An overview of the River Contract tool: new aims in planning and protected areas issues

Cialdea, Donatella; Pompei, Chiara

doi:10.1080/09654313.2021.2007523

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In recent years, many Mediterranean coastal territories have taken advantage of the trend to address environmental governance of water resources with River Contracts [6,7] and the process develops a path that leads to the definition of a contract and whose fundamental elements are: sharing a clear objective; signing an agreement among key stakeholders based on such a shared objective; finding sponsors, available to provide the necessary resources to reach the set objective.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland Contracts As Sustainable Governance Tools: A Com-Parison Between the Output of the Interreg Project CREW “Co-Ordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia Cross Border Region”

Cantaluppi¹,

Marchi²,

Pace³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Wetlands are complex ecosystems, considered among the most productive environments of the world. They contain major biodiversity hotspots, providing the resources upon which countless species of plants and animals depend and they perform important environmental and economic functions. Wetlands reduce flooding events, improve water quality and represent a valuable cultural and natural heritage. It is estimated that 2/3 of Europe wetlands have disappeared since the beginning of the 20th Century, mainly lost through development processes which did not take their functions and values adequately into account. The European Directive (2000/60/EC) re-quires to foster an integrated approach for wetland management through collaborative governance processes. The Wetland Contract is a tool that has been developed and implemented to set the ground for voluntary-based commitments for the sustainable governance of water systems. Among the Mediterranean countries, Italy and Croatia count on a rich variety of coastal wetlands that, together with the plants and animals inhabiting and crossing them, constitute an extremely precious natural heritage. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss, whit a critical approach, the output of the Interreg Project CREW that, between 2018-21, contributed to the drafting of seven new Wetland Contracts.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland Contracts As Sustainable Governance Tools: A Com-Parison Between the Output of the Interreg Project CREW “Co-Ordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia Cross Border Region”

Cantaluppi¹,

Marchi²,

Pace³

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In recent years, many Mediterranean coastal territories have taken advantage of the trend to address environmental governance of water resources with River Contracts [7,8]. The process is developed through a path leading to the definition of a Contract whose fundamental elements are as follows: the sharing of a clear objective; the signing of an agreement among the key stakeholders based on this shared objective; the search for sponsors willing to provide the necessary resources to achieve the set objective.…”

Section: Evolution Of the Wetland Contract Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland Contracts as Sustainable Governance Tools: A Review of the Output of the Interreg Project CREW “Coordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia Cross Border Region”

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wetlands are complex ecosystems, considered among the most productive environments in the world. They contain important biodiversity hotspots, provide the resources on which countless plant and animal species depend and perform important environmental and economic functions. Wetlands reduce flooding events, improve water quality and represent a valuable cultural and natural heritage. The European Directive (2000/60/EC) requires fostering an integrated approach to wetland management through collaborative governance processes. The Wetland Contract is a tool that has been developed and implemented in order to promote the sustainable governance of water systems. Among the Mediterranean countries, Italy and Croatia count on a rich variety of coastal wetlands that, together with the plants and animals that inhabit and pass through them, constitute an extremely valuable natural heritage. This paper presents and discusses the results of the Interreg Project CREW that, between 2018–2021, contributed to the drafting of seven new Wetland Contracts. Through a comparative reading, the aim is to understand, on the one hand, how the different Contracts have responded individually to a shared programme based on European requirements; on the other hand, the aim is also to bring similar experiences closer together to assess their overall potential on an international scale. The article shows how the constant exchange between CREW partners and the continuous updating on ongoing activities, methodologies and proposed solutions in the seven target areas facilitated the construction of a shared cross-border strategy for wetland governance. The comparison also highlights some principles considered fundamental by all partners (protection and enhancement; integrated governance; awareness-raising and learning) that have served the construction of a transnational Observatory, aimed at monitoring, sharing practices and able to guide the formation of future Wetland Contracts.

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“…This is because water is not only a precious resource to be shared and managed, but also a contested space where different powers become manifest (Swyngedouw, 2015). Spatial planning and water management are strictly interlinked (Wiering & Immink, 2006), and RCs offer an excellent opportunity to engage heterogeneous groups of stakeholders in a shared process of exchanging knowledge and best practices (Cialdea & Pompei, 2021).…”

Section: Participatory Water Management In River Contractsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…16–26) is one of the few overviews that discusses RCs in Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, and discusses the diversity of RCs across Europe. See also Cialdea and Pompei (2021) for a short international overview.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

River contracts in north‐east Italy: Water management or participatory processes?

Venturini

Visentin

2022

Geographical Journal

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River contracts (RCs) are voluntary agreements between stakeholders for managing water bodies and involve participatory, evidence‐based action plans. Increasingly, European authorities recognise that effective water policies require bottom‐up, inclusive decision‐making. Despite widely held assumptions about the benefits of including stakeholders in river basin management and encouraging participatory mechanisms of decision‐making, the growing rhetoric about the need for public engagement implies that this “new” paradigm of water management remains filled with ambiguities. Adopting ethnographic methods and drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources, this paper analyses three RCs in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy. These case studies reveal the potential for RCs as tools not only for water management, but also for increasing stakeholder involvement through place‐making activities conceived as potential hydrophilic encounters. In order to understand whether RCs contribute to a fluvial sense of place, we looked at the effects of top‐down versus participatory processes. We asked whether RCs were considered participatory processes designed to achieve a co‐designed outcome or simply territorial management projects that objectify the river as something to be developed. We found that ratifying an RC was not, in itself, proof of an effective process; rather the nature and quality of an RC was determined by the degree and type of participation. We contend that participatory events and sharing information are not sufficient in themselves to achieve the active involvement of all stakeholders. We argue that the best framework for enabling place‐making and enhancing a sense of place is to develop RCs within a process that includes a high degree of participation. This enables citizens to shift from simply being passive recipients of plans to becoming effective territorial actors.

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An overview of the River Contract tool: new aims in planning and protected areas issues

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

Wetland Contracts As Sustainable Governance Tools: A Com-Parison Between the Output of the Interreg Project CREW “Co-Ordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia Cross Border Region”

Wetland Contracts As Sustainable Governance Tools: A Com-Parison Between the Output of the Interreg Project CREW “Co-Ordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia Cross Border Region”

Wetland Contracts as Sustainable Governance Tools: A Review of the Output of the Interreg Project CREW “Coordinated Wetland Management in Italy-Croatia Cross Border Region”

River contracts in north‐east Italy: Water management or participatory processes?

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