River Congost River Stewardship Agreement between the Catalan Water Agency and the City Councils of Canovelles, Les Franqueses del Vallès and Granollers.

The River Stewardship Agreement is a regional cooperation agreement that formalizes the collaboration between the Catalan Water Agency and the municipalities of Canovellas, Las Franquesas del Vallés and Granollers, with the aim of guaranteeing the protection and development of the aquatic ecosystem of the Congost River as it flows through the three municipalities. The agreement was formalized in a public act of the 3 mayors and representatives of the Catalan Water Agency. The Monitoring Commission meets periodically to draw up an annual monitoring report and a report on the work to be carried out during the following annual cycle. The action program of the agreement includes nature-based solutions such as the recovery of a naturalized river landscape, riparian forest management to reduce flood risks, planting of riparian species and the development of active policies for the management and governance of river uses.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Agreement-based or cooperative instrument›Joint regional planning between municipalities

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The implementation of Nature-Based Solutions guarantees the protection and development of the existing aquatic ecosystem and contributes to the achievement of the objectives of conservation actions. This instrument promotes all the components of nature-based solutions and focuses on the ecological restoration of altered river ecosystems, the natural recovery of urban landscapes, environmental awareness and the promotion of compatible public uses.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Blue areas

Good practice characteristics:

Effective

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Innovative

Inclusivity

Multifunctional NBS support

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The river stewardship agreement has a defined action program with its activities and schedule. At the beginning of each year, a report of tasks to be carried out throughout the year is defined. At the same time, a follow-up report on the actions carried out the previous year is also drawn up at that time. During the year, coordination meetings are held between the town councils and an annual meeting to monitor the development of the agreement, in which the Catalan Water Agency also participates.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Expert task force consultation

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

There are river stewardship actions aimed at involving citizens, research centers and academia. These actors influence the development of activities and their proposals and opinions serve to redefine future actions of the river stewardship agreement. There are specific collaborations of citizens and entities in actions of river maintenance, environmental education and citizen science. Due to its great specificity, there are few collaborations in conservation actions.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs, NGOs, etc.

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Budget:

100 000 € 500 000€

Details about instrument financing:

The total budget is expected to be between €280,000 and €360,000 over a 4-year period. An important part of these expenditures is made thanks to the financing of the European LIFE Alnus project. Budget by objectives: - Conservation: between 250,000 and 300,000 €. - Maintenance: between 20,000 and 30,000 €. - Monitoring and evaluation: between 10,000 and 20,000 €. Funding will be obtained through LIFE Alnus (main funder), municipal budgets and subsidies from the Catalan Water Agency. This total budget is an estimate and could be reduced if external subsidies are not obtained in the last years of the agreement.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

Monitoring is foreseen in the agreement's action program and includes follow-up indicators. There is currently no online tool, although it is possible that an online platform may be created in the future. It should be taken into account that some of the proposed indicators have a significant economic cost, so their application will be conditioned to budget availability.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

A mixed commission is created, formed by a representative of each signatory party to the agreement and, if deemed appropriate, a representative of the Biodiversity and Natural Environment section of the Territorial Services of the Department of Territory and Sustainability, for the monitoring, management, interpretation and execution of the Agreement, This monitoring commission organizes annually a minimum of one evaluation meeting with the participation of technicians from the 4 actors involved: the water authority (Catalan Water Agency) and the three town councils (Canovelles, Les Franqueses, Granollers). In this meeting, the results of the previous year are evaluated and the proposals for the next year's activities are examined.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The main benefit has been the creation of a supra-municipal coordination of activities for the conservation and improvement of the river ecosystem, as well as the promotion of participation, awareness and dissemination of the values of the river space. The impact that is being achieved is a greater naturalization of the fluvial space and the recovery of a large part of its ecosystemic benefits as an urban river. Citizens have also benefited through the management of compatible leisure areas in the various river walks and adjacent parks.

Success factors and lessons learned:

River stewardship agreements are instruments that are being implemented in recent years in several European countries. The model applied in Catalonia has been effectively designed by the Catalan Water Agency and the Xarxa per a la Conservació de la Natura (Network for the Conservation of Nature). It is a great tool for collaborative work between different organizations, public or not. In our case it is the first supra-municipal agreement to be signed in the field of the natural environment. In spite of being a new operation of the river management, the good predisposition of the municipal technical services and of the Catalan Water Agency have allowed to complete the first 2 years of operation with the accomplishment of many actions, many of them linked to the European project LIFE Alnus for the recovery of the riverside vegetation. It is an extrapolable and very necessary instrument for the management of urban natural spaces such as rivers or large wooded areas, which do not know the municipal boundaries. With regard to the lessons learned, all the participants in the agreement agree that this supra-municipal work makes it possible to tackle the most demanding challenges more effectively, such as, for example, the elimination of exotic species, the improvement of environmental flows or the organization of major environmental education events. Work will be done to increase the number of joint activities and to achieve a resilient operation that can withstand periods when external funding is not available to implement program actions.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Catalan Water Agency, (2020) Actions of river stewardship agreements. Available at: http://aca-web.gencat.cat/aca/Geco/sig/Custodia_fluvial/custodia-riucongost-franqueses.pdf (accessed: 06/05/2022)

Interview(s):

Technicians from the 3 City Councils and various departments of the Catalan Water Agency.

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://www.granollers.cat/noticies/sala-de-premsa/un-conveni-de-cust%C3%B2dia-f…

https://aca.gencat.cat/es/laigua/proteccio-i-conservacio/restauracio-despais-de-…

Photos

@Granollers