Solutions for a more resilient world!
October 13 is the UN's International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which in France is marked by the action day ‘Tous résilients face aux risques’ (‘All resilient in the face of risk’).
Climate change is leading to changes in rainfall patterns and more intense and frequent extreme events (floods, droughts...).
As a result, water can become a threat, and the development practices adopted to date need to be reconsidered to limit the impact.
To support these changes, OiEau can provide solutions at 4 levels:
- training & educational engineering
- institutional and technical support & cooperation
- networking of water stakeholders
- data and information systems
Focus on some of the issues addressed by OiEau, in which innovation plays a key role.
Nature-based Solutions
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are innovative approaches that use ecosystems to combat the impacts of climate change.
Alongside conventional engineering solutions known as ‘grey solutions’, ‘green’ NBS consist of ecological and sustainable responses to natural hazards.
In the water sector, they can be broken down into a wide range of actions to meet various technical challenges.
For many years now, OiEau has been using NBS to fuel its thinking and actions in favour of sustainable management of our water resources.
Some examples of our Nature-based Solutions projects
The use of unconventional water
To combat water scarcity in certain areas, OiEau is helping to develop solutions linked to the use of non-conventional water resources (rainwater, reuse of treated wastewater, etc.) in the strategic planning of water supplies.
This involves, for example
- encouraging strategies at various levels to take advantage of the potential of alternative water resources to help safeguard the aquatic environment, improve the resilience of environmental functions and combat the multiple anthropogenic and climatic stress factors,
- to strengthen societies so that they are more resilient to the effects of climate change by stimulating multifunctional green infrastructure, relevant social innovation, awareness-raising and policy support,
- to seek community support and involvement for the adoption and implementation of environmental risk management strategies by increasing awareness, commitment and acceptance in society.
A few examples of our projects involving the use of unconventional waters
Integrated urban rainwater management
Climate change, urban flooding, Zero Net Artificialisation (ZNA)...: local authorities are facing ever-greater constraints when it comes to urban rainwater management (URWM).
At the crossroads of different disciplines, this is no longer just a matter of hydraulics, but also of urban planning and even landscaping. With almost 60% of the world's population living in urban areas, URWM must be coupled with reducing the impact of climate change, in particular combating heat build-up in summer, and reducing carbon emissions, with the development of soft mobility, with traditional roads becoming shared with vegetation, cycle paths, public transport, etc.
OiEau is in a position to support local authorities in implementing exemplary solutions, and to provide them with an assessment, independent of private interests, of the various products currently available on the market.
On a broader scale, the establishment of a ‘basin-connected cities dialogue’ is a mechanism for making progress towards sustainable water management: different stakeholders can be involved in identifying and implementing appropriate and sustainable solutions for effective multi-level governance of cities and basins.
Finally, this connection aims to improve awareness and protection of water sources within and beyond urban boundaries, to maintain the quantity and quality of water resources and to prepare for extreme events and the impacts of climate change.