In Europe, border areas usually belong to the most problematic regions of many countries, and this is not only from the point of view of social and cultural development, but it is also due to inadequate ability of coping with environmental problems. These problems are by their very nature cross-border problems. In particular, borders of states rarely respect the hydrogeological limits of a natural catchment. Usually the catchment, belonging to more states, is managed in different ways, depending on each state, respecting no interests, historical roots, and legislative rules of the neighbour across the border. These different approaches to utilization of the catchment may have catastrophic effects, and in the case of the EU expansion and removing the interstate borders, these differences may cause hardly solvable problems with the time running and wasted financial expenses for the misprision of the unsuitable or sometimes even antagonistic approach to the use of the landscape and water resources.
The border must not be considered as a line beyond which the local or regional authorities of one country are not interested in the form of negative influence on the area and population of the other country (with regard to agriculture, management of underground, surface and sewage water and storage of waste or inadequate interventions on the landscape).
SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH
The main goal of the project will be to create an operational and integrated comprehensive Decision Support System (DSS) for optimal water management of catchments in borderland regions, in context of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.
The development of the proposed DSS will allow an integrated water management system within the scope of the transboundary catchment. It will be able to cope with the complexity of the water resources systems and the uncertainty of decision-making. The DSS will be built around modules that allow simulation of the range of different climatic, topographic, environmental and socio-economic conditions found in various EU and candidate countries transboundary catchment areas. This will allow its application not only within Europe and European borderland regions, but also worldwide. The borderland problems in water management occur not only in Europe, they are a sensitive problem also within, e.g., Africa and Latin America, where they are achieving even the strategic importance from the point of view of socio-economic approaches of the border states in a sense of their human utilization. Certainly, an integrated DSS might be used not only within the borderland catchments between the individual states, but also for water management control at the boundary between provinces or territorial (county) regions. The DSS to be developed will focus mainly on pollution, flooding and water use issues.
Another objective of the project will be the establishment of an European platform for initiating and promoting international co-operation and networking that will allow a more detailed insight to transboundary water/environment and related socio/economic problems. This will be achieved by connecting TRANSCAT with pre-existing EU Research of the FP5, in the perspective of the forthcoming FP6 and, connecting TRANSCAT with EU institutions involved in the process of implementing the WFD, with specific reference to the problems of pre-accession countries.
The proposed project incorporates a research program aiming to avoid the extended aquifer contamination, improvement of groundwater and aquifer quality, and reducing of flooding risks under the umbrella of adequate integrated water resources management (IWRM). Relevant tools will be developed and procedures defined to be able to prepare the necessary local information for selecting a most promising transboundary management scenario and take decisions on it. By following up this scenario with local project development in line with certain predefined priorities, synergies can be initiated and use of funds optimised. Although member states have to take charge of the management of the programmes and financing, this procedure based on the filter of a regional development strategy can guarantee transformation of EU-policies into regional measures in a more reliable and traceable form. Results in relation to strategy and policies can be regularly monitored and measurable feedbacks used for programme optimisation (e.g. in ongoing programmes and actions like the structural funds, INTERREGIII, LEADER+, SAPARD, ISPA, CBC-PHARE).
TRANSCAT sub-objectives:
Identification of relevant existing and potential conflicts in transboundary water systems.
Analysis of the existing legal and institutional framework related to transboundary water resources problems.
Identification of new concepts and proposals for evolution trends within EU framework
A selection of five reference (pilot) areas across Europe has been made to be able to provide a good contrast in trans-boundary area typology. The local studies carried out in these areas will support tool development, provide results for generation of reference models and for preparation of local development concepts.
The pilot areas are all trans-national. These areas represent a north to south traverse starting in the Baltic region between Norway and Russia (Pasvik river). This area reveals problems in pollution caused by mineral industries and townships and in overgrazing of vegetation by livestock (reindeers) strongly influencing the sensitive ecosystem typically for the Scandinavian environment. Next area to the south is situated between Czech Republic and Poland (Bela river) with increasing economic development in a variety of sectors like forestry, agriculture, mineral exploitation, small-scale industry and trading and even a potential in tourism. The third area between Czech Republic and Germany (Sumava catchment) is representative for forestry and emerging tourism with a weak economic basis. The fourth area is situated on the border between Portugal and Spain (Guadiana river) and represents the typical conditions found in an area of arid climate of southern Europe. Climate, soil and hydrogeology have a particular significance on the catchment available resources and they are main factors influencing groundwater recharge, whilst the main human impact driving forces are urbanization, industry and agricultural production. Non point source pollution from agricultural returns and point source pollution from industries, mining, sewage treatment plants, landfills, and others, are identified as major pollution sources and in consequence there is a decreasing of the availability of resources. The fifth area located on the Bulgarian/Greece border (Nestos river) represents a strong impact of the regional water management to the environment, agriculture and protected natural areas lacking a sustainable trans-national water policy.
EXPECTED IMPACTS
The DSS system developed in this project will contribute to help protecting the
quality of water in EU by reducing the threats posed by continuously evolving
economic, social and cultural pressures on freshwater resources. It will be a
valuable tool to assist in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive.
It will allow an integrated international management of the whole natural
catchment, which will save considerable financial resources and will solve
environmental and social-economical problems. It will be able to cope with the
complexity of the water resources systems and the uncertainty of
decision-making.
By focusing on the problems arising in catchments across border areas, the project will also contribute to increase the political and social cohesion of the EU since the application of the DSS system will require the collaboration of stakeholders and general public of both sides of the frontier to solve common problems in the best way for all.
Border areas are special regions in almost every country with,
• less information,
• worse social/economical situation,
• low interests for management authorities,
• infrastructure disadvantages.
Combination of the countries on both sides of the border moves the disadvantaged regions to the centre of interest, which as a result could strengthen their position. Water has a strategic value for economic, environmental and social point of view. This work is dedicated to a better use of the Earth in general and of water in particular. Results of this work must permit to predict the influences on water (in quantity and quality) with various landscape-use scenarios in order to give a preference for the choices in land planning which are compatible with a sustainable development of the trans-boundary regions.