JOINTISZA Strengthening cooperation between river basin management planning and flood risk prevention to enhance the status of waters of the Tisza River Basin
Over-exploitation of water resources, water regime modifications, water contamination, and a growing number of flood events—negative effects of which are amplified by climate change—are all issues that require harmonised, integrated actions from management authorities in countries that share river basins.
Mayfly (Palingenia longicauda)
The JOINTISZA project will enhance the status of waters of the Tisza River Basin. It will focus on the interactions of two key aspects of water management — river basin management (RBM) and flood protection — while taking into account the relevant stakeholders who play a pivotal role in the Tisza RBM planning process. The main aim of the project is to further improve the integration of water management and flood risk prevention planning and actions for the next RBM planning cycle, in line with the relevant EU legislation.
The JOINTISZA project will ensure that flood risk management planning becomes more deeply embedded in the RBM planning process, and will also facilitate the involvement of interested stakeholders and relevant sectors (e.g. flood risk-, water resource-, urban hydrology- and drought management).
A long-term goal of the project will be to generate momentum for improved implementation of the Floods Directive and Water Framework Directive, targeting four specific groups: national water administrations, water research institutes, international organisations and other interested stakeholders, and NGOs.
The project will involve the joint efforts of the five countries that share the Tisza River Basin — Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) Tisza Group, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) Water Quality Priority Area (PA4) and Environmental Risks Priority Area (PA5) platforms will build a bridge between stakeholders for conveying information from expert levels to policy levels. Furthermore, the pilot actions, focusing on urban hydrology management and drought management, will enable the involved actors to develop new approaches which are unprecedented in a comparable environment, and contribute with their outcomes to the updated management plan.
Finally, the main output of the project will be an updated final draft of the Integrated Tisza RBM Plan, which already includes the primary aspects of the Floods Directive.