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The News N° 25
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EUROPE
”For facilitating the implementation of the EuropeanWater Framework Directive”
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
12 - 15 November 2014 - Bucharest - Romania
Theparticipants underlined the importanceof
consistency between the measures taken to
achieve environmental objectives and the
policies and practices of the agricultural
sector.
The ongoing preparation of the Rural Deve-
lopment Plans is an opportunity for
taking
river hydromorphology into account.
Theparticipants asked thewatermanagers to
be closer to their colleagues of the agricultu-
ral sector to
include measures for redu-
cing agricultural pressures and pollu-
tion and to limit financing for practices
having strong negative effects on the
quality ofWater Bodies.
The next BasinManagement Plans should be
based on
a more exhaustive economic
analysis of pressures andonquantifica-
tion of costs and impacts of the mea-
sures needed
to complywith the objectives
of theWFD.
For this purpose, it is necessary to establish
clear and transparent methodologies,
improve common knowledge, but also, if
needed, to agree on a practical guide under
the CIS to complete and update theWATECO
guidance document.
The participants took note of the entry
into force on 17 August 2014 of the UN
Convention of 1997 on the law relating
to theuseof internationalwatercourses
for purposes other thannavigation.
This convention as well as t
he UNECE
Water Convention of 1992
are a solid
basis for international cooperation in trans-
boundary basins.
Whatever the scale, good knowledge
and easy access to data and informa-
tion on the status and evolution of
water resourcesandof their use isakey
to a successful water policy.
For better communicating with the decision
makers and the general public, themembers
of
”EUROPE-INBO”
group insisted on the
need for developing tools for data interpreta-
tion.
Theparticipants recommended increasing the
exchange of experience on the ways of pro-
ducing and sharing comparable data among
stakeholders, as well as on the tools and
methods used for the analysis and interpreta-
tion of data and the dissemination of know-
ledge to decision makers and the general
public.
With regard to the Flood Directive, it
was reminded that Flood RiskManage-
mentPlans shouldbedeveloped ineach
basin.
The participants also reminded the impor-
tance of involving field stakeholders and the
public. Appropriation by all users of water
policies and of the resulting measures is
essential to advance and increase efficiency.
The Monitoring Program could be a good
communication tool if based on standardized
methods improving the understanding, com-
parison and use of information.
The participants also stressed that the indica-
tors used to characterize the status of water
bodies are too general. They do not reflect
the effectiveness of the actions undertaken
during the program cycle. Less aggregated
indicators, used at local and national level,
would allow a better understanding of the
results of the effortsmade.
The
”EUROPE-INBO 2014”
conference is a
new important step for assessing implemen-
tationand for formulating soundproposals to
improve WFD implementation in the next
cycles, especially for the 2016-2021 period.
Ms. Daniela RADULESCU (Romania),
was elected President of the EUROPE-
INBO Group for the year to come, until
the next conference in 2015.
The delegates decided to hold next
”EUROPE-INBO”
conferences in 2015, in
Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2016 in Lourdes,
France and in 2017 inDublin, Ireland.
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Closing ceremony -© IOWater - C.Runel
