
Dr. Josselin Rouillard
Doctor of Philosophy
MSc (Environmental Change and Management)
BSc (Environmental Sciences)
Senior Fellow
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Dr. Josselin Rouillard joined Ecologic Institute Berlin in 2013 and works on environmental governance and economics, with specific expertise in water and river basin management, rural development, and climate change adaptation. His background spans both academic research and consultancy services for supporting the implementation of water, climate and agricultural policies in Europe, with experience worldwide. His research work draws on adaptive governance and resilience scholarship, collective action theories and policy science studies. Josselin Rouillard is a native French speaker, is fluent in English and has a good knowledge of Spanish.
At Ecologic Institute, Josselin's work concentrates on providing support to European and national institutions on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. He worked on the State of Europe's Waters, was a lead author on the report Water and Agriculture: towards sustainable solutions and has been working on water scarcity and groundwater management for the European Environment Agency. For the European Commission, Josselin has been working on the development of guidance on the definition of good ecological potential, the assessment of water measures in Rural Development Plans and assistance on strengthening the use of financing instruments in river basin management. He is a member of the European Topic Centre on Inland Coastal and Marine waters (ETC-ICM) and the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soils Systems (ETC-ULS).
Between 2018 and 2020, Josselin was on secondment at the French Geological Survey (Brgm). His research examined how to create and sustain collective action for the sustainable management of agricultural water use focusing on the overexploitation of water and groundwater resources. The research also assessed water allocations systems to achieve environmental flows in several countries.
Before joining Ecologic Institute Josselin Rouillard was a research associate for the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom) and the IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee (United Kingdom), where he worked on a variety of research projects on river basin management and the ecosystem services approach. He also worked as a project officer for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, as an environmental consultant with Europe-Planet Earth and for ACTeon (France), and as an intern for the European Environmental Bureau in Brussels (Belgium).
He completed his doctorate studies in 2012 as part of a collaborative program between the Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society, the University of Dundee and the University of Edinburgh. His thesis was on adaptive water governance, flood risk management and rural development in Scotland. He holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a BSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of Reading.
Contact Dr. Josselin Rouillard by Email
Selected projects by Dr. Josselin Rouillard
Water resources
European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC-ICM)
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European Environment Agency (EEA), International
Study of the Impacts of Pressures on Groundwater in Europe
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European Environment Agency (EEA), International
River Basins and Financial Redistribution in Practice (EcoCuencas)
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European Commission, Directorate-General Development and Cooperation (EuropeAid), International
Managing Water Demand in Europe: An Assessment of Price and Non-price Measures and an Update on Price Elasticity of Water Demand
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European Environment Agency (EEA), International
Agriculture
Evaluation of the Contribution of EU Rural Development Policy to Water and Flood Policy
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European Commission, Directorate-General Environment (DG Environment), International
Updated Inventory and Assessment of Soil Protection Policy Instruments in EU Member States
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European Commission, Directorate-General Environment (DG Environment), International
Ecosystem restoration
CIS Guidance on Article 4(7), Inter-comparison of Good Ecological Potential and Hydromorphological Assessment Methods
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European Commission, Directorate-General Environment (DG Environment), International
Support to the Ad-hoc Task Groups on Hydromorphology and Article 4(7) of the WFD
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European Commission, Directorate-General Environment (DG Environment), International
Knowledge, Assessment, and Management for Aquatic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Across EU Policies (AQUACROSS)
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European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International
Adaptation to climate change
Integrated Water Resource Management and Climate Change Adaptation
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The Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom
Economics of Climate Change Adaptation in Europe (ECONADAPT)
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European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International
Making Society an Active Participant in Water Adaptation to Global Change (BeWater)
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European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International
Selected publications by Dr. Josselin Rouillard
Water resources
Rouillard, Josselin, and Jean-Daniel Rinaudo. "From State to user-based water allocations: An empirical analysis of institutions developed by agricultural user associations in France." Agricultural Water Management 239 (2020): 106269.
Rouillard, Josselin 2019: Groundwater and agriculture: a comparison of managing scarcity and droughts in France and California. California WaterBlog, 24 March 2019, https://californiawaterblog.com/2019/03/24/groundwater-and-agriculture-a-comparison-of-managing-scarcity-and-droughts-in-france-and-california/.
