The first ever workshop of PONDERFUL was organized by HEPIA-HES (Beat Oertli, Aurélie Boissezon) and was held in Meinier, Switzerland on 19th October 2021. This workshop and the subsequent workshops in every DemoSite of PONDERFUL target stakeholders engaged in water management and biodiversity. The participants came from NGOs, public administration, consultancy and industry (hydroelectricity). The purpose of the workshop was to start a process of communication and trust building between them and the PONDERFUL team.
The workshop started with a presentation by Beat Oertli and Aurélie Boissezon about the PONDERFUL project, the issues of management of pondscapes in the world and in Switzerland with the two pondscapes: Bois de Jussy and Rhône Verbois. Following this, ISARA led a series of debates, keeping discussions within the framework defined by the different partners of WP1 (BU, TUM, UU, ISARA, ECOLOGIC). Jacques, Joel and Soraya presented the objectives of each session.
A succession of connected ponds in Rhône Verbois Pondscape
The workshop included individual work (questionnaire, storyline) and plenary sessions where the stakeholder perception of the pondscapes and the future challenges connected with climate change were discussed. Special time was given to a working group (participatory mapping). The final session was an opportunity to provide feedback on the organization of the workshop.
Participants were happy to share their experience and worked very well together. Several of the stakeholders stayed after the end to discuss together and/or with organisers. This bodes well for their involvement in future PONDERFUL workshops which will be taking place over the next few years.
A special thanks to Aurélie and Beat for the careful preparation of the workshop, especially by finding relevant stakeholders and selecting a place that offered excellent working conditions.