IDES Improving water quality in the Danube river and its tributaries by integrative floodplain management based on Ecosystem Services
Final conference
The final conference of the IDES project
Over 50 participants gathered in the Novotel hotel in the centre of Bucharest, on November 16th and 17th, 2022, to mark the end of the IDES project and share its results.
Introductory speeches on water management challenges at local, national and regional level were held by dr. Barbara Stammel (Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, project manager), dr. Orieta Hulea (CEO WWF-Romania), dr. Alexandra Bocșe (Representative of the Romanian Presidency), as well as Marisanda Pîrîianu (representative of the Romanian Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests).
Prof. dr. Berd Cyffka (The International Association for Danube Research) held a presentation on the International Association for Danube Research – 65 years of Aquatic Research and Cooperation in the Danube River Basin.
Adam Kovacs (International Commission for the Protection of Danube River) held an online presentation on the Challenges and opportunities in managing the water and nature under the ecosystem services concept in the most international river basin.
Gusztáv Csomor (Managing Authority / Joint Secretary of the INTERREG Danube Transnational Programme) presented the achievements in water management and nature protection within the Danube Transnational Programme as well as the perspectives for the new programming period.
Cristian Rusu (National Romanian Water Administration) talked about correlative aspects regarding River Basin Management Plans and Flood Risk Management Plans.
In the first part of the session called “Tools and methods for improving Danube water quality based on assessing the ecosystem services”, a general overview of the IDES project results was provided by dr. Barbara Stammel (Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt) and Camelia Ionescu (WWF-Romania)
The second part of the session was carried by Martin Tschikof (The University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna) and dr. Mihai Adamescu (University of Bucharest)
Strategic approach in solving the future water management challenges - A glimpse into different views of the same problem - lessons learnt from IDES and other projects was the next session, hosted by Vizi Dávid (Middle Tisza District Water Directorate) and Dr. Zoltán Müller and having Anna Osann (Representative of REXUS project) as an online guest.
During a panel, moderator Raluca Barbu challenged Mary Matthews (UNDP - online), Chris-Philip Fischer (World Bank), Mihaela Niță (Coca Cola Romania), Florian Ballnus (Bavarian Ministry of Environment and representative of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region - online) and Kety Balaci (National Agency for Fishery and Aquaculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Romania) to talk about the universal need for water, as well as possible solutions on properly sharing it.
The conclusions of the conference were drawn by dr. Barbara Stammel, the program manager.
The Conference, besides offering the context for presenting the project results, also created the space for the stakeholders to interact with each other and envision a better management of a common asset, the Danube and its floodplains, as providers of goods and services (provisioning, regulating, maintenance and cultural).
The efficient dissemination of the main results of the project, the IDES Manual and the IDES Strategy, to a diverse sample of stakeholders was reached also through discussions, reflections and the questions from participants, both face to face and online.
The water quality issue was raised as a starting point to improving floodplain ecosystems in the DRB and the sustainable use of resources by using ES evaluation in decision making of the main institutions that deal with the management of natural resources.
