Study tour to Spain and Portugal

On 19-23 November 2018, a Moldovan-Ukrainian delegation visited Spain and Portugal to familiarise themselves with the implementation of bilateral cooperation under the Albufeira Convention and with the principles of integrated water resources management in the Iberian Peninsula. The study tour brought together 19 participants representing environmental, water, fisheries security agencies, hydropower companies, academic institutions, and NGOs operating in the Dniester River basin. The tour participants visited the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Portuguese Environment Agency, a restored section of the Manzanares River, three hydropower plants (Entrepenas, Alcantra and Alqueva), the Tagus Cross-Border Natural Park, and the Ramsar wetland in the Tagus estuary. The issues discussed during the tour included bilateral cooperation under the Albufeira Convention, water distribution between countries and water users, drought management, irrigation, renewable energy development goals and objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive, environmental flow, river restoration, development of river basin management plans (RBMP), and financing of RBMP activities.

The study tour was organised in the framework of the GEF Dniester project. A tour report and presentations from Spanish and Portugese colleagues will be available soon.