The BeWater project launched its first series of meetings on 28 May in La Tordera, Catalonia, Spain. CREAF, the local case study leader, together with consortium partners, met key local stakeholders in order to introduce the project, hear local perspectives on the state of the river basin and discuss potential global change impacts.

The session started with CREAF presenting their findings on the impacts and future global change scenarios, indicating a reduction of water flows available for different users and for environmental functions, temperature increase, changes in climatic conditions and the effects all this may have on key sectors, such as agriculture.

IMGP1254Then, representatives from local society and organisations, including ONG's, irrigation agencies, administrators, Natural Park managers, industry, educators, and farmers had the opportunity to discuss how a vision for future adaptation to these challenges might be developed.

 In total 25 people participated and together described some thoughts on management options to reduce Tordera society's vulnerability to the challenges detected.

All this information was obtained through a specially designed facilitation setting, allowing to gradually build a common perspective. However, some important trade offs between water and land uses were detected, allowing the better understanding of current situation. In the next period, focused interviews and contacts with general public will allow to enrich this process.

These aspects will now form a basis reference for further elaborations, leading to a range of concrete proposals, framed into the specificities of this territory. Competent authorities were engaged into this process, as to allow from the beginning to build up these proposals in a way that may facilitate the feasibility of their implementation.

Next year a second workshop will be organized to collectively evaluate the quality and suitability of these proposals according to scientific, technical, political and social considerations.

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