MODELS AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR PARTICIPATORY DECISION MAKING IN INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

1. A. Sgobbi a,b ,C. Giupponic,b a Università Ca Foscari, School for Advanced Studies in Venice Foundation, Venice International University, Italy b Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Italy c Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy MODELS AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR PARTICIPATORY DECISION MAKING IN INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

2. IWRM • Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) “is a process which promotes the co-ordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems” (GWP-TAC, 2000)

3. The WFD Competent authorities need to integrate environmental, social and economic analyses and involve interested parties in the formulation of strategies • The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims at establishing “a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwaters”, (Dir. 2000/60/EC, art.1) for all European Member States. • The WFD adopts a holistic approach for water protection and management, to be implemented in a 15-year long process which foresees many actions including: • the development of a River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) in each European River Basin District (RBD)

4. The MULINO Project Funded by the EC-5FP-EESD programme Sustainable Management and Quality of Water MULtisectoral, Integrated and Operational Decision Support System for sustainable use of water resource at the catchment scale

5. WFD requirements targeted by MULINO New methods and tools are needed for supporting integrated assessment and management, PP, and decision making • Integration • “integration of a wide range of measures, including pricing and economic and financial instruments, in a common […] approach” • “integration of disciplines, analyses and expertise” • Planning and public participation (PP) • planning should be “a systematic, integrative and iterative process” which “culminates when all the relevant information has been considered and a course of action has been selected” • planners should tackle the planning process with “the appropriate toolbox” “to make right priorities concerning the program of measures” Quoted from WFD-CIS Guidance documents

6. Methods and tools: “modelling as a process” • Methods: • Participatory modelling: a process in which the formulation of a conceptual model and its formalisation is carried out by disciplinary experts with the direct involvement of stakeholders/experts • Tools • Simulation models • Decision Support Systems (DSSs) • Cognitive mapping,…

7. Case studies UK Portugal Belgium Italy EU Romania

8. Experiences from the Mulino Project and elsewhere • Experiences show that the management of stakeholders’ involvement is still poorly organised and supported, and so is the selection of the stakeholders to take part in the process  Participatory modelling showed to be a promising approach. Some open questions: • What incentives for policy makers to invest in innovative approaches? • How can the training requirements of potential end-users be best addressed? • How to find the right balance between generic tools and customisation? • How to find the right balance simplification and complexity of the issues to be dealt with?

9. Adoption of research products Two strategies for facilitating the adoption of innovative research products: • a regulatory approach, by which using participatory modelling and tools becomes a legal requirement, embedded in national and/or European policies; • a needs approach, in which policy makers are indirectly induced to use participatory modelling and tools addressing exact legislative requirements and reporting rules.

10. Capacity building Possible strategies: • strengthen the role of trained professionals acting as facilitators in the participatory planning process and offer specific courses; • promote an extended campaign of in-house expertise development enabling policy makers to meaningful undertake participatory planning (a “normative” entry point is needed); • increase research efforts on developing tools and methods for the use of mediators (i.e. consultants), who would then provide external support to decision makers.

11. Conclusions: lessons learnt • there is a strong need for scientific and technical support for the meaningful involvement of stakeholders in planning and implementation through participatory modelling; • modelling in IWRM needs to be understood in a much more general way, as a process of engaging both decision makers and the general public to help making participation worthwhile; • in order to bridge the gap between research products and actual decisional processes, model development should be brought within the process of PP, where the tool is developed with heavy involvement of end-users and stakeholders through participatory modelling, and it is geared to addressing their priority needs; • yet, there is a trade-off between specificity and re-usability of both participatory planning methodologies and the resulting tool, thus requiring flexible and, possibly, modular approaches to be developed, all together with specific investments in capacity building