Subterranean ecosystems - Universidade de Évora

IAH 2007 XXXV Congress - Groundwater and Ecosystems Lisbon, Portugal
Science-policy integration linked to the implementation of the European
Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) and its daughter directives
ABSTRACT
Philippe QUEVAUVILLER
European Commission, Environment DG, Office: BU9 3/142, B - 1049 Brussels.
E-mail: Philippe.Quevauviller@ec.europa.eu
The need for a better science-policy integration linked to the implementation of the European Union Water
Framework Directive (WFD) and its daughter directives, in particular the new Groundwater Directive
2006/118/EC, is being discussed since 2004 in multi-stakeholders' forum. The sharing and exchanges of views
between scientists, policy-makers and experts from NGOs and professional associations have highlighted that, at
the present stage, knowledge generated by several research and demonstration projects is not reaching policymakers
in an efficient way. On the other hand, the consideration of research results by the policy-making
community is not straightforward, mainly for political reasons and difficulties to integrate the latest research
developments in legislation. The difficulty is enhanced by the fact that the policy-making community is probably
not defining its role as “client” sufficiently well. In other words, the dialogue and communication are far from
being what one would hope to ensure an efficient flow of information. It is now generally recognised that
improvements could be achieved through the development of a 'science-policy interface', ensuring a structured
information exchange among different actors concerned. This would enable R&D results to be synthesised in a
way that could efficiently feed the implementation and further reviews of the policies and ensure a timely
identification of short, medium and long term research needs.
The 'Policy Session' of the IAH Groundwater & Ecosystems Conference is at the heart of these
discussions, providing examples of research projects and case studies that are linking scientific progress to EU
groundwater policy developments.
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