Land and Water Management and Engineering for Adaptation Platform (LWEA)
Main strategic challenge for Business Plan 2014: The adaptation of water engineering and agriculture to climate change and link it to enhanced land use and ecosystem services delivery
Platform Value Proposition
The Land and Water management engineering for adaptation (LWMEA) Platform’s value proposition addresses the target audiences: water authorities, agricultural sector, cities and business:
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To accelerate the transformation to climate-resilient regions by targeted engineering and management of water and land resources in a (cost-)effective way
- To raise the adaptive capacity of regions
- To integrate ecosystem solutions in the portfolio of solutions to adapt
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To help European businesses develop integrated solutions to adapt water and land resources to climate change.
Problem Statements/Market Context
- Surge in demand for natural resources, including water and land.
- A need for optimized management and engineering of land and water assets
- Critical interconnections between water, energy and food
- Budgets, more for less
- Climate change impacts
Business opportunities
There is a sharp surge in demand for natural sources including land and water: a rapidly growing business. The theme areas are:
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Floods, droughts, salination, damage - Specific efforts are expected for areas prone to sea level rise and weather extremes
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Interconnections in the water, energy and food sectors - in and around cities, in the relationships between rural and urban areas, adaptation plans, based on land and water management and engineering
Large business opportunities for the following areas:
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s providing new products and services in engineering, construction and information, communications and technology (ICT).
- Large land and water engineering, dredging companies and the building sector
Focus:
- Resilience to extreme events
- Long term sustainability and robustness
- Socio-ecological systems and ecosystem services
Priority areas 2014
Theme I: Resilience to extreme events: adapting land and water to extreme events: floods, droughts, storms (safety). Focus:
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Integrating new technologies into the management and engineering of land and water infrastructure to increase robustness and to maximise efficiency (eg sensoring, IT)
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Accelerate adaptation by transforming current developments through adapt-inclusive integrated engineering of land and water
Theme II: Long term sustainability and robustness: adapting land and water use and supply to balance demand and availability (security). Focus:
- Integrating new smart information and control technology to optimize land and water use
- Balancing water demand and availability and land use shifts to optimize agriculture and water demand for industrial processes (eg transformation of suburban zones, precision agriculture, water use industry)
Theme III: Socio-ecological systems and ecosystem services, enhancing land resilience and ecosocio system adaptive capacity. Focus:
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Acceleration of adaptation by enhancing the adaptive capacity (eg providing tailored action perspectives, participatory approach, innovative tools and services, innovative value chains and financial arrangements, information and communication technologies)
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Targeted use or new development of Ecosystem System Services to adapt to climate change
Target Partners
Business partners: Dredging companies, engineering companies, Building sector, Industries in flooding areas, Water dependent industries Energy sector, Project developers, ICT-sector; SME’s and start-ups, focusing on integrating new technologies (e.g. sensor technology) into current management and engineering of land and water
- NGO’s for Land , Water, Agriculture, Environment
- Energy sector
- Public authorities responsible in land and water use and management
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Owners of agricultural and infrastructural assets in rural areas and risk insurance companies
- Municipalities