David Benson, Animesh K Gain, Josselin Rouillard et. al. 2017: Governing for the nexus: empirical, theoretical and normative dimensions. in: P. Abdul Salam, Sangam Shrestha, Vishnu Prasad Pandey, Anil K. Anal (Eds.): Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Principles and Practices.
Vidaurre, R., Rouillard, J., Krüger, I. (2017). Implementing Redistributive Financial Mechanisms in River Basin Management. Ecologic Institute.
Vidaurre, R., Rouillard, J., Krüger, I. (2017). Implementando Mecanismos Financieros Redistributivos en la
Gestión de Cuencas: Guía para América Latina. Ecologic Institute.

Anzaldua, Gerardo et. al. (2018). Getting into the water with the Ecosystem Services Approach: The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework. Ecosystem Services.
Rouillard, Josselin; Vidaurre, Rodrigo: Designing governance and financing regimes to encourage innovation uptake. A guide for water managers and policy makers. DESSIN policy brief 1. October 2015.
Vidaurre Rodrigo and Rouillard Josselin: Increasing chances of innovation uptake through governance. A guide for technology companies and water utilities. DESSIN policy brief 2. October 2015.
Delacámara, G.; Dworak,T.; Gómez,CM.; Lago,M.; Maziotis, A.; Rouillard, J.; Strosser, P.; 2013. EPI-Water Deliverable 5.3: Guidance on the design and development of Economic Policy Instruments in European water policy. EPI-Water - Evaluating Economic Policy Instruments for Sustainable Water Management in Europe.
Agriculture
EEA 2021: Water and agriculture: towards sustainable solutions. EEA report 17/2020. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 128pp.
Rouillard, Josselin; Maria Berglund 2017: European level report: Key descriptive statistics on the consideration of water issues in the Rural Development Programmes 2014-2020. Ecologic Institute, Fresh Thoughts: Berlin, Vienna.
Berglund, Maria; Josselin Rouillard; Thomas Dworak 2017: Guidance on a "Good Practice" RDP from a Water Perspective. Fresh Thoughts, Ecologic Institute: Vienna, Berlin.
Ecosystem restoration
EEA 2018: European Waters Assessment of Status and Pressures. EEA Report No 7/2018. European Environment Agency, Luxembourg.
Rouillard J, Kampa E, (eds), WG ECOSTAT report on common understanding of using mitigation measures for reaching Good Ecological Potential for Heavily Modified Water Bodies, EUR 29132 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2018.
Lago, M., Boteler, B., Rouillard, J., Abhold, K., Jähnig, S., Iglesias-Campos, A., Delacámara, G., Piet, G., Hein, T., Nogueira, A., Lillebø, A., Strosser, P., Robinson, L., De Wever, A., O'Higgins, T., Schlüter, M., Török, L., Reichert, P., van Ham, C., Villa, F. and Hugh, M. (2019). Introducing the H2020 AQUACROSS project: Knowledge, Assessment, and Management for AQUAtic Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services aCROSS EU policies. Science of The Total Environment, 652, pp.320-329.
Rouillard, J., Lago, M., Abhold, K. et.al. (2017). Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity across the Freshwater, Coastal and Marine Realms: Is the existing EU policy framework fit for purpose?. Environmental Policy and Governance.
Rouillard, J., Lago, M., Abhold, K. et al. 2018: Protecting aquatic biodiversity in Europe: How much do EU environmental policies support ecosystem-based management? Ambio (47)1. doi:10.1007/s13280-017-0928-4
Adaptation to climate change
ECONADAPT Consortium 2016: ECONADAPT / The Economics of Climate Change Adaptation. URL: http://econadapt.eu/
Tröltzsch, J., Rouillard, J., Tarpey, J., Lago, M., Watkiss, P., Hunt, A. (2016). The economics of climate change adaptation: Insights into economic assessment methods. ECONADAPT Deliverable 10.2
Rouillard, J., Tröltzsch, J., Tarpey, J., Lago, M., Watkiss, P., Hunt, A. Bosello, F., Ermolieva, T., Goodess, C., Mechler, R., Parrado, R., Sainz de Murieta, E., Scussolini, P. (2016). The economic analysis of climate adaptation: Insights for policy-makers. ECONADAPT deliverable 10.3