LIFE BEWARE - Better Water Management for Advancing Resilient Communities in Europe

Time

10/2019

10 2023

Financed

European Commission, under Life Programe

Role of CRLDS

Associated partner, under Memorndum of Understanding with project Beware Project dt 8/10/2019

Description

BEWARE acts within the framework of European policies for adapting cities to climate change and aims to raise awareness on the objectives of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, in particular objectives 11, “Sustainable Cities and Municipalities”, and 13, “Combating Climate Change”.

Global climate change is leading to significant increase of temperature and intensification of extreme weather phenomena, with increasingly frequent heavy rainfall alternating with periods of lack of water. Strong rainfalls, floods, inundations, landslides and erosive phenomena have affected our country in a deep way in recent years and climate models tell us that these phenomena will appear in an increasingly intense way in the future. This situation is further intensified by the increasing consumption of soil and its progressive waterproofing, which compromises the effectiveness of the system of natural infiltration of water and has a negative impact on the services provided by nature (known by the term “ecosystem“). Moreover, the progressive reduction of vegetation is contributing to the deterioration of the urban microclimate, significantly increasing temperatures in urban areas, a phenomenon known as the “heat island”.

Despite this worrying situation, local administrations and communities are unprepared for such events and still unable to act to anticipate and mitigate their effects. For this reason, improving the safety and hydraulic resilience of the territory requires extensive and incisive actions of territorial and social planning, with the involvement of all the different stakeholders.

The objectives of the project

The main objective of the project is to implement a strategy for adaptation to climate change and flood risk in urban and rural areas, through the active involvement of local communities

To this end, the project aims to:

  • Activate a participatory process to identify plans and actions shared by the main stakeholders for the improvement of the hydraulic safety and resilience of the territory.
  • Implement Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRMs) with technical and demonstrative value, for hydraulic safety and good water resource management in urban and agricultural areas.
  • Propose information and raising awareness activities to promote an environmental culture and involve individuals in reducing the risk of flooding.
  • Create a regulatory framework and technical expertise conducive to the widespread deployment of NWRMs.
  • Promote the dissemination of the proposed initiatives, to become a virtuous model applicable in other Italian and European municipalities.