Land and water linkages - Workshop 3 - CP meeting Day 1

Land and water linkages: Making space for waterGWP Consulting Partners MeetingClarion Hotel, Stockholm, 18 August 2011Dr. Richard Müller

Contents• Bodrog River• Making Space for Water project• Project objective• Results• Pilot project in Hungary and Slovakia• Lessons learned

What is this case about?

• It is about a cooperation between water managers, nature protection guards and farmers to manage land and water in integrated way

• It is about changing agriculture practices to achieve resilience to flood disasters

• It is about a local case for better land and water management

• It is not about food security

Bodrog River• Transboundary river shared by Slovakia and Hungary• Agriculture land (including Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region),

many small settlements• Upper basin heavily drained for flood protection and

agriculture production • First water cooperatives date back as far as year 1880• Complex water management measures started in 1958

comprising 4 retention reservoirs, 453 km of dikes, 28 pumping stations, and 522 km of drainage canals

• Irrigation and drainage infrastructure is in poor condition

Bodrog River

Bodrog River

Problems and challenges in Bodrog Basin• Intensive agriculture production in the past impacted the

environmental ecosystem quality• Agriculture sector practices contribute to erosion and

increased vulnerability of area to floods• Property rights changes (expropriation and restitution) made

difficult to implement structural and non-structural measures• Harmful subsidies to farmers applied• Compensation (environmentally friendly) measures do not

work properly• Economic and social conditions in this region are not

favorable to “environmental concerns”

Making Space for Water

• Supported by UNDP/GEF via International Commission for the protection of Danube River (ICPDR)

• Component UNDP/GEF Tisza MSP Integrating multiple benefits of wetlands and floodplains into improved transboundary management for the Tisza River Basin

• Project duration: April 2009 - April 2011• GWP Slovakia (team leader) together with GWP Hungary,

GWP Ukraine facilitated its partners (VITUKI, EKOVIZIG (Hungary) and Zakarpattya Oblast branch of all Ukrainian Ecological League (Ukraine)

Objective

• Mitigate consequences of floods through integrated management of flood risk in Bodrog River catchment countries (Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine) by creating partnerships at national and local levels

• Partnerships is sectors:– Agriculture– Nature protection– Fishery– Tourism– Water management

Results• Improvement of original floodplains and wetlands

conditions, affected by current land uses (agriculture) and environmentally inappropriate flood protection measures

• Formulation of the “Strategy for mitigation of floods for Bodrog River Basin countries”

• Dissemination of project results to achieve replication on the basin and national levels

Pilot project - Hungary• Objective: Improvement of conditions of protected plants and

birds in Tokaj-Bodrog corner of Landscape Protection District• Activities: Renovation of the existing sluice at the Bodrog

corner trunk conjunction and construction of a new sluice at the mouth of the oxbow

• Results: water is retained in the Viss Oxbow after floods. Water supply of Tokaj-Bodrog Landscape Protection District will be ensured in dry periods

Pilot project - Hungary

Pilot project - Slovakia• Location: Senné depression bisected by the Čierna Voda

River, a tributary of the Laborec River• Objective: Restoration of intensively drained floodplains

and establishment of measures to retain water during floods

• Activities: Reconstruction of existing floodgate to bring clean water to fields and ponds (aquaculture)

• Results: Water supply to wetlands during dry period and flood protection during floods. Conditions of National Nature Reserve Sennianske Ponds will be improved

Drainage canal system

Location of

reconstructed

flood gates

Water gate before reconstruction

Water gate reconstruction

Lessons learned• Success of demonstration projects relies on long-term

commitment and work with local stakeholders• Practical examples change mindsets of farmers• Early involvement of local stakeholders in the design

process of technical measures helps to reach consensus and obtain necessary permits

• Unsettled land ownership and subsidies discourage farmers from land use change

• Low-cost and effective solutions for flood prevention are readily available

Lessons learned - con’t• Implementation was a great opportunity to involve

agriculture sector into river basin management planning • Top down: introduction of approaches applied in the Tisza

River Basin into the sub-river basin scale • Bottom up: stakeholder workshops and meetings made

links with Tisza River Basin Management Plan • Implemented measures to improve habitats conditions -

water regime and water quality, nutrient retention and/or removal can be replicated in other sub-river basins

Resources

This project was conducted by GWP Slovakia in cooperation with GWP Hungary and GWP Ukraine and is documented in GWP ToolBox

http://www.gwptoolbox.org/index.php?option=com_case&id=288

This project was financed by GEF/UNDP and is also documented in IW:LEARN database

http://archive.iwlearn.net/www.icpdr.org/www.icpdr.org/icpdr-pages/bodrog_kick_off_meeting.htm

Thank you for your attention

Photo and map credits: Bodrog Project, Civertan