Deadline: 1 April 2020
PRIMA is seeking applications for its project entitled “Management of Water 2020 – Implementing sustainable, integrated management of water resources in the Mediterranean, under climate change conditions”.
In this context, “Integrated Water Resources Management” (IWRM), founded on reliable water accounting and based on three pillars, (such as social equity, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability), can facilitate adaptation to the global change promoting the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, maximizing economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.
The integration of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and IWRM should be investigated, developing and testing innovative demonstration cases on efficient and sustainable use of water, at pilot projects at various scales, from plot to basin.
New solutions enhancing the real integration of social and economic components of the IWRM as well as the environmental ones have to be developed and connected to existing simulation models assessing the impact of climate change.
Scope
The IWRM approach(es) should be implemented and tested by involving all the potential stakeholders in experimental or demonstration sites representative of Mediterranean water conditions in terms of water scarcity, water accounting, water use efficiency, use of non-conventional irrigation waters (saline and waste), changing climatic and demographic conditions, crop diversification, conflicting use of available waters, as well as needs for improved governance by different authorities (including transboundary aspects), and other relevant factors.
Given that the majority of the water is consumed in the agricultural sector, a comprehensive approach to water accounting is needed to obtain robust estimates of water use by developing and testing state of the art technologies that are affordable to all users. Reliable estimates of consumptive use are needed for a) water allocation by policy makers at the basin scale and beyond; b) for validation of current remote sensing techniques; and c) for optimizing farm irrigation management under water scarcity. Pilot projects should be launched to integrate innovative water accounting approaches into CCA and IWRM.
Funding Information
PRIMA considers that proposals requesting a contribution up to EUR 2,5 million and with a duration of 36 months to 48 months.
Expected Impacts
- Validation, testing and adoption of innovative and adapted technical, organizational, business and governance models aimed at enhancing the efficiency of water use by the integration of social and economic components into IWRM and CCA approaches.
- Demonstration(s) of how the proposed IWRM models approach will lead to better use, saving and preservation of water resources, with a positive impact in terms of quality, quantity, and sustainable use, without adverse impacts on other natural resources and in terms of benefit for users (socio economic issues) as well as ensuring preservation of natural ecosystem services.
- Optimization of management of water for irrigation obtained from various sources, in particular, abstracted of recovered water from waste water treatment systems or recovered water from other sources (such as rain water, industrial, etc.) at the basin level as well as in collective networks (water users’ associations), improving water use and distribution efficiency, as well as preventing socio-economic conflicts in the use of water resources; Water exploitation index in rivers, aquifers, and other land-based sources must be also ensured.
- Improved regional, national and transboundary water governance in support of legal security and social trust;
- Strengthened institutional/organisational and individual capacities in terms of adopting and applying IWRM models, concepts and strategies;
- Improve multi-sectorial stakeholder involvement management and institutional capacity building.
Countries Eligible for Funding
Legal entities established in the following countries and territories will be eligible to receive funding through PRIMA grants:
- The following Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU): Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia. It includes the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) linked to these Member States.
- The following Third Countries associated to Horizon 2020 (AC): Israel, Tunisia, and Turkey.
- The following Third Countries not associated to Horizon 2020 (TC), having concluded international agreements for scientific and technological cooperation setting out the terms and conditions of their participation in PRIMA: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco.
- These Associated (AC) and Third Countries (TC) mentioned above are the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC).
How to Apply
Interested applicants can apply via given website.
For more information, visit http://prima-med.org/call-for-proposal/section-1-water-management-2020/