BEWATER

Making society an active participant in water adaptation to global change

Creaf leader

Future climate change projections for the Euro-Mediterranean region estimate an increase in water scarcity and droughts, causing substantial socioeconomic losses and environmental impacts. In this context, sustainable water management strategies, leading to increased resilience of the social-ecological system of a river basin, are needed urgently. In order to maximise their effectiveness, local communities must engage with such strategies and play an active role in the development.

The BeWater project promotes dialogue and collaboration between science and society for sustainable water management and adaptation to the impacts of global change in the Mediterranean.

BeWater uses an iterative process of mutual learning, participatory techniques and a bottom-up approach to ensure that stakeholdersplay an active role in determining appropriate strategies for management of river basins.

By actively engaging with local communities, BeWater involves society in discussions on current water uses and their related problems, raising public awareness of the importance of sustainable water management, with particular focus on the expected climate change impacts at River Basin scale.

In four Case Study River Basins across the Mediterranean, newly developed methodologies integrating physical, ecological, social and management processes are used to develop Water Management Options. These Management Options will be discussed with local communities who will participate in drawing up locally-relevant Adaptation Plans, which may be scaled up to develop guidelines of national and international relevance.