Reservial Project: designing river reserves with people and social agentsʼ consensus

An initiative without previous models in Europe

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), there will be more pressure on hydric systems around all Europe and the effects of climate change could worsen this situation. In this scenario, each European country must fulfil the regulations of the Water Framework Directive and declare their own protection figures to preserve the environmental health of the river reserves.

In Spain, the creation of River Nature Reserves in 2015 is an initiative to preserve river stretches with few or no human intervention and in a good ecological state. However, despite the approval of 82 reserves -a total of 1.755 kilometres of river courses- there are still areas around the country that could benefit from this protection figure.

With this challenge in mind, Reservial is an innovative proposal in Europe that will bring new elements of systematic planning -georeferencing, mathematical models, etc.- to design river reserve networks with the support from the most involved people and social agents.

The challenge of identifying river stretches with highest ecological value

According to Núria Bonada, member of the Freshwater Ecology and Management Research Group (F.E.M) of the UB, “the main problem of the current River Nature Reserves is that there are still lots of river stretch typologies to represent. In addition, their designs lack properly defined and agreed criteria such as the preservation or biodiversity linked to river resources, mainly threatened species or habitats with special ecological interest”. “Therefore, we cannot say that we have a catalogue of representative river reserves of the rivers in Spain or that preservation of our river biodiversity can be guaranteed” says Núria Bonada.

Social value, environmental value

Adding peopleʼs participation in the design of river reserve map is another distinguishing factor in Reservial project. “Another future threat -continues Bonada- could be the fact that people donʼt know what these are and are not conscious about this situation. It is necessary to involve people in this so that they know what river reserves consist of, why they are necessary for the preservation of biological, geomorphological and landscape diversity, and the value of the environment services that people get from rivers”.

According to the researcher, “we can only guarantee the protection and preservation if we have a strong social consensus. Therefore, we think public participation is necessary in the design process and selection of the River Nature Reserve of each delimitation. It is positive that the objectives for these reserves might be decided among all of us, with the biggest possible consensus. This same consensus is necessary when establishing what areas have to be protected in each watershed, once different possibilities and reasons are talked over by scientists and technicians”.

Preserving biodiversity of the river systems in the country

Reservial, among other results, will bring a methodology guideline for the uses of management tools and guidelines to tackle specific public participation processes. The River Ebro basin, a vast and heterogeneous area regarding river typologies and uses with human origin, is the scenario for the first pilot experience of RESERVIAL, with the support of Ebro Hydrographic Confederation. According to Bonada, “the plenty of available data -climatology, hydrology, biodiversity, water quality, etc. - are essential to undergo a systematic plan with scientific and technical criteria, and socio-economic ones as the ones we propose with Reservial project”.

Reservial was presented in a series of conferences held in June at the headquarters of the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation in Zaragoza with the attendance of researchers, consultants, ecologists and representatives of institutions. In this project, there is also the participation of Professor Narcís Prat, Director of the Freshwater Ecology and Management Research Group (FEM-UB) of the UB; Pau Fortuño (FEM-UB); Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles, from the Central University of Catalonia (UVIC-UCC) and FEM-UB; Tony Herrera (New Water Culture Foundation) and Virgilio Hermoso (Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya, CTFC).

Meanwhile, the project also drove some workshops in Zaragoza and Cuenca with representatives of universities, conservationist entities, administrations, associations, companies, etc. to detect different interests that should take into account when designing the network for river nature reserves. Other entities collaborating with Reservial are the University of Vic (UVIC-UCC), Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC), Public Works Studies and Experimentation Center (CEDEX), the Iberian Center for River Restoration (CRIREF), the fisher association AEMS-Ríos con vida, and the company MEDIODES.

Further information about Reservial project can be found on the link

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