Naomi Timmer

Main Challenges of the EU Water Policy
A Masterclass of Veronica Manfredi, Director, Quality of Life, DG Environment European Commission – Monday 14 September 2020

Article by Naomi Timmer

 

Monday 14 September, day 1 of EJWP1 sixth training week. We had to meet in our online training cocoon but that gave us the opportunity to invite all our new ambassadors to meet the participants of EJWP and share their thoughts. Veronica as new ambassador took the participants on a crash course of the agenda of the European Commission, focusing on the position of water in the agenda.

To start with, she encouraged the young water professionals to take a leadership role since water challenges are both expanding and compelling, in the EU and worldwide. Veronica believes that water is a key topic on the agenda of green growth and job creation, and expressed her trust that ‘we’, at EJWP, are on the right track.

With that having been said, the crash course on the European Agenda started. The first topic was the European Green Deal. At its launch, EC President Ursula von der Leyen stated “The European Green Deal should become Europe’s hallmark. At the heart of it is our commitment to becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent.” To reach this we need to share knowledge and we need progressive thoughts.

To achieve this ambitious goal, the European Commission assessed what policies and actions need to be developed and implemented, and Veronica briefly introduced the package to the participants:

• The Zero – Pollution Action Plan for air, water and soil will create opportunities for innovators;
• The Circular Economy Action plan, closes the loop;
• Next Generation Programme becomes Europe’s moment to repair and prepare for the future;
• the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 is bringing nature back into our lives;
• the Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system, and
• the EU Strategy on Energy System Integration is soon to be launched.

The EC is also working on a Water Fitness check of the Water Framework Directive, how can we improve it and increase implementation? What is the status of our Ground Waters? What are the developments of the Sewage Sludge Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive or the Water Re-Use regulations? These are all water-related policies and regulations. Member states should go beyond central government action and assist local authorities to implement the transposed directives as well.

Focus not only on European policies, is the call of Veronica Manfredi. Start with the public buildings of the water organizations, become energy and water efficient. There is so much to gain if you look at design solutions in buildings and in local communities, she stressed.

Stop working only among water sector people! We need a holistic, integrated approach among all sectors. She urged the participants to raise their questions to member states and local authorities. And of course, to her and her colleagues at the European Commission:

Let us know how we can help. What do you need? Reply on our communications, ask questions. We, as EC, can create Directives and Action Plans, but work with us on awareness activities, stimulate better training and skills.

Veronica also mentioned that the staff at the EC can do only so much and turned the tables by asking young professionals in general, and the EJWP specifically, to support with outreach.

Be our ambassador on the ground! was Veronica’s closing call to action for the EJWP participants.

And so we will be. To be continued 🙂

Water, sex and the city - Intersectoral cooperation, communication and knowledge exchange
A Masterclass of Richard Elelman, Monday 14 September 2020

Article by Naomi Timmer & Richard Elelman

In honour of Richard becoming an Ambassador of the EJWP he began the EJWP1 training week on Monday  the 14^th of September with a masterclass about one of his favourite topics: the relationship between water, social interaction and the future of sustainable urban development, as a result of intersectoral cooperation, communication and knowledge exchange.

What is at stake? There are a lot of challenges in the water sector at present and in the foreseeable future the situation is likely to worsen rather than improve. Every 10 seconds someone in the world dies because of a lack of access to clean water. Therefore, Richard sought to transmit to the participants, the vital importance of the sector in which they intend to develop their professional careers. So why talk about sex? Richard, being deliberately provocative, explained an article which he had read some time before which claims that . 74% of  people in  Mediterranean countries lose their virginity in a car, while for example in The Netherlands this is only 2%. Being strongly involved in the issue of  sustainable mobility, whereby an effort must be made to encourage  people to abandon cars in favour of public transport the apparently banal, aforementioned statistic actually describes a serious social reality. The figures concerning the Mediterranean reflect the fact that people in Southern Europe do not have the financial capacity to abandon the homes of their parents.  Owning a car is represents a form of independence and social freedom which is not necessary in wealthier European regions.   So for a 17 year-old  n the Mediterranean ones private life takes precedence over the need for sustainable forms of public transport.  Richard argued that if one does not understand the social reality, effective environmental measures will not prosper. This is something that the water sector must never forget.

