NWE - INTERREG IV B
amice logo

AMICE

Climate Changing? Meuse Adapting!

Tuesday, april 28 2009

Kick-off meeting AMICE project

Maïté FOURNIER (EPAMA) | International events

The AMICE project was initiated by EPAMA in 2008 and many organisations and institutions were contacted during the working-out of the application form. They could not all join as Partners but wished to follow the project’s evolutions. The AMICE project was accepted on the 3rd call for projects of the Interreg IV B Programme and the subsidy letter signed on March 10th, 2009.

 

This event has a double objective : to present the final version of the project to all people that have been involved in its elaboration and wished to be match-funders or observers for the implementation of the project; to sign the Partnership Agreement that links all 17 Partners of the project.
The kick-off meeting was combined with the site visit of one of AMICE investments: the development of the Naives basin. You can find all elements related to this visit on the next newsletter.
70 people attended the AMICE kick-off meeting.

Martine LEJEUNE, communication officer for the AMICE project, welcomed all participants in the name of the AMICE Partners. She introduced the speakers and detailed the day’s schedule.

Speech by Mr DEWE, Premier Echevin de la commune de Hotton, host of the event.
Mr Dewé welcomed all European Partners and thanks the guest speakers for their presence.
He presented Hotton, a community of 5000 inhabitants in the Ourthe river basin, with its numerous ecological and touristic assets. He explained the problems caused by floods, which are recurrent since the 1980’s, in particular in the village of Ny where the works will be carried-out within the framework of the AMICE project.

Speech by Mr DEWIL, representative of the Ministre-Président du gouvernement wallon.
Mr Dewil has recalled how important water is for the Walloon people, its territory and its culture.
He presented the Walloon expertise in water management – quality, floods or droughts – as well as the missions assigned to the Groupe Transversal Inondations (Transversal Group on Floods), Partner of the AMICE project.
He wished that the skills developed in Wallonia could open to the transnational level and benefit from a mutual enrichment based on best-practice exchanges. He supported the creation of a dynamic partnership for the management of floods and droughts, the mutualisation of pilot activities, the sharing of diagnostics in the different regions of the Meuse basin and the concerted implementation of concrete measures to face the climate evolutions.
He concluded its speech in gratifying all those who have supported the AMICE project and lead to its acceptation, and he wished for an excellent and beneficial collaboration for the well-being of all Mosan citizens.

 

Speech by Mrs MAHY, députée provinciale du Luxembourg, in charge of the technical services
Mrs Mahy has expressed her honour to participate in a project involving 17 Partners, demonstrating the wide openness and solidarity around the topic of water. She presented some of the works implemented by the Province du Luxembourg in water management and insisted on the fact that integrated water resources management is the only efficient way against extreme watercourses behaviour, like in the Naives situation.
She recalled the criterias for an investment to be part of the AMICE project: present measures against both floods and droughts, be beneficial for the whole basin and transferable to others, strengthen and widen the stakeholders’ partnership in the basin, involve the population and local decision-makers through a better knowledge of the basin and climate change, bring innovation.
She explained the part played by the Province du Luxembourg in the development of the Naives stream and wished that the reflection carried-out on the basin could benefit other projects, in particular in other beautiful villages like Ny.

 

Speech by Mr JEANTEUR, President of EPAMA, Lead Partner of the AMICE project
Mr Jeanteur has welcomed all Partners of the project, Interreg IV B, the International Commission of the Meuse and the participants that came this day.
He presented AMICE has a unifying project for the countries of the Meuse basin. Its challenge is to gather Partners with different problematic and however sharing a common point, the Meuse river.
He presented the EPAMA, its missions and its achievements on the French territory, the consultation with local stakeholders, the fight against floods, the flood crisis preparation or the vulnerability studies. He detailed EPAMA’s actions in the AMICE project: the development of the OSIRIS software and the Lead Partner’s tasks. Solidarity upstream/downstream has always been part of EPAMA’s policy. It is obvious that the strategy should not be limited to the French level.

He spoke about the assets of the Mosan basin, its culture and rich heritage, still too poorly known.
He told how the AMICE project was set-up, how the application form was made, how in spite of the difficulties of its selection the partnership did not weaken, joint and several to achieve the objectives of AMICE.

 


Speech by Ms FOURNIER, coordinator of the AMICE project
The coordinator of the Project detailed the objectives, duration and budget, part-financed by the ERDF through the Interreg IV B Programme. She listed the Partners involved in the different actions and their roles. Finally, she showed the project’s organisation and the interactions between the different workpackages.



Speech by Mr P. BOUXIN, chief engineer on the Ny village works
Mr Bouxin has detailed the problematic in the Ny village and the Naives basin has well as the solutions that will be implemented within the AMICE project and the integrated basin management plan.



Speech by Mr G. BOUXIN, scientific comity Natura 2000
Mr Bouxin is in charge of the ecological monitoring before, during and after the works. He presented the first results from the monitoring of vegetation carried-out on the Naives stream.


The speeches were followed by the signature of the Partnership Agreement by the representatives of the Partners. This contract sets the working rules in the Partnership for the good implementation of the AMICE project.



add comment Add comment :