2nd Workshop on Drought Risk Management in the Alps

The workshop was part of a discussion and exchange of knowledge which was started in September 2017 with the Expert Workshop on Drought Risk Management in the Alps in Ajdovščina (Slovenia) and after which the Water Platform decided to continue this exchange of knowledge and experiences. The workshop aimed at highlighting experiences with and identification of droughts events in Alpine Countries in different fields of water resources management and ways of dealing with associated challenges. Experts from different countries (Italy, Czech Republic, Slovenia) as well as from different regions (Bavaria (Germany), Region of Salzburg (Austria)) presented experiences with drought events in the past and existing strategies and approaches to cope with challenges in different sectors of water resources management. Furthermore, approaches for the identification of low flow and streamflow droughts as well as impact of droughts and climate change on future water resources management were presented. The workshop was very successful to bring together experts from different regions of and even outside the Alpine area to facilitate the knowledge exchange in the field of drought management to raise the awareness about the importance of drought management as well as about the existing knowledge, which is already available to mitigate impacts of droughts events which are like to become more frequent in future in the Alpine area.

Agenda
 
 
Part I – National and regional experiences and existing strategies  

• Summary of 1st Expert Workshop on drought risk management in the Alps in Ajdovscina (Sep. 2017) 
  By: L. Stravs, M. Jelen, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of Slovenia   
• Low flow management 
  By: H. Berger, Bavarian Environment Agency   
• Strategic water resources management and drought 
  By: J. Wiesenegger, Regional Government of Salzburg   
• National strategy on drought management 
  By: V. Matuszná, Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic 

Part II – Identification of droughts and climate change impacts   

• Low flows and streamflow droughts - processes, indicators and requirements 
  By: G. Laaha, University of Life Sciences Vienna   
• The management of water scarcity in Italy: from hydrological droughts to stakeholder's coordination 
  By: N. Diano, Italian Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea   
• Droughts and climate change in Austria – implications for water resources management 
  By: G. Blöschl, Vienna University of Technology    

Part III – Approaches for drought management   

• New approaches to better drought management in Slovenia and Danube region 
  By: A. Sušnik, Slovenian Environment Agency   
• Ecosystem-based solutions in drought risk management 
  By: E. Sötz, WWF   
• Outlook: activities of Alpine Convention Water Platform on Drought Risk Management 
  By: A. Bianchini, Presidency of the Water Platform