The concept of the Quadruple Helix was co-developed by Elias G. Carayannis and David F.J. Campbell.. It is the idea that policies need to be based on social consensus, involving  four principle socio-political sectors: Public, Private, Research and Citizens. Omitting  one of these factors from a process of co-creation and implementation would result in  and one failing to establish a coherent water policy the continuity of which would be necessary in order to be successful.

Water will be the most important sector for securing the existence of people. It will define the possibilities to live peacefully and more healthily . Therefore, the water sector needs to understand far better the role it must play. To make this happen Richard proposed the Quintuple Helix. Adding culture to the combination of the aforementioned vital stakeholders of the Quadruple Helix. Richard expressed the hope that, as a result, the water sector as a whole would look beyond the limits of its own silo and take into serious consideration the practical effects of social reality which are important even if, at first sight, they would appear to have no relation to water whatsoever.

Adding the City perspective into the Masterclass Richard stated that  municipalities must be the implementers of supranational strategies Even though water is   the principal geo-political factor of this century people must become emotionally involved by employing art and culture in order to efficiently communicate to a far wider audience. Water is both a local issue and a global challenge at the same time. The era of adaptation to climate change demands that water becomes a top international policy priority.

Furthermore, Richard encouraged the listeners to enter into a continuous dialogue not only with other social stakeholders but also with the other elements of what is known as the WEFE (Water, Energy, Food and Eco-System) Nexus. We need to step out of our comfort zone. We need to be able as, specialists to work with those who know nothing. We need to embrace a more human approach.

The EJWP and its participants have a role to play! Raise awareness worldwide regarding  the importance of water. The Water Sector has been good at discussing the problems but ineffective at applying solutions.

Awareness creates interest
Interest creates a desire to be involved

Involvement creates consensus
Consensus creates continuity.

Let us work together , initiate a permanent dialogue and   support each other!

 

Water Governance from an Economic Viewpoint: Mastering complexity

A Masterclass of Gonzalo Delacámara, IMDEA – Thursday 17 September 2020

Article by Naomi Timmer & Gonzalo Delacámara

As a Natural Resources Economist Gonzalo is involved in Water Governance initiatives around the world. Supporting work of the OECD (where he is a member of its Water Governance Initiative), World Bank Group, UN agencies and programmes, the European Commission and Parliamant in providing a framework to talk about policies and interests next to countries.

In the development of the governance approach we first talked a lot about integrity/ avoiding corruption, engaging stakeholders and being transparent and accountable. It transferred to ‘right people doing the right things’ for sustainable water resource management, thus getting it right with the institutional setup. But this is not enough either. We need to master complexity.

The global pandemic makes it clear. Everything seems to be a governance failure. There should be no choice between Health or Jobs; aren’t we able to deal with it all? We need to be aware that water policy is invected and affected by all other policies. In fact, it may be argued that there is no such thing as water policy.

We live in a world in which we are facing a cascade of uncertainties. We can’t look at the future and only see progress. Three main layers of uncertainty are:
1. Climate change: it affects us all, but not all in the same way, likewise the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to be aware of the fact that people are beautifully contradictory and need to find the right trade offs to act. To influence this we need innovation in a wide sense to master complexity.

2. Macroeconomic performance: we were on our way to a recession or at least sluggish growth patterns (even in the absence of COVID-19). Financial opportunities for water are there. There is high commitment to invest in water and even apetite from commercial financiers,yet we still face constraints to absorb that liquidity. Money may well not be a binding constraint in many situations. Water crises are always governance crises. It is not just lack of money, technology, etc. but rather our inability to deal with complexity.
3. Structural changes in the economic model: for instance, as an outcome of digitalization. A water utitility is no longer responsible for managing infrastructures, water and a public service, now they have to manage data. Being aware of this creates a need to transform.

We have (too) good reasons to make (too) bad decisions in water resource management. Why and how do we make decisions today? We tend to make problems small and specialized and solve them on a one-by-one basis. With that approach we overlook or downplay complexity and all interdependencies. Don’t just talk about water. Everything that is is important probably happens outside water policie – look for example to migration patterns. Water productivity is often a very powerful driver to water use in the world, with unintended consequences.

Water use efficiency is improving all over the world through changing techniques, but at the end of day we end up using more water because water becomes more valuable for some economic uses. Each and everyone of us becomes more efficient but the paradoxical outcome is that as a collective we all use more. A governance failure is not to offset this.

