European wetland experience

Dr Tomasz Okruszko, Head of Warsaw Agricultural University's Division of Hydrology and Water Resources, was here at HOORC today, making a presentation about the latest European developments in water resource management policy and his experience linking hydrology to ecology in Poland's BiebrzaValley and national park wetlands. Dr Okruszko provided an update on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the European Commission's ambitious legislation introduced in 2000 to encourage management of entire river basins. A lesson from this for Okavango Delta planners is the difficulty European administrations face in incorporating wetlands in implementation of the framework. Though wetlands are clearly included, lack of agreement among countries as to what resources should be included as wetlands is a challenge.