RECONECT project team meets in Zwolle for the second General Assembly meeting
The second General Assembly Meeting of RECONECT took place in Zwolle (NL) from 8 to 10 May 2019, organized by local partners IHE Delft and TAUW. After the kick-off meeting in Portofino (IT) of last September, the meeting in Zwolle enabled to advance project activities further and plan demonstration of Nature-Based Solutions with local stakeholders.
Reference frameworks and social innovation, stakeholder mapping, NBS implementation works, monitoring systems and indicators, upscaling and exploitation were the most discussed topics. During the ‘twinning session’, demonstrators, collaborators, and project partners were invited to share and match their challenges, opportunities and expertise.
During field trip to the IJssel River Basin NBS, works executed under the framework of the Room for the River Programme were shown by local experts.
Noteworthy was also the participation of Pritha Hariram (FMO-Dutch Development Bank) and Henk WJ Ovink (Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands) to emphasize the relevance of RECONECT in addressing future water and land planning challenges.
About the project
RECONECT is a European Commission-funded HORIZON2020 project on the topic of large-scale Nature-Based Solutions for hydro-meteorological risk reduction.
It started on 1st September 2018 and will run for five years. RECONECT is an interdisciplinary project which combines 35+ international leading partners and is coordinated by IHE Delft. RECONECT aims to contribute to European and international reference frameworks on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) by demonstrating, referencing and upscaling large-scale NBS and by stimulating a new culture for 'land use planning' that links the reduction of hydro-meteorological risks (e.g., floods, storm surges, landslides and droughts) with local and regional development objectives in a sustainable way.
In addition to the activities on co-creation, demonstration, and upscaling of Nature-Based Solutions, RECONECT will also develop educational products and organize public events to share the gained knowledge and disseminate project results.
RECONECT’s activities can be followed on their website and social media channels Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
RECONECT is led by IHE Delft, with Zoran Vojinovic as the Project Director.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 776866.
Zoran Vojinovic
Associate Professor of Urban Water Systems