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Aquamoney: Development and Testing of Practical Guidelines for the Assessment of Environmental and Resource Costs and Benefits in the WFD

Type of Entry:	Project
Website:	http://www.aquamoney.ecologic-events.de/
Duration:	01/04/2006 - 31/03/2009

Description:	The concept of environmental and resource costs plays a central role in the economic analysis of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). However, there are no methodological guidelines regarding their practical assessment. The main objective of this project is to develop and test such practical and policy relevant guidelines. This will be achieved through the development of standard procedures and a protocol for good practice in decision appraisal for the WFD. These guidelines will then be tested via a series of case studies of selected, representative European river basins. Outcomes of these case studies will be used in two ways. First, this information will be used to refine the guidelines for good practice in WFD decision appraisal. Second, the common design of case studies will permit investigation of techniques for transferring economic values of environmental and resource costs and benefits from water body level to national and international river basin level and vice versa. As part of this exercise we will also investigate the use of geographical information systems (GIS) to synthesise data from the case studies with available physical environment and census data so as to generate a Europe-wide map of expected benefits of improved water quality due to WFD implementation. The proposed project is highly policy focussed, being driven from the outset by the direct involvement of a Europe-wide Steering Committee of policy-makers and other stakeholders directly involved in the implementation of the WFD.
Keywords:	Policy, Research and development, Water management

Contact:	Mr. Roy Brouwer VERENIGING VOOR CHRISTELIJK HOGER ONDERWIJS, WETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK EN PATIENTENZORG NETHERLANDS Telephone: +32-20-5985608 Fax: +31-20-5989553