Is public participation an added value for river basin management?

What is it about?

Public participation represents one of the most difficult challenges associated with the WFD, as it is a new approach that implies a redistribution of decision-making power among a wide range of stakeholders in the public, private and voluntary sectors, comprising also sectors generally considered as “conflictive” like environmental NGOs, generally under-represented. In this sense, a lack of effective administration cooperation and responsibilities distribution frequently results in the avoidance of these responsibilities and a bad planning agenda. At the beginning of the second cycle, therefore, the evaluation of stakeholders’ quality and quantity, as well as the best methods to involve them, seem timely and necessary, assuming that an earlier commitment can result in more effective and innovative measures. In fact, the results showed here highlight that, despite of a strict implementation of the WFD requirements, the achievement of a good ecological status for all the European rivers remain a big challenge for water managers both at technical and legislative level. Consequently, more research is fundamental to evaluate the impact of each decision that water authorities take, while new methods like scientific gaming or public educational programmes should be adopted during the consultative phase in order to address any problem that can contribute to the watercourses deterioration. It would then seem necessary to make rationales explicit when developing methods and tools for public consultation, so they fit specific purposes. To be effective, information must be adapted to end users characteristics and updated regularly, avoiding misleading information that could negatively affect the participation process.

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Why is it important?

Given the very complex structure of many European river basins, in the future a different approach to water management is desirable, involving international commissions at watershed scale, collaborative councils or other types of institutional arrangements that could ensure a successful implementation of the WFD, also in accordance with interested parties and local citizens. If water authorities are able to learn from the mistakes made during the first management cycle and better interact with stakeholders from the very beginning of the present cycle, the WFD requirements are likely to be satisfied in the mid-term. Moreover, the inclusion of the criteria used to address the proposal emerged during public consultation should be add to the river basin management plans, in order to create a common base to evaluate the future participation, share best practices and acknowledge participants’ contributions.