EFC WPMMW

Working Groups

Soil and biodiversity conservation, water management, restoration of degraded lands, protective forest management and torrent-control in mountain watersheds are important challenges which require the collaboration of all the actors involved in the rational utilization of soil and water resources. The Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds brings European mountain stakeholders together to promote sustainable development in mountain watersheds and the rational utilization of soil and water resources.

The Working Party is continuously working to shape and react to emerging issues of global importance, maintaining an active reflection on the relevance and impacts of its activities. It established two Working Groups in 2011 that work on: Forest & Water, and Hazards and Disaster Risk Mangement in Mountains. In 2019 the Working Group 3: Protective Function of Forests was established.

Upcoming events

34th session of the EFC Working Party on Management of Mountain Watersheds

Management of mountain watersheds in a climate change perspective: from the Alps to the Mediterranean

27-29 September 2023 | Bolzano, Italy

34th session programme

Previous events

33rd session of the EFC Working Party on Management of Mountain Watersheds

Flood protection function of forests in mountain watersheds

13-15 October 2021 | Traunkirchen, Austria

The session will focus on the flood protection functions of forests in mountain watersheds in a changing climate. Forests provide many services: some of these are protective functions that are important for humans and the environment. Mountain forests indeed play an important role in actively protecting from flooding. The aim of the session is to gather and share different experiences and impacts on protective forests in a changing climate. A field excursion was organized to the Model-Watershed "Rindbach".

33rd Session Program 

Forestal and Technical Measures on Erosion-Torrent Control and Rehabilitation of Forest-Water Resources in Mountain Watersheds

14-16 September 2021 | Trabzon-Rize, Turkey

Steering Committee Meeting

May 2021

WG3 First Meeting

January 2021

The goal of the meeting was to officially start WG3. In 2019, the concept paper of WG3 was built at the 32^nd session of the WPMMW in Innsbruck. This meeting began a more in-depth discussion between working group members regarding the concept paper and allowed for more knowledge sharing and the start to many more meetings between the working group.

Steering Committee Meeting

November 2020

The steering committee meeting provided an opportunity to announce that Austria (Florian Rudolf-Miklau) would continue their role as chair of the working party from 2021-2023. Many other topics were discussed, incuding the first publication of WG3, which is currently in the process of being published. Updates were provided by each working group leader and next steps were outlined for every country member. The venue of the 33^rd Session of the EFC WPMMW 2021 in Austria was confirmed and further details on the session are currently being prepared.

32nd session of the EFC Working Party on Management of Mountain Watersheds

Protection forests in European mountain regions

25-27 September 2019 | Innsbruck, Austria

The session focused on the protective functions of forests in mountain watersheds in a changing climate. Forests provide many services; some of these are protective functions that are important for humans and the environment. Mountain forests indeed play an important role in actively protecting from avalanche detachment, hindering landslides, stopping rockfall, preventing erosion and reducing runoff through deep soil formation. The aim of the session was to gather and share different experiences and impacts of protective forests in a changing climate. A field excursion was organized to the Alpine Stubai Valley.