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IMPEL Water & Land Conference 2023 ägde rum den 17 och 18 oktober, i Palace of Parliament i Bukarest och även online.

IMPEL har ombetts av Europeiska kommissionen att utöka och tillämpa sin regleringskapacitet i expertteamet för vatten och mark. Effektiv förvaltning av vatten- och markresurser (både kvalitet och kvantitet) är beroende av god planering och leverans som baseras på data, information och professionell bedömning. Det är viktigt att den ekonomiska tillväxten i varje medlemsstat stöder ett planerat hållbart skydd och utnyttjande av vatten- och markresurser. Dessutom innebär ECA-initiativet, som främjas av Europeiska kommissionen, nya utmaningar, särskilt punkt 5 (Utarbeta vägledningsdokument om god praxis för säkerställande av miljööverensstämmelse i landsbygdsområden (i förhållande till mark och vatten)) som måste undersökas och diskuteras för att ta fram förslag för att uppfylla det ambitiösa IMPEL-perspektivet för vidareutveckling. Aktiviteter som genomförs och erfarenheter som byggs upp inom vatten- och landområdet måste delas mellan IMPEL-medlemmarna och den årliga vatten- och landkonferensen är ett instrument för en bred kontakt och diskussion.

The 2019 IMPEL Water and Land Conference took place on 8 and 9 October in Rome, Italy, at the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA – Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale). This two-day conference brought together speakers from different Member States to talk about droughts and floods adaptation in a changing climate. Liam Cashman from Commission’s DG ENV delivered a presentation on the Environmental Compliance Assurance (ECA) and emphasised the contribution of IMPEL’s work on specific topics (e.g. Doing the Right Things and Guidelines for Inspections) adding that with the new Commission’s focus on zero pollution there is still much work to be done, especially on Water and Land issues (e.g. Nitrate Directive). The 1st session of the Conference featured several presentations and perspectives on droughts and the focus was on trends in the drought landscape, irrigation problems, groundwater slow crisis, strategic dam planning and designing dams to pass sediments as a way to fight droughts. Most speakers agreed that there is a need to build resilience in the view of next decades. The 2nd session was focused on floods and the speakers delivered presentations that highlighted the implementation challenges of the main legislative drivers on this topic: Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Floods Management Directive (FMD). Jill Michielssen from Commission’s DG ENV pointed out that even though compliance is increasing there are still implementation gaps in all Member States regarding the implementation of the WFD that need to be urgently filled. There were different discussion panels throughout the conference, namely one about Climate Change Effects and about the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Industrial Emissions Directive and the challenges found when the two directives are crossed over. The Project Managers from the Water & Land Expert Team delivered presentations about the developments and main findings of the projects they are managing this year and Marco Falconi, the Expert Team Leader, closed the Conference by giving a presentation about IMPEL and the challenges that lie ahead.

The Conference was held in Zwolle (NL) on September 27th. In the opening addresses, Miroslav Angelov (EU Commission, DG Environment) gave an overview about the Commission Action Plan on Environmental Compliance and Governance, while Giuseppe Sgorbati (Water & Land Expert Team leader) gave an overview about IMPEL ambitions matching with the Conference topics.

IMPEL has been asked by the European Commission to expand and apply its regulatory capability into the Water & Land Expert Team. Effective water and land resource management (both quality and quantity) relies on good forward planning and delivery based on data, information and professional judgement. It is essential that economic growth in each Member State supports planned sustainable water & Land resource protection and utilization. Futhermore, ECA Initiative, promoted by the European Commission pose new challenges, in particular on point n.5 (Prepare guidance document(s) on good practices in environmental compliance assurance in rural areas (in relation to land and water)) that need to be investigated, discussed, to find out proposals to fulfill the ambitious IMPEL’s further evolution perspective.

The 2017 IMPEL Water & Land Conference took place on 4 and 5 October in Cagliari, Italy. The theme was “Land use and water quality: which interconnections?”.