1. Our brand new website is officially open in FR/EN versions, you can navigate through our members photos and actions to valorise water heritage (a big thank you to Lodoïs de Sainte Foy, DA et Senior Freelance Designer and Marion Dunais)
2. Our first position paper “Water & society: shared past, shared future” has been published under our “resource” page: taking more than 50 scientific articles on social sciences for water… summarised in 4 main chapters and 5 propositions for legal changes at the EU level.
Indeed, as for the European policy framework, legal changes are essential and AQUA! calls for 5 fundamental points to be included in the future revision of the European Water Framework Directive and in the European Water Resilience Strategy:
1- the recognition of anthropogenic and cultural ecosystems in European laws, with the need to study and protect them too.
2- the obligation to carry out a complete and sincere analysis of ecosystem services, not limited to endemic biodiversity or “natural” functionalities but including all socio-ecological dimensions.
3- the need to balance biodiversity or natural integrity issues with energy, water regulation and climate issues, with the fight against climate change (prevention, adaptation and mitigation) taking precedence in the event of conflicting standards.
4- the urgent need to combine, rather than oppose, nature-based, culture-based and technology-based solutions to guarantee a resilient management of water, at a time when we are facing critical episodes of drought or flooding.
5- the imperative of more inclusive governance where all visions of water can participate in shaping decisions, recognizing the diversity of social aspirations.