CABRI-Volga was an international coordination action to facilitate cooperation and to coordinate research in environmental risk management in large river basins in the EU, Russia & the New Independent States (NIS).

The CABRI-Volga project was funded by the European Commission under the International Cooperation (INCO) Programme.

The project focus was on the Volga basin which comprises 40% of the population of Russia, 45% of the country’s industry and 50% of its agriculture.

For the Volga basin, environmental risk management is fundamental for protecting the environment, improving socio-economic conditions and promoting agricultural and industrial economies as well as the health of the Caspian Sea. Existing problems in governance and institutional performance, deficiencies in civil society involvement as well as low levels of cooperation between academic and policymaking institutions have led to a situation of significant ecologic, social and economic risks in the basin.

Strategic objectives

CABRI-Volga was an important project in support of the European Union's international cooperation goals. It has fulfilled its strategic objectives:

• To mobilise people and institutions to cooperateinternationally
  
  
• To strengthen links between scientificcommunity, policy-makers, and society
  
  
• To follow an integrative approach forenvironmental risk reduction & sustainableriver basin management
  
  
• To contribute to scientific cooperation and experience exchange on policies
  
  
• To promote environmental and humansecurity in Russia/NIS and in EU

Results

CABRI-Volga gained wide recognition within Russia and Europe-wide, for example by:

• Presenting its policy recommendations at an informative meeting in the Russian State Duma as well as during a Policy Roundtable in Moscow in Februatry 2007;
  
  
• Being featured in seven languages on the science and resaearch programme of Europe's leading news channel "EuroNews" in July 2007 (view television clip).

Tangible project outputs include networks of experts and stakeholders both on the national (Russian) and international level as well as several reports:

• CABRI-Volga deliverable D2:
  Environmental Risk Management in the Volga Basin:
  Overview of present situation and challenges in Russia and the EU
  Full document (100-page, 3.5-MByte PDF)
  
  
• CABRI-Volga deliverable D3:
  Environmental Risk Management in Large River Basins:
  Overview of current practices in the EU and Russia
  Full document (112-page, 1.5-MByte PDF)
  
  
• CABRI-Volga deliverable D4:
  The Volga Basin’s Development: Today’s Problems, Tomorrow’s Challenges
  Challenges and Obstacles in Environmental Risk Management in the Volga Basin
  Full document (94-page, 840-KByte PDF)
  
  
• CABRI-Volga deliverable D5:
  CABRI-Volga Policy Recommendations
  Full document (55-page, 290-KByte PDF)
  
  
• CABRI-Volga deliverable D6:
  CABRI-Volga Future Research Agenda
  Full document (26-page, 153-KByte PDF)

Rupprecht Consult - Forschung & Beratung GmbH

The project consortium consisted of 17 partner organisations which are well experienced in their respective fields - half of them coming from Russia and the other half coming from the EU Member States: Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Malta and the Netherlands.

The project consortium represented a wide range of society sectors (public, private and civil) and organisation types, including universities, private research institutes, resource and training centers, industry, NGOs, and international organisations dealing with a variety of aspects in environmental risk management:

• Rupprecht Consult Forschung & Beratung GmbH
  (Project Coordinator), Cologne, Germany
• Environmental Policy Research and Consulting
  Center “EcoPolicy” (Scientific Coordinator),
  Moscow, Russia
• UNESCO Moscow Office, Russia
• Nizhny Novgorod State University of Architecture
  and Civil Engineering, Russia
• Saratov State Socio-Economic University, Russia
• Caspian Marine Scientific and Research Centre,
  Astrakhan, Russia
• Autonomous Non-Commercial Organisation
  (ANO) Institute of Environmental Economics and
  Nature Resources Accounting “Cadaster”,
  Yaroslavl, Russia
• Ecological Projects Consulting Institute, Moscow,
  Russia
• Open Joint-Stock Company “Ammophos”,
  Cherepovets, Russia
• United Nations University - Institute for
  Environment and Human Security, Bonn, Germany
• Wageningen University, The Netherlands
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – UNESCO
  Chair/ INWEB, Greece
• Centro di Cultura Scientifica “Alessandro Volta”,
  Como, Italy
• Institute for Water Resource Management,
  Hydrologic and Rural Engineering of the
  University of Karlsruhe, Germany
• Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, Lyon, France
• Regional Environmental Center for Central and
  Eastern Europe, Szentendre, Hungary
• International Ocean Institute, Gzira, Malta

Frank Wefering

Tel. +49-221-6060 5513

CABRI-Volga Project Website
www.cabri-volga.org