TWINBAS is an EU-funded project which aims at filling gaps in knowledge and methods in order to enable implementation of a harmonised Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach that addresses the European Water Initiative. By twinning five river basins, two in Europe and three in Africa, NIS and Latin America and tying together water researchers with key expertise on these rivers, a critical mass of experience and knowledge will be mobilised. An important part of the objective is to build the capacity to carry out IWRM in all the five river basins, building on European approaches to water resources management with the Water Framework Directive in focus, as well as on third countries expertise and experience.
A key feature of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is that solutions are no longer analysed from the perspective of only one area, e.g. water availability. Instead, problems in different water fields are analysed in a coherent manner. Thus, measures proposed for the reduction of one problem, e.g. surface water quality, are analysed regarding biological, chemical, physical, economical and societal consequences also for the other areas, e.g. ground water quality or shortage, industrial use etc. This necessitates development of methods in a number of different research areas, addressing problems that are specific to each of the case study river basins. Each component developed will have local ownership and address priorities identified within the geographic region.