22
EUROPE
The News N° 25 - February 2015
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
12
th
International ”EUROPE-INBO 2014” Conference
D
ECLARATIONOF
B
UCHAREST
The 12
th
conference of the ”EUROPE-
INBO” group took place in Bucharest,
Romania, from 12 to 15 November
2014, at the invitation of the Romanian
Ministry of Environment and Climate
Change, the National Agency ”APELE
ROMANE” and the National Institute of
Hydrology andWaterManagement.
It gathered 134 participants, repre-
sentatives of national administrations
and basin organizations as well as of
NGOs, companies, international and
regional organizations, coming from
33 countries.
The work of the conference was organized
around four roundtables addressing the follo-
wing issues:
l
Preparationof the2
nd
BasinManage-
ment Plans of the European Water
FrameworkDirective (2016 - 2021);
l
Natural Water Retention Measures
andRiver Restoration;
l
Implementation and funding of Pro-
grams ofMeasures;
l
Water governance in Transboundary
Basins.
Prior to the
”EUROPE-INBO”
conference,
twoworkshopswere organized:
l
A technical workshop on river resto-
ration and Natural Water Retention
Measures;
l
Aworkshop on the European regio-
nal process of the 7
th
World Water
Forum.
The conference allowed reminding that
thepreparationof thenext BasinMana-
gement Plans required integrating
water quantity issues, adaptation to cli-
mate change and better coordinating
the directives between themselves and
ensure a link with sectoral policies
(agriculture, energy, navigation…).
Just before implementing the second Mana-
gement Plans, coordination with the Marine
Strategy Framework Directive and the Flood
Directive appears essential.
The participants were pleased with the hol-
ding of joint meetings between the Water,
Marine Environment andNatureManagers at
European level and with the organization by
the European Commission of a joint work-
shop onwater, nature andmarine strategy in
December 2014 to think about coordinating
the directives implementation in these three
sectors.
Since the release of the
”Blueprint”,
there
has beenabetter considerationof thequanti-
tative issues inWFDmanagement plans and
tools. This is particularly the case through the
production of guidance documents on water
accounts. The development of scarcity and
drought management plans in many coun-
tries are going in the good direction.
Communication with populations about pro-
gress made in the status of Water Bodies in
2015 is to be increased insofar as that reco-
vering good statuswill take time.
Non-point source pollution and hydro-
morphology are the most significant
pressures affecting rivers.
To move forward,
it is necessary to pro-
gress towardsbetter integrationamong
the European Directives
(Flood Directive,
Habitats Directive, Birds Directive and the
Renewable EnergyDirective) and improve the
coordination and complete it with sectoral
policies of theUnion (CAP, energy, transports,
etc.).
Better integrated basin manage-
ment isnecessary toensure the restora-
tion and protection of water ecosys-
tems or apply Natural Water Retention
Measures.
It is necessary to better integrate the various
policies, communicate on the benefits of river
restorationandNaturalWater RetentionMea-
sures,mobilize thepartners from thedifferent
sectors concerned.
In addition, better commitment of local com-
munities in ecosystem restoration projects is
needed with a greater mobilization of the
elected representatives for these projects.
The lack of knowledge of the multiple bene-
fits of
“green infrastructure”
is anobstacle
to its implementation on a large scale, espe-
cially in the BasinManagement Plans, Flood
Risk Prevention, Natura 2000 actions and
Rural Development Plans.
134 participants coming from 33 Countries -© IOWater - C.Runel
(12-17April2015)
