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The
Water Framework Directive provides the involvement of the public
in water management issues to an unprecedented extent. According
to article 14 of the WFD, the Member States are required to encourage
the active involvement of the public for the implementation of the
WFD. The provisions of the WFD give the Member States of the European
Union considerable flexibility in designing the respective legal
and procedural provisions. On behalf of the Bavarian
State Ministry for Regional Development and Environmental Affairs
Ecologic designed and organized the kick-off conference of the Water
Forum Bavaria and provided the necessary policy advice. With the
Water Forum Bavaria an extensive public participation effort in
the context of the Water Framework Directive has been successfully
started in Bavaria.
About
100 representative of all main associations, organisations and governmental
agencies involved in water management attended the conference. The
main objectives of the conference were to get an impression of the
stakeholders' expectations to identify the future participants of
the Water Forum and to gain an overview about the participants'
expertise. Twelve representatives of selected interest groups were
given the opportunity to present their positions. In doing so, they
were guided by a draft paper prepared by Ecologic about the main
ideas and goals of the Water Forum. This draft paper and the various
positions were subsequently discussed by the plenum.
During
the three month following the kick-off meeting the broad public
were given the opportunity to discuss the results of the conference.
By the end of April 2003 the Bavarian State Ministry for Regional
Development and Environmental Affairs finally decided on the composition
of the Water Forum.
The
careful selection of the stakeholders by Ecologic in the preliminary
stages of the conference, the concept of a panel open for further
suggestions by the participants themselves and the various opportunities
for a direct exchange and discussions between the stakeholders and
the responsible authorities provided the optimal basis for a well
balanced composition of the stakeholder groups in the Forum, for
the clearly formulated objectives of the Forum and, last but not
least, for a working structure facilitating effective working relationships
in the future.
Number
of Participants: 100
Language: German
The workshop programme is available in German.
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