DRYvER – stakeholder workshop Pécs
The DRYvER* project’s Hungarian stakeholder** workshop was held on May 19, 2023 in the Hubertus guest house of Bükkösd Ecopark. One of DRYvER’s key features is the co-development of solutions with stakeholders (interested parties) for mitigating pressures. In order for the project to be able to formulate appropriate recommendations for adapting to increasingly intense droughts, it is essential to get to know the opinions and experiences of the stakeholders present in the focal drying river network areas (which is the Bükkösdi-víz catchment in Hungary).
At the workshop, there was an informal exchange of ideas between the stakeholders and the DRYvER researchers about where and how the interested parties perceive the problems arising from the drying up of streams, which of these problems do they consider to be the most pressing issues, what favourable future visions they can imagine, and what steps would be necessary to implement them.
Twelve people from nine organisations took part in the event, and nine DRYvER researchers from abroad helped to organise the workshop by giving briefings and guidelines to the Hungarian DRYvER team (Department of Hydrobiology, University of Pécs).
Of course, in addition to the purely professional programs, there were opportunities for some relaxation too (demonstration of sampling methods, horse-drawn carriage ride in and around the ecopark, and working dinner).
*The DRYvER project was established in 2020 and it involves more than 100 researchers from 25 institutions in 16 countries (e.g. research institutes, universities, including UP, DDVIZIG, Z5P Design Kft. as Hungarian partners). DRYvER investigates how global climate change, habitat transformation, and increasing water use affects previously permanent watercourses, and how these rivers and streams are drying up more and more often and for longer periods of time, putting both wildlife and the population under serious stress. DRYvER aims to collect, analyse and model data from nine Dry River Networks in Europe and South America to create a novel global meta-system approach in order to craft strategies, tools, guidelines, and recommendations for adaptive management of river networks in the EU and worldwide.
More information about the DRYvER project:
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**A stakeholder is a person who is either interested in or using the ecosystem services of the river network. This means anyone who is connected to the river network, or the Case Study area can be important and useful for the development of the solutions.