The DG-Environment of the European Commission organized a meeting in Brussels, in which the 4 pilot projects launched in 2011, including REDSIM, showed and discussed their final results with the European officers. The goal of the meeting was to provide input for the Blueprint to safeguard waters in Europe, of which a policy document has come out recently, but which still needs further directions for implementation. The 4 pilot projects were all on innovative technologies, techniques or practices in order to contribute to the exchanges of good practice and innovation at the local level for halting desertification in Europe.

FutureWater summarized the outcomes and findings of REDSIM, on the management and decision support tools to support farmers and other water managers in increasing water productivity, by using deficit irrigation techniques. Special attention was paid to the need for conjunctive groundwater and surface water management in this area, as further benefits from water savings can only be useful and sustainable if the aquifers and their buffering capacities are integrated fully in the management operations of these areas, especially because of the strongly variable supply of surface waters.