A few months after its launch, MountResilience made its debut at the EU’s Green Week in May and June. Organised this year on the theme of water, the 2024 edition was an opportunity to highlight the project’s ambitions in this field and stress its contribution to a #WaterWiseEU!
MountResilience in Brussels for the EU Green Week launch
The EU Green Week 2024 kicked off on 29 and 30 May in Brussels, providing a remarkable opportunity for MountResilienceStefano Sala, from MountResilience’s lead partner institution UNIMONT – University of Milan, presented the project in Brussels at the CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency) stand, along with other relevant projects financed through LIFE.
The stand, which showcased several projects dealing with water resilience, was a good framework for presenting the MountResilience objectives and our cutting-edge solutions and best practices for sustainable water management in mountainous regions
A representative from the Swiss demonstrator present in Brussels to gain valuable insights for MountResilience
A representative of the Valais demonstrator region, from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), attended the EU Green Week Launch. The Swiss demonstrator focuses on climate change adaptation through innovative water management strategies in Val de Bagne, Switzerland. Its goal is to facilitate water management decision-making using a near real-time monitoring digital platform, providing comprehensive data to local stakeholders.
The theme of the EU Green Week closely aligned with the demonstrator’s focus on refining water management strategies through informed discussions and exchanges. Key insights from the conference highlighted the EU’s allocation of 1.3 billion euros for water resilience initiatives and the necessity for coordinated efforts to restore the water cycle by 2050. Sessions emphasized the importance of human-centered solutions, advanced data analytics, and cross-sectoral cooperation. The “Governance and Implementation” session particularly underscored the need for robust governance and public engagement. Integrating these insights into the Valais demonstrator will enhance the project’s digital platform.
Focus on the Piemonte demonstrator at the Euromontana partner event
MountResilience was also invited to Euromontana’s EU Green Week online partner event “Preparing for water resilience in the mountains: from awareness to action“. The webinar, which gathered around a hundred participants from across Europe, was an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of water-related issues in mountains and to link them to relevant European and national water policies.
Florian Marin, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee and co-rapporteur of the EESC opinion “A call for an EU Blue Deal“, called on the European Union to adopt an ambitious policy for water in Europe. He proposed initiatives such as the establishment of a Blue Transition Fund, the introduction of water conditionality in the Common Agriculture Policy (ACP) and the development of a more appropriate industrial policy.
Patricia Andriot, Commissioner for the Vosges Massif, French National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT), presented the comparative study on water management in mountain areas. Commissioned by the ANCT, the study identifies interesting policies in 5 mountain countries, but also highlighted the lack of awareness, data and action on water issues in mountain areas. These observations were echoed by Blandine Camus, Policy & Communication Officer at Euromontana, co-author of the study and partner of MountResilience. She also emphasized that mountains are Europe’s water towers (40% of Europe’s fresh water comes from the Alps), but that they are under threat from climate change and increasing and competing uses of water.
The Euromontana webinar also aimed at showcasing several inspiring initiatives that can contribute to improving water resilience in mountain areas, including the Pyrenean PIRAGUA project, the LEADER awareness raising initiative in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, as well asthe MountResilience project. In this context, Edoardo Ducco, Research Assistant at the Politecnico di Torino, presented the ambitions of the Piemonte Region demonstrator. Piemonte is one of the six MountResilience regional demonstrators that will develop and test transformative solutions for adaptation to climate change. In Piemonte, the focus is on irrigated agriculture. The two pilot areas, within the Coutenza Canale Cavour and the Consorzio del Pesio, will work on water management at both the farm and irrigation consortium levels. These two areas present differences (types of crops, depth of groundwater, irrigation requirements) but also common challenges in terms of irrigation efficiency and water scarcity. In the coming years, Politecnico di Torino and the University of Torino will work on the analysis and modelling of availability of surface water and groundwater, as well as on hydraulic modelling, with a view to developing a Decision Support Tool (DST) for irrigation managers for farm irrigation evaluation.
Other MountResilience demonstrators also have a strong focus on water and climate change adaptation, notably in Switzerland, in the Valais region for instance. To find out more about the work being done in MountResilience, subscribe to the project newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and X.
