Innovative Solution

Climate change, vulnerability, adaptation

technical

- Institutional

- Policy

(Science-Policy interface

The Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency and the Regional Direction in charge of the environment – the DREAL – are engaging in 2012 in a common project for climate change adaptation.  The work in progress is aimed at building a solid link between water policy makers and the scientific and technical fields conducting research on the impacts of climate change.  Key information should be provided to planners, water managers and policy makers, on the scientific knowledge that will impact medium- and long-term decision making for regional adaptation. The work should be organized in three interacting processes :  
- producing and gathering of scientific knowledge in order to identify climate change – related phenomena that will impact water management strategies.
- generating a climate change vulnerability index according to different issues (water resources, biodiversity, etc.), and establishing a map of the Rhone-Mediterranean basin showing regional vulnerabilities.
- launching and leading prospective studies both at the level of the Rhone-Mediterranean basin (that should lead to modifications in its 6-year river basin management plan), and at a more local level in order to guide regional land-use planning.  

This exercise will mix the bottom-up and top-down approaches that are ordinarily used to build climate change adaptation strategies. This will allow the project to result in stronger, more efficient messages.
This work is lead under the authority of the Basin Committee, a governance structure that includes all stakeholder groups involved in water policies (State and local governments, urban, industrial and agricultural water users …).  This Committee will write and validate a plan that will give adaptation guidelines to the stakeholders.

The Rhone-Mediterranean river basin, France. The area includes the Rhone’s and all French Mediterranean rivers’ catchment areas. The basin is considered to be particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its growing population, numerous economic activities and its high level of exposition to climate risks. 

Who is currently developing this solution?
The Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency and the Regional Direction in charge of the environment – the DREAL.
Who should initiate the project? Which actors will be strategic in the implementation?
The Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency and the Regional Direction in charge of the environment – the DREAL.

Who should ensure follow-up of the solution at the local level?
The Rhone-Mediterranean Basin Committee

-    Compilation of scientific knowledge: nearing completion, preparing  final outputs (workshop + strategy note) ; due mid-2012
-    Vulnerability map: underway,  data collected ; completion planned in September 2012
-    Prospective study organization: preparation in 2012, implementation in 2013.

Key question the solution aims to answer and how does that fit with the target?

The quey question here was “How to create a link between the scientific community and decision-makers to build ambitious and relevant adaptation policies?”
The target is aimed at encouraging preventive management, considering uncertainty will always remain on the impacts of future climate change. This solution strives to implement and run an exchange platform that would help translate scientific knowledge into information necessary and relevant to decision-makers.

How does the solution contribute to the target’s effective implementation and attainment?
This solution presents a method to ensure interactions between decision makers and scientists and to go beyond simply informing managers on the impacts of climate change.  It incorporates the notion of uncertainty in the index and expresses vulnerability, serving as a starting point for the establishment of management plans that would be consistent with adaptation issues.  

It will develop a vulnerability index crafted to accompany decision makers in the field of climate change impacts.  This solution also suggests a framework for the use of this vulnerability index. Currently climate change impacts are not expressed in the framework of the development of water management plans. Conversely, planning decisions that are taken in response to climate change may be missing an objective view of the real issues and challenges, increasing the risk of maladaptation.  

Number of local territories in which prospective studies are being or have been lead based on the vulnerability map, and implementation of action plans dedicated to adaptation.

Who would / should be most interested in this Solution and why? How will it help them?
Water resources planning and management organisations

What is the minimum investment necessary (in terms of human resources, time, energy, infrastructure, financial resources, political will, etc.) in order to effectively implement this solution?

In order to implement this solution in an area, it is necessary to have for this area:

-    climate change projections, downscaled  at a resolution of at least  10kmx10km,
-    basic knowledge on aquatic environments : localization, size and surface area of rivers, lakes and aquifers,
-    raw data on water quantity : history of flowrates and water table levels
-    information on and precise localization of main water uses and pressures.

What organisations / institutions/committees do you think should commit to this solution in priority?
The basin authorities should commit to this solution.

Agence de l’Eau Rhône-Méditerranée et Corse
2-4 allée de Lodz
69363 LYON cedex 7 – France
Thomas PELTE
thomas.pelte@eaurmc.fr
+33(0)472712937