Organisation
Mission statement and vision
The mission of VMM is to provide for current and future generations in Flanders:
- by safeguarding the availability of clean, attractive and sufficient water
- by ensuring the air is clean
- by helping to steer adaptations in response to our changing climate.
The things we are setting out to achieve have been defined in our vision:
'The Flanders Environment Agency – your solution-oriented partner for a climate-proof living environment.'
Water
VMM coordinates the integrated water policy in Flanders. We play a part in the various stages of the policy-making process (measuring, planning, taking action, evaluating). This represents an added value that allows us to retain an overview and make connections.
- In the case of our rivers and streams, we want to achieve a good ecological status and keep floods and water shortages under control.
- Groundwater reserves are going to be crucial in the years to come.
- We are taking the lead in working with all stakeholders to reduce the impact of drought and to develop climate-adaptive solutions.
- We are taking on the role of directing the entire drinking water and wastewater chain. We will achieve our common goals by working together with various players involved.
- As the manager of category 1 waterways, we want to work together with other managers of unnavigable waterways in order to create more green-blue infrastructure, with a focus on ecological aspects such as fish migration, combating exotic species and pesticide-free management.
Air
VMM is the competent authority in Flanders for air policy and is one of the partners tasked with improving air quality and tackling air pollution. We play a part in the various stages of the policy-making process (measuring, planning, taking action, evaluating). This represents an added value that makes it easier for us to retain an overview and make connections.
Climate adaptation
By means of its activities, VMM wants to help steer policy development and policy implementation that relate to climate adaptation, circular water and drought.
Organisational form
VMM has a network structure consisting of cores, themes and project work. Our organisational form helps us to realise our mission statement and vision.
Cores
The cores carry out the substantive basis of our work. We cluster similar and complementary tasks and processes in each core.
Themes
In order to be able to carry out our substantive tasks in the most effective way, we not only delineated a number of conventional organisation-supporting themes such as HR and communication, but also a number of innovative themes such as internal knowledge sharing and question articulation on research topics.
Service centre
A new entity within VMM is the service centre. On the one hand, its purpose is to bundle internal knowledge in order to disseminate it to the various target groups and stakeholders in a targeted manner while, on the other hand, further developing knowledge and services in a project-oriented way, based on the needs of our partners.
Projects
In order to be able to respond to changing circumstances in a flexible way, the new organisational form makes it possible for strategic projects to be set up quickly.
Specific design
We put our mission statement into action both in generic terms, but also in a form that specifically relates to open space and urban areas.
A circular living environment that adapts to the climate
As an organisation, VMM sets out to have a positive impact on the living environment in Flanders as a whole and to help make it climate-proof.
Area-based activities concerning water
VMM wants to start, structure and bundle the various initiatives in order to work together with other Flemish authorities, local partners and stakeholders as a means of addressing the issues of water quality, flooding, water shortages and water perception in an integrated way.
Smart cities
VMM intends to focus on the use of digital technologies to make cities and towns more agile in the way that they manage and resolve water, air and climate challenges.
