Lakes are vital to the communities around them. From providing freshwater to supporting industries like tourism and agriculture, the natural environment of lakes provides services that benefit people’s quality of life and livelihoods. Because lakes offer so much to so many, they attract a wide range of stakeholders, from farmers and anglers to families and wildlife organisations. Competing demands, alongside the growing pressures of climate change and pollution, put lakes and the communities that depend on them at risk.
Restoring lakes sustainably requires a community effort. Through EURO Lakes, project partners are building local Communities of Practice (CoPs) at Lakes Bistret, Dümmer and Vico. A CoP is an informal group where people come together to share ideas and make decisions about the things they care about. Westcountry Rivers Trust is working with project partners to establish and support these CoPs. The first step involved carrying out a stakeholder analysis to better understand each community and using the findings to guide future engagement.
This exercise revealed that each lake is at a different stage:
At Lake Bistret in Romania, 24 stakeholders were identified, mostly from government. People have a strong connection to the lake but there are significant knowledge gaps about the challenges it faces. There is a clear need for engagement activities to diversify stakeholder groups and bridge these gaps.
At Lake Dümmer in Germany, 19 stakeholders were identified from a broad range of backgrounds. Knowledge levels about the condition of the lake are already high. The priority here is to widen participation and connect with community groups that already exist locally.
At Lake Vico in Italy, 48 stakeholders were identified, making it the most diverse group of the three. The survey revealed that food security is the community’s biggest concern. There is also a need for ongoing engagement and education to improve people’s understanding of the environmental pressures facing the lake and the strategies available to address them.
The knowledge gained from this exercise will enable a considered, place-based engagement approach to be developed, one that meets the needs of community members and for successful CoPs to be built.
EUROLakes is a Mission Ocean project which main goal is to propose an innovative, holistic and science-based approach to safeguarding and restoring European natural lakes and their ecosystems. Through establishing local communities of practice, EUROLakes will apply the principles of co-creation and inclusivity to develop and showcase novel, integrated protection and restoration solutions, focusing particularly on nature-based solutions (NBS).
Eurolakes website: https://eurolakes.eu/