Scientific objectives

1. To make the concepts of economic and social resilience applicable and operational at river basin scale, both as a practical instrument for water management (Water Framework Directive) and as a tool guiding the climate adaptation efforts

The project will examine economic costs, social hardship, and social 'drivers' of water scarcity and droughts in the case river basins, that is current patterns of water extraction, distribution and use that lead to temporary or permanent water shortages. Moreover, it will help to understand the role, scale and factors determining the offsetting effects of the economic (ER) and social resilience (SR) on the impacts of human-made water scarcity and droughts. Resilience is a concept which describes ability of affected individuals and communities to 'absorb or cushion against damage' (Rose 2004b). Resilience co-determine both the magnitude of the economic losses and the community ability to respond to, cope with, and recover from significant disruptions. Both ER and SR are malleable concepts with many different definitions. Therefore, one important task will be to develop a practical and policy-relevant conceptualisations of resilience (more proposals have been advanced for ER than for SR, and hardly any in the context of water scarcity/droughts) and to analyse how resilience can moderate the impacts of drought/human-made water scarcity.

2. To review water demand management options aimed at increasing the ER and SR, with particular emphasis on the use of economic instruments

The project will investigate how water demand-led policy interventions can boost resilience and foster climate adaptation efforts. Particular attention will be paid to the application of regulatory and economic instruments, their performance, social acceptance, implementation success and unintended consequences (e.g. energy demand, impact on return flow, etc.). Water scarcity and recent drought events in Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal will be analysed in detail. The postevent assessment will review the magnitude of economic and social impacts, WDM measures put in place and their perceived or documented success. All case studies will address the waterintensive sectors: agriculture, energy production, and residential water supply. The results will improve the understanding of how WDM can be applied in synergy with other climate adaptation measures.

3. To develop a set of practical recommendations for including economic and social resilience in water management and drought preparedness plans

A distinctive feature of Water2Adapt is to provide practical policy recommendations and policyrelevant knowledge for the case river basins. These will inform and support the ongoing management planning activities: economic analysis of water uses, water pricing and cost recovery decisions, and the assessment of the programmes of measures. In addition, the project will advise the respective water authorities on how to boost resilience and how to mitigate expected climate change impacts, within their statutory roles and discretion. Emphasis will be placed on the 'quick gains', that is improvements which can be achieved and implemented quickly and at low costs. Resilience is hardly being taken into account in the current risk management practices in the countries participating at this project. Therefore, based on project's results, a guidance document will be developed for the River Basin Management Plans (propelled under the Water Framework Directive), as well as for the civil protection risk management or disaster management plans, according to the different needs of the cases. The guidance document will provide an overview of methodologies to assess economic costs and social hardship due to water scarcity and droughts, along with a set of apposite examples form the Water2Adapt case studies. Furthermore, it will summarise the factors found to influence economic and community resilience.