WAVE – Water Adaptation is Valuable for Everybody | Umweltbundesamt

no climate scenarios were created

The central theme of the project is how to cope sufficiently with ‘extremes’. Differences between regions provide examples for other areas. Problems caused by climate change do not occur everywhere at the same time and have different impacts. However, these differences provide the possibility for partners to learn from extreme events and problems caused by climate change in other areas.

Regional risk analysis:
One of the objectives in the WAVE project is improving the knowledge of risks, the predictability and adaptability of climate change, as people will therefore be less vulnerable to climate change. In this Joint Action all partners try to get a better insight in the risks for the water resources due to climate change. Trends in climate change and climate scenarios provide input for the analysis of risks on a lower level, the regional level.

The parties involved in WAVE have the responsibility to adapt water management to the changing climate. One of the measures to be taken is to assure that catchment areas are climate proof. This means to protect the inhabitants against floods and assuring sufficient water in times of drought. This is a challenging goal in a society that is faced with increasing urbanization and in which the pressure on available space is enormous. It implies the need for cooperation with traditional partners like provinces and communities, but also with relatively new partners and stakeholders like inhabitants, companies, nature organisation, recreational organisations and farmers (territorial challenge). The water managing bodies need to work from a broad social perspective and assure that catchment areas are climate proof in a way that it is “valuable for everyone”. WAVE therefore means Water Adaptation is Valuable for Everybody.

The aim of the Joint action “water management and spatial planning” is to integrate the knowledge on the value of water into the spatial planning in policy or political process. Although the importance of water in many cases has been acknowledged, the influence and consequences of water (risks) are still not always or at the right time being considered. The water sector is until now unsuccessful to actually influence the spatial planning at an early stage and to really put the value of water on the agenda. This joint action strives for more understanding of water in the spatial planning process and for the development of auxiliary instruments.

Problems are often encountered when there is no clear owner of this issue and society does not take responsibility. In the current situation within the WAVE countries, water adaptation is not always valuable for everybody. Although the need for climate change is acknowledged on the community level, measures often have a (negative) effect on the individual level.