1. Connecting People for Better Coastal Water Management in Europe
Carlo Sessa – ISIS
AWARE Evaluation Workshop
Brussels – 20th October 2011
AWARE is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.

2. About AWARE
Working for sustainable water ecosystems management by means of scientists, citizens and decision-makers knowledge brokerage
Limited participation adaptive management
Traditional management
Integrated adaptive management
Scientists
Public
Public
AWARE’s focus is on human-caused deterioration of coastal water ecosystems. The project engages scientists, policy makers and the public in jointly creating and analysing scenarios for improved water management in coastal areas.
AWARE’s participatory approach is crucial: it develops further the concept of integrated adaptive ecosystem management, by creating active roles for public participation. This strengthens the consultations between local residents, research and policy communities and facilitates common strategies.
The project implements this approach in three case studies : the coastal waters of the Gulf of Riga (Estonia and Latvia), the Seine, Somme, and Schelder river basins and the Southern North Sea coastal zone (France and Belgium), and the Po river Delta and Goro lagoon (Italy).
Public
Scientists
Managers
Managers
Scientists
Managers

3. A Paradigm Shift:
From Science-Policy Interface (SPI) to Science-Citizens-Policy Interface (SCPI).
SPI paradigm: Scientists and Policy Makers elaborate a policy and “sell” it
to the end users (technocratic/marketing approach)
Policy formulation and selection mostly founded on marketing techniques:
Surveying the opinions of a statistically representative sample of the population
AWARE’s focus is on human-caused deterioration of coastal water ecosystems. The project engages scientists, policy makers and the public in jointly creating and analysing scenarios for improved water management in coastal areas.
AWARE’s participatory approach is crucial: it develops further the concept of integrated adaptive ecosystem management, by creating active roles for public participation. This strengthens the consultations between local residents, research and policy communities and facilitates common strategies.
The project implements this approach in three case studies : the coastal waters of the Gulf of Riga (Estonia and Latvia), the Seine, Somme, and Schelder river basins and the Southern North Sea coastal zone (France and Belgium), and the Po river Delta and Goro lagoon (Italy).
SCPI paradigm: Scientists, Citizens and Policy Makers co-create a policy
(democratic/deliberative approach)
Policy formulation and selection mostly founded on cognitive techniques:
Working together with a panel of cognitively different citizens

4. Pilot experiments of citizens’ panel deliberation
The missing step:
From pilot SCPI experiments to wider adoption of the SCPI paradigm.
Pilot experiments of citizens’ panel deliberation
(AWARE case studies)
AWARE’s focus is on human-caused deterioration of coastal water ecosystems. The project engages scientists, policy makers and the public in jointly creating and analysing scenarios for improved water management in coastal areas.
AWARE’s participatory approach is crucial: it develops further the concept of integrated adaptive ecosystem management, by creating active roles for public participation. This strengthens the consultations between local residents, research and policy communities and facilitates common strategies.
The project implements this approach in three case studies : the coastal waters of the Gulf of Riga (Estonia and Latvia), the Seine, Somme, and Schelder river basins and the Southern North Sea coastal zone (France and Belgium), and the Po river Delta and Goro lagoon (Italy).
User Created Policies
(Citizens’ participation by means of collective awareness platforms on Internet)

5. AWARE Objectives To foster sustainable water ecosystems management
To enhance connectivity between research, policy making and the public
To link research to policy development regarding sustainable water ecosystems management
AWARE posits that there is a potential for better connectivity between actors and that there is a need to improve it in the short term

6. AWARE Case Studies Pilot experiments were undertaken in:
The coastal waters of the Gulf of Riga (Estonia and Latvia)
The Seine, Somme, and Schelder river basins and the Southern North Sea coastal zone (France and Belgium)
The Po river Delta and Goro lagoon (Italy)

7. Project Partners
Coordinated by the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS), 14 partners from 8 European countries brought their experience to AWARE:
Aquatic ecosystems studies
Social sciences
System analysis
Integrated water management
Decision support systems for the environment
University of Uppsala  Université Pierre and Marie Curie  Université Libre de Brussels  Università di Parma  adelphi  Interdisciplinary Centre for Comparative Research in Social Sciences  Missions Publiques  Istituto di Studi per l'Integrazione dei Sistemi  Joint Research Center - Institute for Environment and Sustainability  Università di Siena  Bioforsk  Politecnico di Milano  Baltic Environmental Forum

8. AWARE Knowledge Brokerage
1st European citizen workshop
Gulf of Riga stakeholder workshop & conference
North Sea stakeholder workshop & conference
Sacca di Goro stakeholder workshop & conference
2nd European citizen workshop
European conference on linking research to policy

9. AWARE Process Local Declaration European Declaration! Local Conference
Decision-makers
Scientists
10 local Citizens
Local Conference
process
Decision-makers
Local Declaration
Stake-holders
Scientists
All 30 AWARE Citizens
European Conference
process
European Declaration!
Stake-holders

10. The AWARE (potential) Benefits:
Connects the EU and regional/local levels
Engages randomly selected transnational groups of citizens as catalysers of connectivity, knowledge brokerage and policy formulation
Creates a “public sphere” for transparent dialogue among scientists, citizens, stakeholders, and policy makers
Produces citizen declarations for sustainability, raising awareness for all actors involved
May trigger adaptation of policies and programmes, at local and EU levels
Enhances “social capital” across Europe, and can be replicated across countries and topics of sustainability

11. AWARE Citizen Mandate
“To provide their own assessment and recommendations to key European decision makers on why and how to link research, policy making and public participation for a better management of coastal environments in Europe”
Become aware of the key
issues and challenges
Provide local knowledge
Drive the local process
Share findings at local
and European level

12. Citizen Recommendations
A holistic approach to coastal water management „eutrophication is only one point of entry into broader ecosystem health issues“
Continued improvement in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) „we the citizens are concerned about the quality of our coastal waters and by the lack of consistency in water quality data“
Local solutions, now „the time for action has come… and all options should be evaluated against local environmental and socioeconomic criteria“

13. Citizen Recommendations
Better connectivity between research, policy-making, and civil society „scientific ambassadors could ‘translate’ critical information for citizens, business representative, and politicians alike“
Improved information to key actors „dialogue involving farmers, fishers, tourist agency, and citizens is crucial… and a special focus should be placed on children’s education“
„We as citizens are willing to take the first steps and hope other parties will follow.
Join us in this change!”

14. For more information about AWARE – including the citizen declarations and other publications – please see
AWARE receives funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° The contents of this poster are the sole responsibility of the AWARE project and the European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.