Snow-covered landscapes welcomed the participants, with fresh snowfall making travel more challenging. The winter conditions provided a memorable setting for two days focused on retaining water locally and adapting to a changing climate.
Through presentations and field visits, participants explored Püspökszilágy’s work. The meeting offered an opportunity to understand local solutions in their setting: the landscape and community whose challenges they aim to address.
From local experience to shared learning
Püspökszilágy is sharing its experience of managing flash floods and applying natural water retention measures with its network partners. During the two-day meeting, participants learnt about the municipality’s completed and ongoing LIFE projects, alongside the broader principles of water retention and climate adaptation.
Field visits connected the presentations with direct observation. Participants could see the solutions in their local setting, building on what they had learnt through photographs and presentations.
The task of SpongeMeasures is to turn this experience into knowledge that other municipalities can use. This means understanding the local conditions, partnerships and decisions that support the application of these solutions.
What does transferring a good practice involve?
A proven approach from another municipality provides a valuable starting point, but applying it requires attention to local conditions. Topography, land use, water-related challenges and the stakeholders who need to be involved may all differ.
The network’s task is therefore to explore which elements of Püspökszilágy’s practice can be used in partner municipalities and where adaptations are needed. Cooperation and local stakeholder participation form part of this learning process alongside natural water retention measures.
The first in-person meeting established a shared starting point. Delegations got to know one another, explored the Lead Partner’s experience and became familiar with the practice underpinning the network’s work.
European cooperation, local application
Led by Püspökszilágy, the SpongeMeasures partnership began with Vilamarxant (ES), Nuovo Circondario Imolese (IT), Razkrižje (SI), Plav (ME), Târgu Secuiesc (RO) and Velykyi Bereznyi (UA). Representatives from five partner municipalities travelled to Püspökszilágy for the February meeting.
The aim of this cooperation is to help partners apply what they learn in their own local contexts. In-person meetings play an important role by creating space for questions, comparing experiences and building the relationships needed for continued collaboration.
Staff from the Hungarian Alliance of Climate-Friendly Municipalities supported the organisation of the event. The Cloud Media team documented the two days through photographs and video.
Looking back at the beginning
Footage from the February meeting captures the network’s first steps together: introductions, expert presentations and field visits through the snowy landscape.
The same question continues to guide SpongeMeasures: how can Püspökszilágy’s experience be shared and adapted to help other municipalities address their own water management challenges?
