Water Forum members and team had a meeting with Minister O’Sullivan and department officials at the EPA Water Conference in Galway this week. This was the Forum’s first time to meet the Minister who is responsible for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity. We were able to inform him of our role, our work and our recommendations regarding the need for urgent implementation of the Water Action Plan, progression of policies and action to manage Invasive Alien Species and prevent further arrivals. The Chair highlighted the importance of stakeholder engagement to policy development and particularly the need for stakeholder engagement around the designation of Heavily Modified Water Bodies. The Minister who has a keen interest in bird-watching was very responsive to the Water Forum’s recommendations and we look forward to working with him further in the coming years.
The Water Forum’s Research and Policy Lead gave a presentation at the conference Bringing Science to Policy. The presentation showcased how research commissioned by the Water Forum, has informed the Forum’s policy positions and how these have resulted in policy changes at national level.
The Conference was an occasion to learn about what is happening in the water research, policy and water management and it was very informative in this regards. The EPA will be making the presentations available online in the coming weeks.
For the Conference, the Forum prepared a Case Study on Water Conservation to showcase our processes in developing policy positions and their outcomes.
Water Conservation Case Study.
