SPADIS, standing for “Smart Pricing and Drought Insurance Schemes in Mediterranean Countries”, focuses on the design and implementation of economic instruments with the best potential to induce individual decisions regarding water use in order to contribute to the collective goals of reducing vulnerability to water scarcity and increasing resilience to droughts risk. As an Action Group, it contributes to two priority areas of the Strategic Implementation Plan of the EIP-Water: flood and drought risk management, on one side; water governance, on the other.

SPADIS will develop the following innovative economic instruments to manage drought risk:

• A smart-pricing scheme for urban water in order to finance increased water security, enhancing the reliability of sufficient water supply during drought periods.
• An innovative drought insurance system for irrigated agriculture to stabilize agricultural income in order to increase the resilience of rural livelihoods and to reduce current incentives to use the already over-exploited groundwater sources as buffer stocks in dry periods.

Reference: EIP Water- AG225
Supported by: European Commission – EIP (European Innovation Partnership) Water Secretariat