On May 21st 2021, Bucharest University together with WWF-Romania hosted the first workshop for Romanian stakeholders entitled "Nature benefits for Danube Floodplain people - pilot area Braila Islands". The workshop was held in Braila, an eastern Romanian port on the Danube.

The workshop participation covered a diversity of institutions at local, regional and national level. 30 representatives from different sectors (water management, navigation, nature conservation, agriculture) and target groups (from local to national administrative, NGOs, researchers) were all brought up to the same level of knowledge by presenting the IDES project objectives and the Ecosystem Services and pressures concepts.

10 most important  ecosystem services and 5 high impact pressures for the Braila Islands area were voted during the workshop. Then, the participants were split in 3 groups where measures to reduce the pressures on ecosystem services were identified. An analog fuzzy cognitive map was created for each group by setting the trade-offs between ecosystem services,  the impact of pressures on ES and the impact of measures.

The event provided many suggestions and ideas for the development of the planned ecosystem service-based assessment scheme (IDES tool), which will enable nature-based water quality management in the future. In summary, it was a very constructive event that will help us in the successful realization and implementation of the IDES Project.