Do Stakeholder Forum

Subtask Description:
Wrap-up the stakeholder forum conclusions.

Action points of the implementation:

If there is a demand for giving more in detail explanations, do this by splitting up into different sessions / work groups / or convene additional meeting.

Treat every subgroup equally

If done different meetings for different stakeholder groups, bring them together for a wrap-up session

Give a summary of the different meetings

Introduce the next steps and possible preparation for deliberation

Area:
Guadiana Estuary, Portugal (& Spain)

Policy Issue:
Management of the discharges of untreated wastewater into the estuarine environment

Human Activities:
Energy production, tourism, urban activity, agriculture and livestock farming, aquaculture.

General Information:
The estuary is the natural border between Portugal and Spain. On both sides of the estuary, especially in Spain, urban development is taking place, mainly associated with tourism and threatens to increase the inputs of pollutants, namely nutrients and bacteria. Nutrient input is expected to change, not only due to fertilizer application on golf courses, but also due to the river discharge from a large dam, which has accumulated nutrients during its filling. On the Portuguese side, the construction of a large-scale WWTP, designed to serve several urban areas, was successively delayed since it is located within a protected area. The main stakeholder concerns relate to asymmetric development strategies of the two countries and the impact of activities taking place in the watershed on the estuarine and coastal water quality, which has consequences on tourism attractiveness, fisheries, or traditional salt farming.

Example of Implementation:
The Stakeholder Forum for Guadiana Estuary was planned as a day long discussion session, divided in four communication panels followed by a moderated discussion and a poster session.

Figure 1: Photo of one of the stakeholder Forum’s panels.

The most relevant topics of discussion and findings were the following:

The overlapping jurisdictions on the watershed with associated delays in administrative processes, which frequently hinder economic development. This issue, which was more stressed by the VRSA municipality, is also related to a concern related to the absence of a single strategy for the Guadiana estuary;
The ecological river discharge of dams, particularly the Alqueva dam. The speaker from EDIA presented the methodology used to calculate the Alqueva dam ecological river discharge, but stressed that no information whatsoever is provided by the Spanish dam managers. This lack of communication between stakeholders represents a relevant barrier for an integrated management;
Tourism investors on the Portuguese side feel they are harmed by excessive conservation restrictions and bureaucracy when compared with the Spanish side. On the other hand, in some of the stakeholders’ opinion, that tourism benefits a restricted group of non-resident people and the environmental concerns expressed by tourism managers are not honest;
The natural reserve representative stressed the desire to have economic development associated with the reserve, explaining their view on what type of activities could be developed and how. This highlighted the fact that there are good natural conditions to develop some economic activities, but either there is no interest by investors in such activities or the bureaucracy surrounding such processes is overwhelming;
The projects for dredging the river channel are controversial and this constitutes an interesting policy issue. It is seen by some stakeholders as an historical right that will be restored to the population, and a way to improve and regulate the already existing navigation. Others consider that the dredging project is only another strategy for the construction lobby to fill the Guadiana margins with tourist facilities. Despite all that, this is a joint project between Portugal and Spain, with shared responsibilities and costs, which might contribute to an integrated management;
The need for more scientific work to improve the knowledge on the impacts of damming on primary productivity and sediment transport were recognized as important. This is an important finding for post-project activities.

Contact: Maria Helena Guimarães, mguimaraes@ualg.pt.