PreConference Workshops

Pre Sience-Policy Day Workshop

Special events:

Workshop on Development of Water Stress Indicators (download flyer)
Participation is reserved to invited people.

Workshop 1: Integrated strategy building for adaptive water management. Concepts for coping with complexity and uncertainty to manage transition

Many changes are currently taking place in water management vital to the development of cities and regions. The most important changes are in the structure and level of demand, in political con-ditions, in property relations, and in the available system alternatives. Moreover, technological in-novation, more stringent environmental regulations, and empty public coffers have contributed to far-reaching change, particularly at the local level. The decreasing population, a central develop-ment in many European Countries, created new problems: the functional limits of water supply sys-tems were reached because their usual working capacity could no longer be maintained. In order to adapt and develop infrastructure systems to meet changed conditions, spatially and temporally more differentiated solutions have to be found. The extent to which societal control pat-terns are able to cope with increasingly complex requirements must be examined. The same is true for technical network regulation, forms of market regulation, and resource conservation. The long-term effect on how local government sees its role and on its control capacity also needs to be in-vestigated.

1. Strategic long term planning and decision making approaches in the field of water infrastruc-ture management (water supply and waste water).
2. Concepts and methods to understand and deal with uncertainty on long-term developments of framing conditions of water management
3. Concepts and methods to understand and deal with innovative technological and organiza-tional solutions (thinking beyond business as usual alternatives)
4. Transfer of new planning approaches into practice
5. Concepts for local decision making and a deeper understanding of sustainable transition man-agement.

Short presentations (about 15 minutes) based on current research activities and practical experi-ences will give impressions of a transformation-management and animate the workshop-discussion to get an interactive communication between the participants. Interested experts from policy, ad-ministration, utility companies and research are invited, to participate with own contributions. Therefore please contact the conveners. Furthermore participants have the opportunity to register their interests for the workshop on the conference web-page.

1. 1. Brief Introductory Presentations
   1. “Philosophy” of integrated strategy building and transition management for sus-tainable infrastructures in the water sector
   2. Approach I: Experiences in “Integrated Strategy Building”
   3. Approach II: Experiences in long term strategic planning with “Regional Infra-structure Foresight”
   
   
2. 2. Parallel working groups on the different approaches on strategy building in water infra-structures
   - Topics of the discussion in the working groups:
   
   
   1. Future challenges and their drivers for water management
   2. Factors rendering or hampering strategic changes in the infrastructure system
   3. Requirements for appropriate planning and strategy building processes
      • involved actors
      • Necessary contents of the planning and strategy building process
      • Aims and targets of the process
   4. Recommendations for strategy planning processes
   
   
3. 3. Good practices forum: Short presentations of participants on infrastructure strategy and planning

Workshop 4: Critical Perspectives on IWRM Theory and Practice

The implications of a fragmented water sector have often been used to justify the need for the adoption of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). IWRM seeks to replace those isolated practices and create a process that can bring together fragmented water uses and users into an integrated planning, allocation and management framework. Thus, not surprisingly, IWRM has been endorsed by many venues and organizations. The transition of IWRM from an intuitively powerful and potentially valuable ambition into an everyday tool of catchment management is in a crucial phase. With more and more governance bodies adopting the principles of IWRM it is time to take stock of its promise and realisation. For example, many voices warn against the overuse of IWRM as it comes with significant social, economic and administrative cost.

The objective of this open workshop is to expose and explore some of the more critical perspectives on IWRM theory and practice which often remain obscured from the scientific and practitioner communities and infrequently debated. Two questions will be openly debated during the workshop; is IWRM theory fit for purpose in its current format ? and, what do current experiences tell us about the usefulness of the IWRM approach ? The workshop features four presentations from across the globe covering commentary on theory and reports of application experiences. Open panel discussions will ensure that attendees get an opportunity to participate in the summary discussions.

Workshop 5: Learning platform on the River Rhine wetlands.

