Speech during the Opening Ceremony of the 4th International Yellow River Forum

European Experiences in public and stakeholder participation in river basin management
Dr Michael Pulch
Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to China and Mongolia
Speech during the Opening Ceremony of the 4th International Yellow River Forum
Zhengzhou, 20th October, 2009

Your Excellency, distinguished guests,
It is with great pleasure that I am standing here today, having been invited by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission to this important event, to welcome so many participants from different organizations who have come to share their research, management and policy experience. The theme of this fourth International Yellow River forum shows the importance of promoting the awareness among the general public on sustainable river management. It is therefore my great delight to give you a short insight on European water management and public participation.

Europe has been experiencing since many years the problems connected to urbanization, intensive agriculture and industrialization that China is now confronted with. The process the EU has engaged in resolving its water management issues is pertinent and useful for China. The EU experience is based on many years of efforts of managing large rivers such as the Rhine and the Danube that flow through many countries and it comes from more than 25 years of water policy and legislation. The culmination of this process is represented by the Water Framework Directive, the overarching water law in the EU, which governs water management in the 27 member states. The directive provides these countries a common framework to effectively work in cooperation for achieving a shared objective. The overall goal of the directive is to achieve good ecological and chemical status of all waters by 2015.

The main tools to achieve this ambitious objective are the River Basin Management Plans, due to be adopted by December 2009. One key element introduced by the Water Framework Directive is the public participation in the preparation of these plans.

The fundamental rationale for undertaking public participation is to ensure the effective implementation and achievement of the environmental objectives of water management; it represents therefore an essential aspect for to the overall success of the Directive.

This has led to one of the largest participation processes on a European Directive ever launched. The main purpose of participation is to improve decision-making by ensuring that decisions are soundly based on shared knowledge, experiences and scientific evidence, that decisions are influenced by the views and experience of those affected by them, that innovative and creative options are considered, and that new arrangements are acceptable to the public.

Today, most of the EU Member States have completed the consultation phase. A large number of consultation mechanisms has been developed to inform the public and to promote an active contribution to the river basin management planning process. Some lessons learned have already been drawn; let me give you a few examples4:

Since many important water decisions are not made by water managers, it is important to involve all stakeholders in the river-basin management process.
More transparency is needed in the preparation of River Basin Management Plans to improve public participation. The draft plans should be fully accessible so that everyone can discuss them and contribute to their development.

Environmental education is a prerequisite to ensure effective public consultation.

A key challenge is to incorporate results of the consultation into the final management plans. Comments made by stakeholders and the public should be taken into account to improve the acceptance of decisions made.

Putting people first is one of the key principles of the concept of Scientific outlook on development that governs Chinese policy-making. The EU approach to stakeholder participation could be an important inspiration for applying this principle as well as the EU experience of enabling different countries and government agencies to work under a common timetable could also be a very relevant example.

Therefore I am particularly happy that the EU has over the last two and half years been able to share some of these experiences with China through the EU-China River Basin Management Programme which is also one of the sponsors of this forum.

This year for instance, in the framework of the Programme, a Chinese and a European institute will develop, together with the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, a pilot action on integrated river basin management in a selected sub-basin within the Yellow River Basin. The objective is to contribute to the ongoing revision of the Yellow River Master Plan by giving advice based on European experience in integrated river basin management in accordance with orientations defined by the Chinese government. The process will provide an important platform for stakeholders to talk to each other and exchange views.

As you can see, though this programme China can benefit from over 25years of European experience whilst developing a system of integrated river basin management with Chinese characteristics.

I would finally like to wish all the participants a very engaging and successful conference and wish you fruitful exchanges on important issues ranging from stakeholder participation in river basin management to groundwater protection and, last but not least, climate change.

Thank you!