18-21 May 2009, Lviv, Ukraine

‘Progress in Managing Water for Food and Rural Development’

Lviv Declaration

The 23rd European Regional Conference (ERC) of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) was held during 18 - 21 May 2009 at Lviv, Ukraine. The theme of the ERC was ‘Progress in Managing Water for Food and Rural Development’. The conference was organized by the Ukraine National Committee of ICID (UKCID) in cooperation with the ICID European Regional Working Group (ERWG). Professionals from Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Iran, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and ICID participated in the conference and discussed the various keynotes and papers.

The Conference placed high emphasis on the issues related to flood control, water demands, GIS technologies and application in the field of water management. The special theme was dedicated to the climate change in view of frequent floods and droughts observed in Europe. Special attention was given to the development of management plans for river basins.

The 23rd European Regional Conference concluded with following Declaration/Recommendation :

1. The conference papers highlighted the good ‘on-going’ development with respect to integrated management of water and land resources both with respect to policy related developments (stakeholder participation, actual implementation, modeling, data collection, storage) and their dissemination.

2. More and more projects were being developed and implemented in an integrated way by taking into account social conditions with stakeholder participation. Possible impacts of climate change including technical, economical, gender, and environmental aspects are getting addressed. However, more need to be done to improve these aspects. This will be especially important during the operation and maintenance phase of rural development projects. It is in this phase that the benefits of projects are really realized.

3. Primarily due to human activities and to a certain extent due to the impacts of climate change, the effects and impacts of floods and droughts are significantly increasing in many places. Therefore, it is increasingly important that in the development of projects, both the present day conditions as well as the envisaged mid-term and long-term scenarios are taken into account in the decision-making process. In the light of this, the European Water Framework Directive and the European Flood Directive are important guiding documents that have to be implemented jointly.

4. For improved coordination of the wide range of activities for rural development at different spatial levels, like integrated land and water management, river basin management, rural development and spatial planning, it is recommended to update legislation and organizational structures where relevant.

5. There is an urgent need to strengthen international water legislation for protection of water rights for agriculture in order to support sustainable and integrated water management - irrigation and/or drainage, dependent on the local conditions - as a requirement to guarantee food security.

The conference recorded its appreciation to the activities of the Inter-state Coordination Water Commission of Central Asia in the framework of cooperation of the five states - Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan - on trans-boundary waters under the conditions of climate change and felt that it could be an example for the trans-boundary cooperation in other river basins.
The conference also supported the development of a Russian speaking network of water management specialists that was initiated in the Moscow meeting of January 2009 and recommends that scientific organizations join the network.

Agreed actions

• To increase food production significantly, through sustainable rural development in the forthcoming decades by realizing the potential of several of the European countries, like Ukraine, it was agreed (by several parties) that an initiative will be taken for a joint project on ‘Integrated Water Management’ for improving food production in European countries. The ICID European Working Group will take the initiative to prepare a proposal in cooperation with the potential partners.
• To improve the network for European young professionals in the water management sector to be initiated jointly by UKCID and GECID. They will also promote joint activities like research projects, exchanges, summer schools, etc.
• To review and further develop the activities of Work Team on Sustainable Irrigation Management (WT-SIM) in light of integrated rural development.

The 22nd European Regional Conference of ICID was successfully organized by the Italian National Committee of ICID (ITAL-ICID) from 2-6 September 2007 at Pavia, Italy. It was attended by over 150 delegates from 19 countries.

A workshop on 'History of Irrigation, Drainage and Flood Control' on 2 September 2007 and another Workshop on 'European Framework Directive in the Field of Water Policy' on 3 September 2007 were also successfully organized during this period. Several ICID Office Bearers and professionals attended the Conference who included President Peter Lee, President Hon. Bart Schultz, Vice Presidents Lübbe and Guluyk, Vice Presidents Hon. R. Segura Graino, Alain Vidal and Ligetvári, Secretary General M. Gopalakrishnan and Secretary K.N. Sharma, besides the members of the host Italian National Committee including ITAL-ICID President Ubertini, General Secretary Maria Elisa Scarascia, and Prof. de Wrachien.

The Conference was opened in the presence of Mr. P. Lassini (representative of the Lombardia region), Mr. G. Guizzetti (Vice President and Pro-retor, University of Pavia), Mr. M. Cutonilli (Italy), Mr. C. Gattoni (Italy), President Peter Lee (ICID) and Prof. L. Ubertini (ITAL-ICID) on the dais. The Opening Speech was delivered by President Lee followed by speeches by Prof. Ubertini, Mr. Lassini and Mr. Guizzetti.

Two technical tours were organized during the week. Tour 1 - Pavia - Novara - Vigvano enabled the delegates to visit Irrigation and Land Reclamation Consortia in the Ticino River Park (Varese) and in Novara. The delegates in Tour 2 - Pavia - Montava saw the Pumping Station of the Terre dei Gonzaga Irrigation and Land Reclamation Consortium in Montava.

It was decided to bring out a 'Pavia Initiative' as the outcome of the Conference.

Opening Speech, Mr. Peter S Lee, President, ICID