Refreshing the roles of social and economic thinking, methods and tools to support EU Blue policy transition delivering sustainability, resilience and security

The Refreshing H2O Policy workshop provided a space for policy makers, practitioners and environmental socio-economists to get together and identify the disruptive breakthroughs in social and economic thinking required to support European Blue policy transition in facing present and future challenges, including climate change.

The workshop built on experiences in applying social and economic thinking, methods and tools to support decision making at different scales (local, metropolitan area, catchment, river basin and sea basin) including in the context of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Sources of inspiration from “beyond the blue”, including biodiversity and climate change, were also welcome. New perspectives, approaches and ideas were injected into the debate thanks to, among others, the participation of a young professionals from different disciplines and policy domains.

Workshop results provide an insight on the state of the art of social and economic thinking, methods and tools to support blue policy in Europe and beyond. Lively discussions among participants identified opportunities and challenges for mainstreaming their use in water and marine decision making, strengthening European blue policy in the face of the challenges ahead of us.