Stakeholder identification and mapping in peripheral European inland waterway ecosystems

As a result of the increasing need to accomplish a modal shift from road transportation towards inland waterway transport (IWT) and railway transport (RWT) to reduce congestion and emissions in Europe, many technologies and innovations are being created and implemented to establish more efficient and resilient IWT and RWT and achieve the desired modal shift. This research focuses on the increasing need for improvements in IWT in different parts of the European network to increase the quality of the infrastructure and the overall traffic share. Therefore, technologies and innovations are being created and implemented. This will be causing changes in the ecosystems of the inland waterways. As a result, it is necessary to identify the actual actors and stakeholders of these ecosystems that will be impacted by the direct and indirect impacts of the implementation of the innovations and technologies (e.g. the increasing traffic share on the waterways and the roads) before being able to measure the eventual impacts. To support the research in this paper, a literature review was conducted to indicate the definition of an ecosystem and the value of stakeholder identification and mapping when researching impacts on ecosystems. Next, based on an extensive literature review, a general stakeholder framework was created, and three different stakeholder maps were established by identifying and mapping the different actors and stakeholders of the European IWT ecosystem. This was applied to the three pilot case studies (a French pilot case focusing on the Moselle and Seine, an Italian pilot case focusing on the Po River, and a Polish pilot case focusing on the Odra and Vistula). However, after receiving input from three different pilot cases, it was determined that creating a general stakeholder framework is not possible because of the differences between each case. Consequently, the study reveals that while creating a universal stakeholder framework is impractical due to inherent regional differences, the individual case studies emphasize the unique contractual and collaborative dynamics within each ecosystem. These findings underscore the importance of tailored approaches to stakeholder relationships, with a particular focus on well-coordinated collaboration and the critical role of strong leadership in driving innovation and achieving a modal shift.