Water – Food – Energy – Ecosystems Nexus Assessment in the Sava River Basin

Dragana Milovanović, Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Water Directorate Republic of Serbia

Dr Dejan Komatina, Secretary, ISRBC

Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

Meeting of the Parties to the UNECE Water Convention

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Sava river basin

• Challenges

– Use of resources: development and protection

– Management of resources: national → transboundary

• Legal and institutional framework for cooperation

– Framework Agreement on the Sava River Basin

– ISRBC

• Broad scope of work → Many sectors involved

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Sava nexus assessment

• Objectives / expectations – to contribute to:

– Dialogue with sectoral stakeholders

– Integration of policies

– Inter-sectoral coordination

– RBM planning

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Sava nexus assessment

• Initial steps

– Interest of Parties (Jan & Apr 2013)

– Discussion at PEG RBM 26 (May 2013)

– Submission of Expression of Interest to UNECE (Jun 2013)

– Invitation by JRC to take part in the Danube Water Nexus (Nov 2013)

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Sava nexus assessment

• Preparatory meeting (Sarajevo, 8 Nov 2013)

– Connecting water and energy sectors

– Interest of international organizations

• Preparation of the introductory workshop (Feb – Mar 2014)

– Relevant developments (EU, Danube, Sava, national level)

– Sectoral needs and intersectoral linkages

– Nexus assessment methodology – presentation and discussion

– Discussion of further steps

• Introductory workshop (4-6 Mar 2014)

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Introductory workshop

• Development plans and sectoral goals shared (national & basin level)

• Key intersectoral linkages identified (future development of sectors; climate change)

• Scenarios discussed

– Hydropower development

– Agriculture expansion

– Climate change

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Thermal plants Industry Public water supply Irrigation Other agricultural

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Emerging issues

• Hydropower expansion upstream and on tributaries

• Need for flood protection measures and related TB coordination

• Agricultural land expansion (irrigated)

• Dependence on energy production from thermal power plants (using water for cooling)

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Emerging issues

• Point source pollution (lack of wastewater treatment) and diffuse pollution (from agriculture, in particular)

• Sedimentation and erosion (depending on land use and practices)

• Hydromorphologic alterations of the river

• Pressure on groundwater (increasing)

• Climate change (mean flow reduction; increase in frequency of extreme events)

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Potential solutions

• Multipurpose use of the existing and planned infrastructure (including dams) across countries (example from Croatia and Slovenia)

• Navigation & sediment control at the basin level

• Targeting energy efficiency (proposal from Energy Community)

• Further integration of the energy and agriculture sectors in the RBM planning and implementation process

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Potential solutions

• Improvement of flood protection infrastructure and flood management (e.g. operation of reservoirs and dams)

• Economically valuing ecosystems (proposal from WWF)

• Drought resilience – water management and in particular demand for cooling water in power plants

• Development of renewable solutions to supply local demand (solar and wind integrated with hydropower)

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Analyses / modelling (KTH)

• Investigate the dependences between the SRB water resources and the energy sector

• Identify the impacts of climate change on hydropower generation through changes in water availability in the region and at a country level

• Assess the implications of an increase in water demand for irrigation on electricity generation

• Study the trade dynamic-response of the multi-country energy system under water availability constraints

• Environmental issues: CO2 emissions and water resources use in electricity generation

WATER AVAILABILITY

ENERGY

IRRIGA-TION

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Analyses / modelling (JRC)

• Water demands (agriculture, industry, public sector) taken into account, and how they change under future GDP, population, etc.

• Addressing ecological flow

• Estimating economic damage for individual sectors (agriculture, navigation, industry, etc.) under water scarcity and how this changes after taking measures

• Including investment and maintenance costs

Land use

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RC

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• Modelling water availability versus water demand (identifying areas and sectors with water scarcity) and how this might change, under

– Future climate as compared to current climate – Modified land use / measures (e.g. increased irrigation) as compared to

current land use

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Institutional assessment

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Consultation on Draft Report

• Web consultation

– Stakeholders from gov., non-gov., academic and business sectors

– One month (10 April – 9 May 2015)

• Final consultation workshop (Zagreb, 25 May 2015)

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Workshop conclusions

• Scope of nexus assessment was broader than usual scope of ISRBC but brought in relevant topics

• There is a need to further improve involvement of relevant sectors not currently engaged in work of ISRBC (primarily, energy and agriculture) at both national and transboundary levels

• There is a need to strengthen inter-sectoral coordination; International organizations – including ISRBC and UNECE – could support countries, including by follow up of assessment results

• Involvement of national authorities, other key stakeholders and local expertise in nexus assessment could have been stronger

– Stronger engagement of authorities was expected

– Modality of engagement could have been more effective

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Lessons learned

• Data collection is a challenging process (amount of data, number of institutions – data owners, different level of data availability in the countries)

• Templates for data collection

– Keep them as simple as possible

– Make clear what the data will be used for

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Lessons learned

• The role of national facilitators should be strengthened in similar activities in the future, especially to link more directly with the national authorities (this would imply more resources needed)

• Consultation is extremely important to ensure the countries’ ownership and best outcome of the assessment

– Data to be used for the assessment (workshop)

– Draft assessment (web-based, workshop)

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015

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Finalization

• Finalization of the report based on the stakeholders’ comments

• Publishing the report

• National seminars (BA, RS)

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Contact information

International Sava River Basin Commission

Kneza Branimira 29

10000 Zagreb

Croatia

www.savacommission.org

7th Meeting of the Parties, Budapest, 17-19 November 2015