CABRI Volga

Cooperation along a big river. Institutional coordination among stakeholders for environmental risk management in the Volga Basin.

Introduction

CABRI-Volga (Cooperation Along a Big River) is an international coordination action between the EU countries and Russia to facilitate cooperation and to coordinate research in environmental risk management in large river basins in the EU, Russia & the New Independent States (NIS). The project focus is on the Volga Basin – the largest river basin in Europe. CABRI is considered as a success story within the 6WP and is included into the catalogue of successful EC projects.

Objectives

• Foster institutional coordination and cooperation, stakeholder participation and partnerships, networking within the Volga basin and with the EU counterparts;
• Enhance coordination of research on environmental risk management in large river basins in Russia/NIS and in the EU;
• Strengthen links between scientific community, policy-makers and society
• Follow the integrated approach in water related risk reduction and channel the results in research, networking and cooperation back into the EU/international processes;
• Leave a legacy within the large river basin enabling institutional coordination and cooperation on water-related risk management, policy development and opportunities for citizens to participate in decision-making and action

Results

Project introduced the package of policy recommendations directed primarily at decision-makers in Russia and the Volga basin, but are also intended to provide suggestions and ideas to other stakeholders in the Volga basin as well as in other river basins. CABRI developed ten policy recommendations and thirty-eight concrete activities. They are structured according to general water governance issues including strategic planning and implementation in river basins, multi-hazard risk management, coordination of stakeholder participation and partnerships; major policy fields, including river basin sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, water quality management, tools of implementation, including financing, information dissemination, local capacity building, etc. By the end of the project a series of regional workshops were held in order to support and validate the project’s policy recommendations as well as its proposed research agenda, including a local outreach workshop in Astrakhan, a scientific workshop in Pushchino, a workshop for industry representatives in Yaroslavl. Finally, CABRI policy recommendations were presented at the Policy Roundtable with support of the Russian State Duma.

For more information see the project webpages at www.cabri-volga.org