Delta Lady
Floating Cultures in River Deltas
Social
Culture and sustainable tourism
2014-2020
Project summary
Delta Lady project came to an end on 31st of May 2023!
The final conference was held on 26-27 January 2023 in the city of Leeuwarden in Friesland, in the Netherlands.
The project focused on river deltas in Europe and their potential to develop innovative activities aiming at utilization of local natural and cultural heritage. The aim was to improve the regional policy instruments that foster the capabilities of using ecosystem services in river deltas to strengthen regional economy. The delta regions are rich in biodiversity but poor financially. The challenge was how to foster the natural and cultural capabilities available from the past and to develop new experiences based on ecoservices in river deltas to boost regional economy. 6 delta regions participate: Rijn delta (NL), Danube delta (RO), Camargue delta (FR), Albufera delta (ES), Po delta (IT) and River Blackwater delta (IE). 9 partners from 6 countries represent a mix of regional and local public authorities as well as education and research institutes. ![Image removed.]( "This image has been removed. For security reasons, only images from the local domain are allowed.")
After 5 years of working together, partners found high opportunities in cross-regional learning and cooperation in fostering the capabilities of using local natural and cultural qualities of delta regions. Partners have engaged well with each other and each partner developed a better understanding of the capacity and expertise of other partners. The policy learning process started at the 1st Interregional Learning Event in France. Partners shared some experiences on a few joint themes such as nitrification of water, design based on local resources, payments for ecosystem services, and tools for the development of regional capabilities. An overarching strategy is to put ecosystem services on the agenda of the EU Regional Development with illustrative operational instruments for deltas. The 2nd Interregional Learning Event in Spain was dedicated to learning the best practices and focusing on innovative ecosystem services in deltas. Stakeholder involvement was ensured through the RSG meetings where local actors had opportunities to describe their challenges and expectations which is the added value of the project. The 3rd Interregional Learning Event in Italy was dedicated to the exchange of experiences on the use of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes in the participating delta regions. The 4th Interregional Learning Event and Partner Meeting was held online, as the Covid-19 outbreak prevented the planned meeting in Cork, Ireland. The meeting was dedicated to the development of action plans for delta regions. The two-day online meeting was successfully concluded by identifying further steps and activities for the continuation of the project. The 5th Interregional Learning Event to be held in Tulcea, Romania, was instead organized online as well, due to the Covid-19 situation. The focus of the meeting was on action plans and sustainable business models. The 6th Interregional Learning Event was planned to be organized in the Province of Friesland but instead was held online on 14-15 September 2021. The focus of the meeting was on the progress related to action plans and the lessons learned from the exchange of experiences process in Phase 1. The Final Conference of the project was organized was organized in Friesland, in Leeuwarden, on 26-27 January 2023.
After 5 years of working together, partners found high opportunities in cross-regional learning and cooperation in fostering the capabilities of using local natural and cultural qualities of delta regions. Partners have engaged well with each other and each partner developed a better understanding of the capacity and expertise of other partners. The policy learning process started at the 1st Interregional Learning Event in France. Partners shared some experiences on a few joint themes such as nitrification of water, design based on local resources, payments for ecosystem services, and tools for the development of regional capabilities. An overarching strategy is to put ecosystem services on the agenda of the EU Regional Development with illustrative operational instruments for deltas. The 2nd Interregional Learning Event in Spain was dedicated to learning the best practices and focusing on innovative ecosystem services in deltas. Stakeholder involvement was ensured through the RSG meetings where local actors had opportunities to describe their challenges and expectations which is the added value of the project. The 3rd Interregional Learning Event in Italy was dedicated to the exchange of experiences on the use of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes in the participating delta regions. The 4th Interregional Learning Event and Partner Meeting was held online, as the Covid-19 outbreak prevented the planned meeting in Cork, Ireland. The meeting was dedicated to the development of action plans for delta regions. The two-day online meeting was successfully concluded by identifying further steps and activities for the continuation of the project. The 5th Interregional Learning Event to be held in Tulcea, Romania, was instead organized online as well, due to the Covid-19 situation. The focus of the meeting was on action plans and sustainable business models. The 6th Interregional Learning Event was planned to be organized in the Province of Friesland but instead was held online on 14-15 September 2021. The focus of the meeting was on the progress related to action plans and the lessons learned from the exchange of experiences process in Phase 1. The Final Conference of the project was organized was organized in Friesland, in Leeuwarden, on 26-27 January 2023.
What did this project achieve?
The project encouraged all relevant stakeholders to get actively involved in the process which resulted in the improved implementation of the regional policy instruments leading to better use of deltas' ecosystem services for regional economy. This was done through policy improvements, improvement of governance, interregional learning sessions, development of action plans, identification of good practices and sharing and active work in chosen deltas with involvement of regional stakeholder groups.
A few numbers
1,745,494 €
01 Jun 2018-31 May 2023
9 partners