Kick-off event on November 20^th 2019 in Vienna

Here we go!

On November 20^th 2019, the grand launch of the first Austrian Integrated LIFE project took place in Vienna.

Head of Directorate-General “Water Management” Günter Liebel welcomed the approximately 100 interested guests from administration, universities, technical offices and NGOs, emphasising the importance of the largest LIFE project in Austria. LIFE IRIS, under the lead of the Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism, is thus laying the foundation for successful river basin management.

New territory in river basin planning

Afterwards, project manager Helena Mühlmann gave a first general overview of the project. From the submission in 2017 to the creation of the joint “River Development and Risk Management Concept” (GE-RM). For the first time, planning is also taking place across federal state borders.

And how do we deal with the living space river so that everyone benefits?

Ideally, flood protection, nature conservation and river ecology, but also human uses, should be considered holistically. This is the goal of the Integrated LIFE Project “IRIS – Integrated River Solutions in Austria”.

7 minutes – 7 rivers

In order to be able to test the GE-RM planning tool for different types of water bodies, rivers of different sizes, both in the alpine area and in the lowlands, were selected.

The 7 project leaders of the pilot rivers presented their respective pilot rivers for the first time during the event.