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.