Adding resilience, transformative needs, adaptabilty concerns to water management only adds to complexity. We need to reframe water in the terms of long-term security, a “new” public good. We need to start making efforts to ensure its sustainable provision, leaving no one behind.

We also need innovations, disruptive innovations. True game changers. There is no technical restraint about this; if it is not happening is mainly due to governance failures, to inertia. A major disruption would be to acknowledge our condition as human species. What can we do as humankind is to align individuals interests to to socially agreed long-ter, collective goals.

People matters, their psychological perceptions matter (preferences, aspirations, contradictions…). It all comes back on how and why do we make the decisions we make.

So what would help us? People don’t want water as such, they want security and wellbeing and income…. Water is a (vital) means but a means after all. We want people to be better off, socially and economically. And there is evidence that people want to know what is going to happen, to anticipate to some extent the future, in order to be in control of their lives. So start talking about that!

What our (EJWP) contribution should be?
1. Commit to societal challenges. Set right priorities.
2. Do not provide simplistic answers to complex issues. Face reality.
3. Try not to empoverish your language. The degradation of ideas comes next.
Living is difficult, but we would not quit. We need to train ourselves in understanding complexity and its effects on the world.

Acknowledge complexity and uncertainty and be positive and confident. We can deal with it

This September, the third EJWP training week should have taken place in Norway. Unfortunately, we had to, once again, abandon hopes of meeting live, and continued our training week virtually.

Between the 14^th to the 18^th of September, the 8 EJWP participants followed online masterclasses, training sessions and presented their own work. We kicked off with individual presentations on each of the participant’s personal development plans, which was definitely not an easy task to work on during the summer. The development plans were the result of professional and personal introspection, following the personal branding trainings of the previous training week, and focusing on how each and every one of us can create impact with their work.

The training sessions of this week were on the topics of Consultancy and Negotiation. Skills that are necessary regardless of your job description. We all put our knowledge to the use of others, effectively taking a consultant position, and we all need to negotiate at one point or another, be it for a more favourable outcome in a project, or just for your salary.  The participants got to put the theory in practice in a few carefully designed role playing games, which at times were fun, at times challengingJ

Interspersed with the trainings, intervision, project presentations and new project kick-offs, were the masterclasses given by our newly appointed Ambassadors: Veronica Manfredi and Richard Elelman as well as economist Gonzalo Delacámara. About their masterclasses you can read in their dedicate news items.

We closed off the week with the kick off of the new projects, half of the participants working on Water in the Hydrogen Economy topic brought in by the Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia, and Towards A New Way Of Thinking And Learning In The Process Industry – Industrial Symbiosis And Energy Efficiency, brought in by Water Europe and H2OPeople, a joint project of the Netherlands and Belgium.

Looking forward to the next training week, and fingers crossed that we will be able to meet again live, healthy and well.

 

The Working Group Human Capital (WGHC) of Water Europe, under the lead of EJWP, is working on the Human Capital Agenda for the Water Sector. On the 11^th of September we had a new session on assessing the results of the first year and revising and adopting a work plan for the next year. The participants were also asked to co-create actions for the improvement and strengthening of the WG agenda, and did rounds defining priority issues, proposing activities and offering resources for implementation on 3 topics: policy agenda , collaboration on funding and strengthening the WG network. The proceedings of the meeting will be shared with the participants.

The next meeting will be held on the 13^th of October.

Interest to join the Working Group? Please contact WG Leader/ director European Junior Water Programme: Naomi Timmer (ntimmer@juniorwaterprogramme.eu) .

The scope of the WGHC is to create sensitivity within the water sector to the human factor of the sector at European level and positioning the European water sector as a reference in this domain by the definition of a common agenda, creating possibilities and its level of expertise. We want inclusive organisation with not only eye for the technical view of innovations but also room to development of innovations to the human capital.

In a rapid changing world, the water sector needs to adapt and transform; to climate change, circularity, digitalization and to the changing labour market. Young professionals are the key to these transformations. The EJWP programme develops talent and creates the next generation water leaders.

For you, it is an easy way to provide a talent programme for young professionals and support flexibility and personal development within your organization. Equip your organisation for the needed transformations. Develop young talent, empower your personnel and make sure you can keep your talents within your organization. Create access to innovation and access to a network of young talents around Europe. And become a better employer brand, an attractive organisation to new talent.

The first step of this journey is to contact Naomi Timmer and sign up with one or more of your young professionals.

The EJWP2 will kick off 23 November, so sign up by October 16!