches be encouraged? Insights from go-CAM (Konstantin ScheihingOOWV) 

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Climate Change Adaption of Regional water balance, Part I: Increasing resilience of groundwater towards climate change  

Results from Dutch TOPSOIL pilotClimate Change Adaptation for wateshortage in groundwater management (Jan den BestenHunze en Aas)

- Mitigating the impact of climate change on groundwater resources - approaches in go-CAM (Konstantin Scheihing, OOWV)

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Climate Change Adaption of Regional water balance, Part II: Protecting water quality as joint effort by agriculture and water management 

 - Agriculture and water management partnership working needed to protect surface and groundwater quality (Peter Nailon, Wear Rivers Trust)

- German TOPSOIL Pilot (GE5): Goals and Results (Christina Aue, OOWV)  

STEER: Increasing Good Governance for Achieving the Objectives of Integrated Water Resources Management. Franziska Meergans (UniversitätOsnabrück) 

- WaterCoG Texel Pilot: Salinization (Arjen GrentHoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier)

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PR & Citizen Involvement: What are the impacts of good communication and citizen involvement? - Stevie Swenne, VMM 

- Delegate 'poll' on communications pt.1

- Delegate 'poll' on communications pt.2

- Dutch WaterCoG pilotClimate stress test and atlas (Arjen GrentHoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier). 

Video examples from TOPSOIL and Catch 

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Ecosystem Services: How can the concept contribute to protecting the regional water balance?  - Chair: Christina Aue, OOWV

- Natural Capital & Ecosystem Services – tools for co-governance (Barry Bendall, The Rivers Trust)

Video: WaterCoG – Natural Capital 

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