GEOGRAPHICAL FOCUS

The international workshop “Hydropolitics in Italy and in the EU-Med Region” explores the role of national governments in shaping their own hydropolitics. Italy, in particular, will be the focus of the first session, while Europe and the Mediterranean area will be the main focus of the entire workshop.
Italy, with its fragmented institutional framework and its specific approach to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, together with its institutional actors, NGOs, civil society, and academia, will be both under examination and invited to share their views on the topic.

With the aim of establishing criteria for a (im)possible Comparative Hydropolitics — drawing a horizontal hypothetical line across the countries of the North and South of the Mediterranean, and adding a vertical comparison between Northern and Southern Europe — the workshop will show how different countries, either within the same legislative framework (Europe) or facing similar hydro-climatic challenges (Mediterranean countries), respond or fail to respond to their water needs.

A comparison between European and non-European water legislation, as well as between Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean countries, will provide key insights to better understand the Italian hydropolitical reality. Climatically located at the centre of the Mediterranean, Northern Italy shares several similarities with other Alpine countries. Climatic, economic, social, and power dynamics related to the construction of a national water strategy will also be investigated.

AN EVOLVING LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR WATER IN THE EU AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

With increasing demand for water, climate change, and geopolitical challenges, the sustainable management of water resources has become a crucial issue for stability and development in the region. The timing of the workshop is particularly significant, as from September 2025 Italy will begin implementing the EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL), which includes the restoration of aquatic environments and their biodiversity.

How does river restoration interconnect with flood prevention? How does groundwater pollution relate to the need to protect and recharge depleted aquifers? How does agricultural irrigation connect with the need to prevent and mitigate future droughts in Italy? - These are just some of the key discussion points of the workshop.

In addition, the new Water Resilience Strategy of the European Commission forms part of the emerging hydropolitical discourse in Europe. In parallel, the development of the European Pact with the Mediterranean aims to deepen cooperation with southern Mediterranean partners, focusing on three main pillars: people, economy, and security. How water fits into — and interconnects with — each of these three pillars will also be addressed during the workshop.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

In order to provide a comprehensive overview of the theoretical foundations underpinning the JustWATER workshop, it is important to clarify the diverse backgrounds of its presenters. They include political representatives in the field of water and water governance, regional officials, NGO representatives, journalists, PhD students, academic researchers, professors, and field practitioners. This diversity of voices will offer the workshop a genuinely multilateral perspective on its central theme: hydropolitics.

The topic of hydropolitics will be critically analyzed through multiple lenses, including Critical Hydropolitics, Virtual Water Studies, Political Ecology, Hydrosocial Theory, Critical Water Geography, International Water Law, Hydrology, Post-Colonial and Gender Studies. Furthermore, the workshop will give space to presenters to contextualize how each of these concepts is applied or interpreted within their respective perspectives, territorial units of analysis, or theoretical frameworks.

PROGRAMME

This workshop is the final event of the JustWATER. Water Decision Making Tools for Informed Hydropolitics in Italy project. The project aims to develop decision-making tools for Italian policymakers, enabling them to assess, at a national level, the origins of agro-food that rely on vulnerable aquifers and at-risk river basins, through GIS maps and targeted communication initiatives.