Hydrological systems, such as the catchments and river basins in the European Union, are multiple-scale and multiple-use common pool resources that often span several countries. However, their ecological status is the outcome of the collective impact of the activities of millions of stakeholders acting locally in very diverse contexts. The challenge is to devise governance mechanisms for the sustainable management and use of water at multiple scales, including the largest scale, the catchment, which can include such a system as the Rhine and it’s tributaries.

At present, the boundaries of existing governance structures, be they communities, townships, districts, provinces, countries, or indeed the Union itself, do not coincide with the boundaries of hydrological systems. It is a sign of our times, that governance of integral bundles of natural resources and ecological services has become a necessity . The facilitation of social learning among the multiple parties contributes to this new governance. Social learning is treated as an interactive process of shared, experiential learning, amplified by facilitated communication and dialogue across spatially and hierarchically differentiated scales of interaction (SLIM, 2004). A key element in this concept is to bring together professionals with experience in the practice of water or river management. In the Dutch “Dialogue on Water” research program a Community of Practice is the centre of discussing norms, values, practices and experiences on water management, thus creating a space for learning. A learning space is constituted by collaboration among several interdependent actors to develop common ground and common actions in enacting their interdependencies. Social learning is precisely about conceptual and practical understanding of these interdependencies, so that innovative and sustainable projects can be developed . Different actors bring different interests, competencies, methodologies and knowledge systems to the collaborative project. They frame issues in different ways and engage in different action strategies. Social learning is about the evolving framing and reframing of the different actors, while aligning their action strategies around common or complementary interests. Action research can contribute to the understanding of the factors facilitating or hindering these learning and developmental tasks.

In the CAIWA workshop we will bring together professionals, authorities, policymakers and scientists all involved in the management of the Rhine river Basin. The emphasis is on riverine wetlands (or former wetlands). The issue at stake is twofold:

1. Share and compare experiences, values, norms and practices in the management of local and regional areas within the Rhine basin and with comparable hydrological characteristics (high ground water tables, hydromorphological issues at hand).
2. Discuss the implications of interventions on the regional scale for the Rhine river basin as a whole.

Workshop 6: Teaching Adaptive River Basin Management: an Online Curriculum for Instructors

The purpose of this special session is to present a new teaching curriculum available to instructors of Masters level programmes who wish to add adaptive water management to their teaching program. The curriculum may also be used by PhD level students and water managers for supplementary knowledge/information. It includes the following four modules and subtopics:

Global change and water resources
Introduction to Adaptive Management and IWRM: Basic concepts, resilience and adaptive capacity, water policy mechanisms, and uncertainty analysis
Adaptive Management Tools and Methods: vulnerability assessment, governance regimes, participatory processes, group model building, performance indicators, information gathering and monitoring systems, integrating economics in AM, role of transitions management
Transitions to Adaptive River Basin Management (currently in development)

Teaching materials for the various topics within each of these modules include Powerpoint presentations, discussion questions, exercises, as well as useful links, references and background readings. More information can found at: http://www.newater.info/everyone/2654

Call For Workshop Proposals

Workshops are a complementary forum to the main conference, encouraging the presentation and discussion of work in progress and facilitating a dialogue on emerging topics in small groups. Workshop sessions will provide inspiring and influencing discussion on a variety of CAIWA topics. Central aims are sharing and consolidation of new research ideas and fostering future co-operations.

The conference invites the submission of proposals for workshops on novel and highly innovative themes in the field of CAIWA. The workshop proposal should be not longer than 2 pages and contain information on:

        Theme of the workshop and topics of interest and how these relate to the overall conference

        Names, affiliations, research interest of organizers

        Intended workshop audience

        How submissions / participants are attracted

        Number of participants that is expected

        Goals and expected outcome of the workshop

        Selection process of participants, time line and the type of contributions

        Schedule and organization of the workshop

For a workshop we encourage having an international team of organizers (2 or 3) from different organizations. We will aim for a balanced workshop program trying to avoid overlapping themes. Organizers are expected to be active themselves in the field where they propose a workshop.