Upscaling “bottom up” water governance approach to new areas in Denmark
In June 2019 SEGES facilitated a stakeholder meeting at Ringkøbing Fjord and in October 2019 at Karrebæk Fjord where more than 20 different stakeholder organizations met to discuss the water environment in Karrebæk Fjord and nutrient transport in the catchment. National authorities from the Department of Ministry of Environment and The Danish Environmental Protection Agency also participated to get a first impression of the dialogue and meeting progress. Local farming organisations are now taking a leading role to build a platform for better local co-operation.
SEGES has also facilitated a new announced optimised co-operation between 8 local authorities in southern Jutland and local farming organisations. The main topic is better co-operation with implementing natural and constructed wetlands (drain filter solutions). Several meetings throughout the year ended in December with a meeting with all organisations agreeing on a corporation platform – a 2 layer system with decisionmakers at one level and a technical other level. A newsletter was announced in the press and a letter send to the Minister for Environment asking for support the local process.
While the Danish Government is still hesitating with a governance change to strengthen bottom up processes, within the WaterCoG project, SEGES has demonstrated a clear local support for more local involvement and for a better top-down bottom-up interaction in different areas of Denmark.