Do Stakeholder Forum

Subtask Description:
Scenario presentation.

Action points of the implementation:

Present and translate the interpretation of the ecological, economic and social modelling results to the audience:

Give a general explanation of uncertainties and assumptions

Present the different scenarios to the audience by following the same sequence of explanation for each

Explain the policy option
Identify scenario inputs and outputs
Explain assumptions
Identify and quantify benefits for scenarios
Identify and quantify costs of scenarios
Get indication as to the time scales of costs and benefits
Explain uncertainties of the scenario
Explain error envelopes of the models
Explain possible unexpected changes
Run an additional scenario if requested by the audience.

Area:
Pertuis Charentais, France

Policy Issue:
Freshwater allocation in the Charente river catchment

Human Activities:
Agriculture, oyster farming, recreational fishing, drinking water consumption.

General Information:
The river is a strategic resource for the whole region. Due to agriculture diffuse pollution and water shortage recurrent events during summer. 52% of the water bodies of the Charente basin show a risk of failing the WFD objectives in 2015. The management of the river and its coastal zone implies to take into account the management of agricultural activities and of water supply in the river basin. The main stakeholder concerns (most of them policy makers) are connected to the sustainable management of the water resources and the achievement of the good ecological status. The policy options are considering the modification of the “authorised volumes of water” for each consumptive uses (drinking water for households, irrigation for agriculture) and the improvement of the limitation rules which apply to the consumptive uses during the periods of water shortage.

Example of Implementation:
In order to clearly present the components of the Pertuis Charentais model, the scientific team have used the ExendSim features of graphical interface and hierarchical blocks with their own user defined icon representation. As shown on the Pertuis Charentais model interface (Figure 1) the blocks are organised according to the following classification: (1) on top, governance and regulation e.g. irrigation restrictions based on river water flow monitoring, (2) in the middle, environmental resources uses e.g. agriculture, drinking water for households, recreational fishing and shell fish farming, (3) on bottom, the resources systems e.g. the Charente river hydrology, wetlands and coastal water productivity. The stakeholder group appreciated this presentation as it gave them an integrated view and allowed them to visualize their position and their role in the system.

Figure 1: The layout of the Pertuis Charentais model, with the use of ExtendSim software.

ExtendSim offers animation features that can be run during simulation, with a dynamic choice of speed. An animation tool was developed to visualise, over a chosen background image, any model variable with “traffic lights” alternately coloured in green, orange or red depending on its value: under, between or over two selected thresholds. At the end of the simulation, histograms are plotted next to each dot visualising the number of days each threshold was reached. This tool is used in the Pertuis Charentais model, to display the Charente river flow levels compared to regulatory thresholds at stations of the monitoring network. Another graphical “traffic light” tool is used to visualize for each sub-catchment the number of days of restriction and when they occur during the simulation (Figure2). These tools were appreciated by stakeholders as they help to envision the dynamics of the system in a spatial representation.

Click on thumbnail for full image

Figure 2: Animated mapping of Charente river water flow level at monitoring stations for irrigation regulation.

Contact: Johanna Ballé-Béganton, Johanna.Beganton@ifremer.fr.