 | | | GUADIANA CASE STUDY
Leader
Dr. M. Ramón Llamas Madurga, Universidad Complutense de Madrid,
email: mrllamas[AT]geo.ucm.es If you are looking for the most recent information on the case study in the Guadiana Basin, you are very welcome to contact the case study leader.
FOCUS For practical purposes, the Guadiana case study is divided in two sections: The Upper Guadiana basin presents a paradigmatic case of a semiarid region where intensive groundwater use for irrigation has helped transform a largely poor rural region into a prosperous agricultural and industrial center. From an economy based on growing wheat and vines and sheep rearing, the area has experienced a transformation into what is today: a vibrant and economically viable region that no longer depends exclusively on agriculture. However, some problems have arisen as a result of uncontrolled groundwater development. These essentially refer to the conflict between farmers social and economic development and the environmental value of groundwater-dependent ecosystems. The UCM team focuses on this part of the case study. The Transboundary part of this case study focuses mainly on the international relationships for river management ruled by the Albufeira Convention, signed in 1998 by Spain and Portugal. The Convention is widely regarded as a successful example of international cooperation. The Guadiana basin is Portugal's pilot catchment for the implementation of the EU's Water Framework Directive and hosts the Alqueva dam, the largest in Europe. The main objective of this development is to contribute to the social and economic welfare of the Alentejo region. ISQ, Sustainable Development Unit, coordinates this part of the case study. NEWATER RESEARCH As shown in the baseline report by the research team, no formal adaptive management strategies as such exist in the Guadiana river basin to date. The NeWater project is expected to create awareness for the need of such practices and to develop tools to support stakeholders when approaching to adaptive management. To this date, work in the Guadiana basin has focused on three main fronts: The first refers to stakeholder engagement and involvement, which has been carried out mostly via a series of thematic stakeholder meetings. Key basin stakeholders such as the Guadiana Water Authority, Spain and Portugal's Ministries for the Environment, the Agriculture Department of Castilla-La Mancha regional government, water user associations, farmer unions and environmental conservation groups have all shown an ongoing commitment to these meetings. Besides, inroads have been made towards activities on training and dissemination of NeWater knowledge. The second is more related to hard-science approaches, and focuses on the development of adaptive management tools requested by stakeholders. These include specific agronomic and hydrological models to test potential outcomes of EU and national agricultural and water policy. In addition, the Guadiana team is coordinating research integration within the case study, while also contributing to the work of other NeWater WPs. The third deals with the estimation of the Water Footprint of the whole Guadiana basin. This engages Luso-Spanish institutions facilitating the transboundary cooperation between riparian states. Considering the difficulties to work in transboundary issues, we contacted the National Water Institute of Portugal (INAG) to do jointly the Water Footprint of the entire Guadiana basin. ACTIVITIES (please contact case study leader for more details)
Ongoing
October 2008. Traning the Practitioners in Spanish (Madrid, exact date tobe decided).
Presentation on the Water Footprint of the Guadiana river basin in the Stockholm World Water Week (Stockholm, 17-23 August 2008). Spring 2007. Transboundary Stakeholder Meeting #2. June 11-13, 2007. Bayesian network meeting in Copenhaguen. Summer 2007. Interim stakeholder workshop. Autumn 2007. Training and dissemination workshop. Recent activities 24-26 May, 2007. Third workshop for the education community in Alcázar de San Juan, Spain. 10 & 16 May, 2007. Stakeholder meetings for the development of Bayesian Belief Networks (Madrid and Ciudad Real, Spain). 4 May, 2007. Research integration meeting between WP2.1/2.4 (OUCE-CEH) and WP3.4 (ISQ) in Lisbon. 26-29 March, 2007. Technical meeting with GEUS on Bayesian Belief Networks in the Upper Guadiana Basin (UGB) at IGME (Madrid). 11 January, 2007. Upper Guadiana Stakeholder Meeting #4 held at the Ortega y Gasset Foundation, Madrid, Spain. 24 November, 2006. Training workshop for key water users in the Upper Guadiana basin, Tomelloso, Ciudad Real, Spain. 20-22 November, 2006. Research coordination meeting of thw WP 3.4 team with GEUS and CEH to start the joint development of a Bayesian Belief Network for the Upper Guadiana Basin. Hosted by IGME (Madrid, Spain). 16 October, 2006. Upper Guadiana Stakeholder Meeting #3 was held at the Ortega y Gasset Foundation, Madrid, Spain. 26-30 June, 2006. WEAP21 Seminar held at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. 29 May, 2006. Upper Guadiana Stakeholder Meeting #2 held at the Ortega y Gasset Foundation, Madrid, Spain. 27 April and 4 May, 2006. First workshop for the education community in Ciudad Real. 18 April, 2006. Transboundary Stakeholder Meeting #1 held at the Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade, Lisbon, Portugal. October 28, 2005. Deliverables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 uploaded.
October 6, 2005. Upper Guadiana Stakeholder Meeting #1 held at the Ortega y Gasset Foundation, Madrid, Spain. June 20, 2005. NeWater/Aquastress meeting held at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. April 18, 2005. Upper Guadiana/Transboundary Stakeholder Meeting #0 (info session), held at the Ortega y Gasset Foundation, Madrid, Spain.
Team members
| Name | Institute | WP | | | M. Ramón Llamas | UCM | 3.4 |
| | Fermín Villarroya | UCM | 3.4 |
| | Pedro Martínez Santos | UCM | 3.4 |
| | Pedro Zorrilla Miras | UCM | 3.4 |
| | Lucia De Stefano | UCM | 3.4 |
| | Maite Martínez Aldaya | UCM | 3.4 | | | Marco António Estrela | ISQ | 3.4 |
| | Consuelo Varela | UPM | 1.7 |
| | Irene Blanco | UPM | 1.7 |
| | Gema Carmona | UPM | 1.7 |
| | Juan Antonio López-Geta | IGME | 3.4 |
| | África de la Hera | IGME | 3.4 |
| | Luis Martínez Cortina | IGME | 3.4 |
| | Juan María Fornés | IGME | 3.4 |
| The participation of the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME) as a scientific partner with no funds from the EU has been already approved. This table does not include other individuals of ther WPs (ej. WP1.5, WP1.7 and WP2.1) that are collaborating in the Guadiana Case Study. MATERIAL
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