Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net
1027-5606
1607-7938
12
1
2008
10.5194/hess-12-317-2008
http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/317/2008/
http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/317/2008/hess-12-317-2008.html
http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/317/2008/hess-12-317-2008.pdf
317
331
2008-03-03
Stakeholder discourse and water management – implementation of the participatory model CATCH in a Northern Italian alpine sub-catchment
P. S. Lupo Stanghellini
D. Collentine
Dept. of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Natural Science Museum of Trento, Via Calepina 14, 38100 Trento, Italy
Division of Economics, Gävle University, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden
The Water Framework Directive (WFD, directive 2000/60/EC) was created to
ensure the sustainable use of water resources in the European Union. A
central guideline included throughout the directive is a call for the
participation of stakeholders in the management of these resources.
Involving stakeholders is an important step to ensure that catchment
management plans take into consideration local experience in the development
of these plans and the impact of the plans on local interests. This paper
describes and analyses the results of a series of workshops to facilitate
implementation of the WFD at a catchment level based on the stakeholder
participation model, CATCH.
<br><br>
To test the usefulness of the CATCH model, developed for
water management in a catchment area, a sub-catchment in an alpine valley in
the north-east of Italy, the Alta Valsugana in the Province of Trento, was
chosen as the setting for a series of workshops. In this valley water is
fundamental for activities associated with agriculture, domestic use, energy
production, sports and recreation. In the recent past the valley has had
serious problems related to water quality and quantity. Implementation of
water management plans under the WFD may lead to conflicts within the
catchment between different stakeholder interest groups. Including
stakeholders in the development of management plans not only follows the
guidelines of the WFD but also could result in a more locally adapted and
acceptable plan for the catchment.
<br><br>
A new stakeholder analysis methodology was developed and implemented in
order to identify the relevant stakeholders of the area and then two sets of
workshops involving the key stakeholders identified were conducted in Spring
2006. The CATCH meetings were a new experience for the participants, who had
to deal with both the principles of the WFD in general and the participation
requirement in particular. During the meetings, the CATCH model played a
very important role in structuring the participatory process. It provided a
general framework consisting of a sequence of steps that helped the
participants to reach the goal of the process: the identification and
evaluation of measures to improve water management in the catchment. This
test of the CATCH model showed it to be a dynamic and flexible tool, useful
for structuring and guiding the participation process, without imposing
undue restrictions on influencing the outcome of stakeholder participation
in a small catchment.
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