Governance for Drought Resilience – Results of the DROP-Project published

Land and Water Drought Management in Europe

News
Date: 1 June 2016
Location: Berlin, Germany

The book "Governance for Drought Resilience" presents the findings of scientists and practitioners who collaborated on the project "Benefits of Governance in Drought Adaptation" (DROP). It aims to aid regional water authorities and other relevant stakeholders interested in governance assessment. Staff members from Ecologic Institute summarized regional studies; contributed to the cross-cutting perspective chapters on nature, agriculture, freshwater and introduced European drought and water scarcity policies.

The book: "Governance for Drought Resilience" presents the findings of a team of scientists and practitioners working on the project Benefits of Governance in Drought Adaptation (DROP), which is part of the European Union's INTERREG IVB NWE programme. The DROP governance team developed a Governance Assessment Tool (GAT), which allows to assess the governance setting of a given region with regards to drought planning and implementing drought adaptation measures. Based on this assessment, recommendations can be developed for regional water authorities concerning how to operate most effectively towards increasing drought resilience in their particular context.

The GAT has been applied to six regions in Northwest Europe: Twente and Salland in the Netherlands, Eifel-Rur in Germany, Brittany in France, Somerset in the United Kingdom, and Flanders in Belgium. These regions are subject to drought aspects related to nature, agriculture and freshwater.

This book will aid regional water authorities and other relevant stakeholders interested in governance assessment, whether that context is about water, more specifically about drought or flooding events, or other environmental issues. Further, the GAT can and has already been applied more broadly to a range of governance contexts for water management and beyond.

Staff members from Ecologic Institute led or contributed on six book chapters summarizing the regional studies. The chapter on Brittany focuses on governance setting in case of a dam and reservoir. The chapter on Eifel-Rur analyses the influence of historical water rights and very limited possibilities for action. In the case study to Flanders a regional, data- and science driven approach is described. Drought awareness through agricultural policy is focused on in the chapter on the Dutch region Salland. For the Dutch Twente region the paradox between fragmentation and coherence is discussed. An interesting case is also the British Somerset region which is shaped by extreme flood disasters and drought events. Ecologic Institutes contributed also to three cross-cutting perspective chapters on the three topics Nature, Agriculture and Freshwater. Furthermore, an introduction on European drought and water scarcity policies was compiled.

This book concentrates on governance conditions as a supportive or restrictive context for drought resilience management.”

Duration: 1 June 2016
Project: Benefit of Governance in Drought Adaption (DROP)
Keywords: Adaptation

Agriculture

Climate

Governance

Water

Drought, governance, governance regime, climate change projections, agriculture, drinking water provision, nature, environment, adaptation, Interreg project, DROP, resilience, holistic approach, Governance Assessment Tool, Contextual Interaction Theory

Europe, Northwest European Regions

DROP project website

Further Links

PublicationBook SectionCross-cutting Perspective on Nature

Bressers, Hans; Ulf Stein 2016: "Cross-cutting Perspective on Nature", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water Drought Management in Europe. Heidelberg: SpringerOpen, 231-244. ... Read more

PublicationBook SectionCross-cutting Perspective Freshwater

Furusho, Carina; Rodrigo Vidaurre; Isabelle La Jeunesse 2016: "Cross-cutting Perspective Freshwater", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water Drought Management in Europe. Heidelberg: SpringerOpen, 217... Read more

PublicationBook SectionCross-cutting Perspective on Agriculture

Özerol, Gül; Jenny Troeltzsch 2016: "Cross-cutting Perspective on Agriculture", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water Drought Management in Europe. Heidelberg: SpringerOpen, 203-2216. ... Read more

PublicationBook SectionThe Fragmentation-Coherence Paradox in Twente

Bressers, Hans; Koen Bleumink; Nanny Bressers et. al. 2016: "The Fragmentation-Coherence Paradox in Twente", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water Drought Management in Europe. Heidelberg:... Read more

PublicationBook SectionDrought Awareness Through Agricultural Policy

Özerol, Gül; Jenny Troeltzsch; Corinne Larrue et. al. 2016: "Drought Awareness Through Agricultural Policy: Multi-level Action in Salland, The Netherlands", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water... Read more

PublicationBook SectionFlanders: Regional Organization of Water and Drought and Using Data as Driver for Change

Tröltzsch, Jenny; Rodrigo Vidaurre; Hans Bressers et. al. 2016: "Flanders: Regional Organization of Water and Drought and Using Data as Driver for Change", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water... Read more

PublicationBook SectionThe Governance Context of Drought Policy and Pilot Measures for the Arzal Dam and Reservoir, Vilaine Catchment, Brittany, France

La Jeunesse, Isabelle; Corinne Larrue; Carina Furusho et. al. 2016: "The Governance Context of Drought Policy and Pilot Measures for the Arzal Dam and Reservoir, Vilaine Catchment, Brittany, France", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance... Read more

PublicationBook SectionGoverning for Drought and Water Scarcity in the Context of Flood Disaster Recovery

Browne, Alison L.; Steve Dury; Cheryl de Boer et. al. 2016: "Governing for Drought and Water Scarcity in the Context of Flood Disaster Recovery: The Curious Case of Somerset, United Kingdom", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for... Read more

PublicationBook SectionEifel-Rur: Old Water Rights and Fixed Frameworks for Action

Vidaurre, Rodrigo; Ulf Stein; Alison Browne et. al. 2016: "Eifel-Rur: Old Water Rights and Fixed Frameworks for Action", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water Drought Management in Europe. Heidelberg... Read more

PublicationBook SectionEuropean Drought and Water Scarcity Policies

Stein, Ulf; Gül Özerol; Jenny Tröltzsch et. al. 2016: "European Drought and Water Scarcity Policies", in: Bressers, Hans; Nanny Bressers; Corinne Larrue (eds.): Governance for Drought Resilience. Land and Water Drought Management in Europe. Heidelberg: SpringerOpen, 17... Read more

ProjectBenefit of Governance in Drought Adaption (DROP)

Water scarcity and droughts are on the increase and expected to aggravate further due to climate change. Early actions are required to adapt to these changes. The transnational project 'Benefit of governance in DROught adaPtation (DROP)' aimed to enhance... Read more

Benefit of Governance in Drought Adaption (DROP)

Duration: Jan 2013 - Jun 2015
Funding: European Commission, Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG Climate), International