Connecting People for Better Coastal Water Management in Europe

1. Connecting People for Better Coastal Water Management in Europe AWARE is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.

2. About AWARE Working for sustainable water ecosystems management by means of scientists, citizens and decision-makers knowledge brokerage Limited participation adaptive management Traditional management Integrated adaptive management Scientists Public Public Public Scientists Managers Managers Scientists Managers

3. AWARE Objectives • To foster sustainable water ecosystems management • To enhance connectivity between research, policy making and the public • To link research to policy development regarding sustainable water ecosystems management AWARE posits that there is a potential for better connectivity between actors and that there is a need to improve it in the short term

4. AWARE Case Studies Pilot experiments were undertaken in: • The coastal waters of the Gulf of Riga (Estonia and Latvia) • The Seine, Somme, and Schelder river basins and the Southern North Sea coastal zone (France and Belgium) • The Po river Delta and Goro lagoon (Italy)

5. Project Partners Coordinated by the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS), 14 partners from 8 European countries brought their experience to AWARE: • Aquatic ecosystems studies • Social sciences • System analysis • Integrated water management • Decision support systems for the environment University of Uppsala  Université Pierre and Marie Curie UniversitéLibre de Brussels Università di Parma  adelphi  Interdisciplinary Centre for Comparative Research in Social Sciences  Missions Publiques Istituto di Studi per l'IntegrazionedeiSistemi Joint Research Center - Institute for Environment and Sustainability Università di Siena  Bioforsk Politecnico di Milano  Baltic Environmental Forum

6. AWARE Knowledge Brokerage

7. AWARE Process Decision-makers Scientists 10 local Citizens LocalConference process Decision-makers Local Declaration Stake-holders Scientists All 30 AWARE Citizens EuropeanConference process European Declaration! Stake-holders

8. The AWARE (potential) Benefits • Connects the EU and regional/local levels • Engages randomly selected transnational groups of citizens as catalysers of connectivity • Creates a “public sphere” for transparent dialogue among scientists, citizens, stakeholders, and policy makers • Produces citizen declarations for sustainability, raising awareness for all actors involved • May trigger adaptation of policies and programmes, at local and EU levels • Enhances “social capital” across Europe, and can be replicated across countries and topics of sustainability

9. AWARE Citizen Mandate “To provide their own assessment and recommendations to key European decision makers on why and how to link research, policy making and public participation for a better management of coastal environments in Europe” • Become aware of the key issues and challenges • Provide local knowledge • Drive the local process • Share findings at local and European levels

10. Citizen Recommendations • A holistic approach to coastal water management„eutrophication is only one point of entry into broader ecosystem health issues“ • Continued improvement in the Water Framework Directive (WFD)„we the citizens are concerned about the quality of our coastal waters and by the lack of consistency in water quality data“ • Local solutions, now„the time for action has come… and all options should be evaluated against local environmental and socioeconomic criteria“

11. Citizen Recommendations • Better connectivity between research, policy-making, and civil society„scientific ambassadors could ‘translate’ critical information for citizens, business representative, and politicians alike“ • Improved information to key actors„dialogue involving farmers, fishers, tourist agency, and citizens is crucial… and a special focus should be placed on children’s education“ „We as citizens are willing to take the first steps and hope other parties will follow. Join us in this change!”

12. For more information about AWARE – including the citizen declarations and other publications – please see www.aware-eu.net AWARE receives funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° 226456. The contents of this poster are the sole responsibility of the AWARE project and the European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.