How can the concrete meaning of the ambiguous and theoretical concept of sustainable development (SD) be defined and implemented, without losing sight of its fundamental principles? This study introduces a theoretical framework that supports studies of SD implementation in the context of strategic disaster risk management, by defining what SD implies with regard to planning procedures. The fram...

Water resources from alpine and other mountainous karst aquifers play an important role for water supply in many European countries. As regulated in the WFD (Water Framework Directive), karstic catchments require sustainable protection. The increasing strains to such regions and the different utilization in the watersheds of karst springs are important triggers to establish early warning system...

The paper reports the first results of the EU funded Project WADI (Sustainability of European Irrigated Agriculture under Water Directive and Agenda 2000). The objective of the WADI project is to evaluate the economic, social and environmental sustainability of European irrigated farming under different scenarios concerning water policy and the Common Agricultural Policy. The methodology relies...

Many current water-related RTD projects have established operational links with practitioners, which allow the needs of policy makers to be taken into account. However, RTD results are not easily available to water policy implementers and research scientists may lack insight in the needs of policy makers and implementers (i.e. the European Commission and water managers). The SPI-Water project w...

On the basis of a case study this paper develops a mechanism for access to multiple databases on a semantical level and outlines semantic commonalities and differences between the concepts of information communities. Although semantic translation won't overcome all differences between ontologies due to domain differences, it nevertheless serves as a bridge between the different world views, tra...

A model-based prioritisation exercise has been carried out for the Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation. The approach considers two aspects: the hazard of a certain chemical and its exposure levels, and focuses on aquatic ecosystems, but also takes into account hazards due to secondary poisoning, bioaccumulation through the food chain and potential human health effects. A list provide...

The paper focuses on the decision-making process in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The WFD is an important piece of legislation, which will decide the quality of the EU aquatic environment for the foreseeable future. The main environmental goal of the Directive is good ecological status, to be achieved by 2015. The paper highlights the central role disproportionate cost analysis (DCA),...