Imagining a Safe Water Space for Danube’s Future: Engaging stakeholders for the co-creation of a Safe Operating Space for the Danube basin

Artuso, S., Burek, P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6390-8487, Cetinic, K., Kahil, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7812-5271, Langhans, S., Politti, E., Rotaru, S., Smilovic, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9651-8821, & Tramberend, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7024-1075 (2024). Imagining a Safe Water Space for Danube’s Future: Engaging stakeholders for the co-creation of a Safe Operating Space for the Danube basin. IIASA Report. Laxenburg, Austria: IIASA

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Abstract

On the 23 November 2023, the SOS-Water project held the first stakeholder workshop for the Danube Basin case study. As water challenges increase worldwide, exacerbated by climate change, the SOS-Water project aims to establish a Safe Operating Space (SOS) for water resources, to ensure an adequate, sustainable and clean water supply for both human activities and natural ecosystems. Funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe Framework Programme, the project uses an integrated approach that combines modeling, monitoring, and stakeholder engagement, applied to four different case studies in Europe and beyond. The Danube River basin, known for its ecological and socio-economic diversity, is one of the selected case studies.

The workshop convened key stakeholders from various freshwater-related institutions, promoting dialogue and collaboration to address the complex challenges that the basin is facing. During a day of interactive activities, stakeholders collectively identified values, objectives, and priorities essential for sustainable water management in both the entire Danube basin and the Danube Delta. Discussions underscored the need for integrated approaches that balance environmental conservation, socio-economic development, and climate adaptation.

Key outcomes include the refinement of objective hierarchy maps that reflect the stakeholder input and priorities collected during the workshop. The next steps will be the development of specific indicators for the objectives. This is followed by the weighting of goals (i.e., objectives) to be achieved through further stakeholder engagement activities and workshops, towards a co-development of the Safe Operating Space for the Danube River basin.

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