”NWRM”partners:
l
International Office
forWater
l
ACTeon Environment
l
Baltic Environment Forum
l
I.A.CO Environmental
&Water Consultants
l
InstitutoMadrileno
De Estudios Avanzados
l
Regional
Environmental Center
l
Regionális
Energiagazdasági
Kutatóközpont
l
Scotland’s Rural
College
l
SwedishUniversity
of Agricultural Sciences
l
ENV’ECO
(environmental
economics consultancy)
l
AMEC Environment
& InfrastructureUK
24
The News N° 25 - February 2015
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
EUROPE - REGIONAL
Ecological engineering is becoming a
key area for action and a green infra-
structurepolicy isgradually takingup in
thewater sector.
The increased use of such techniques is justi-
fied more and more by the recent progress
they have made: we know today how to
design green roofs, infiltration trenches and
ponds that fit perfectly into the urban land-
scape, floodplains that protect cities, grass
strips that limit erosion, etc.
However, the multiplicity of people using
these techniques, the variety of possible
actions and associated joint benefits as well
as services provided to the environment,
make it now very difficult to aggregate and
capitalize the acquired knowledge.
In 2013, the DG Environment launched
an invitation to tender for structuring
knowledge to enable the use of these
techniques.
Commonly known by the name of ecological
engineering, these measures are gathered
under the name of
”Natural Water Reten-
tionMeasures (NWRM)”.
IOWater, coordinator of this project,
developed, with 10 other European
partners, a platform (
whose catalogue currently includes 53
measures, regrouped into four sectors:
Forestry, Urban area, Agriculture and
Nature / Hydromorphology.
Case studies are also presented and a data-
base is accessible via the platform.
To facilitate access to information for water
managers and decision makers,
a practical
guide has been developed and transla-
ted into the 25 languages of the Euro-
peanUnion.
The project results were presented in
the fall of 2014 to the various WFD
Common Implementation Strategy (CIS)
working groups, but also at the
EUROPE-INBO 2014 General Assembly
and at the Conference on Water in
Mountain inMegeve.
4
Ecological engineering applied to water
Natural Water Retention Measures - ”NWRM”
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTALCENTER
forCentral and Eastern Europe
DGEnvironment
European River Restoration Conference
Linking restoration and innovative river management
The 6
th
”European River Restoration”
Conference was held from 27 to 29
October in Vienna.
Its topic was: ”Establi-
shing relationships between restoration pro-
jects and innovative river management”.
An issue was at the core of the debate: how
to innovate in integrated river basinmanage-
ment by using, in particular, Green Infrastruc-
ture, Natural Water Retention Measures and
Contemporary River CorridorManagement?
l
A Green Infrastructure
is a semi-natu-
ral space, designed andmanaged to pro-
vide awide range of ecosystem services.
l
Natural Water Retention Measures
(NWRM)
aim to reduce vulnerability to
floods and droughts.
l
”Contemporary River Corridor
Management” (CRCM)
requires a
cross-sectoral commitment and coopera-
tion among stakeholders at local,
regional, national and international
levels. The results of CRCM practices
conducted on six Central European rivers
were presented and are available on:
Jean-François Donzier,
IOWater
General
Manager, presented the events on Basin
Management in the nextWorldWater Forum.
4
