Preface 

Interreg III is a European Community initiative which aims to stimulate interregional cooperation in the EU. It is financed under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF/FEDER). This phase of the INTERREG initiative is designed to strengthen economic and social cohesion throughout the EU, by fostering the balanced development of the continent through cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. Through part C, it aims to improve large scale information exchange and sharing experience (networks).

Part funded by the EU Interreg IIIC Programme, Union des Terres de Rivieres (U.TdR) is an ambitious networking project of 24 partners across 10 EU Member States. Each country has its own language and distinct culture so ensuring good communications is a key cross-cutting theme.

The partners, who comprise municipalities, development agencies, universities and non governmental organisations (NGO’s) have come together to share experience and knowledge on the impacts of society and land use on water. Using the EU Water Framework Directive and the Ecosystem Approach as key common points of reference, U.TdR partners seek to develop and implement sustainable environmental and economic measures for the benefit of all EU citizens.

The partners share two main objectives that they seek to develop through the following strategies:
1). "Water is an inalienable common heritage and its use is a fundamental human right." This means the protection and environmental, economic, cultural and social development of water, of the waterways and the aquatic surroundings. We must also ensure that there is adequate provision in regional development for the management of water, of our rivers and waterways.

2). "Europe will take a long time to construct but we, Europeans, will collaborate day after day." This means a bottom-up citizen approach to the construction of Europe. Union des Terres de Rivieres, concerns water management and development of the fluvial landscapes and is active in the field of water as defined by the EU Water Framework Directive (Dir. 2000/60). The Project includes five component task groups whose missions are the following:

• component 1. Administrative management of network data, development of a structured and sustainable network; the transformation of a network in a European Group of Transnational Cooperation;
• component 2. Water element , source of life: Resource management of water, treatment of pollution and improving water quality, desalinisation, purification;
• component 3. Water, factor of socio-cultural and economic development; Protection and development of fluvial landscapes.
• component 4. Capitalization of the knowledge and know-how for exchange, transmission and sustainability, with transversal actions of the expert groups:
  • a. to be able to propose a scientific approach to a problem;
  • b. to define a procedure for transnational cooperation between the local communities and the expert groups;
  • c. develop the knowledge and training, to provide decision makers with decision making tools;
• component 5. Communication; to develop and improve the communication and skills both inside and outside the network,

Union des Terres de Rivieres has the aim of sustainable development and in particular environmental protection, economic and cultural development, the heritage of water, water ways and aquatic surroundings.
Water is inalienable common heritage, and access to pure water and purificaton networks is a fundamental human right. To this aim, our group, considering that such a heritage may take a long time to protect, develop and guarantee universally, seeks a perfect collaboration between peoples and states to develop co-operation between different partners, contributing to sustainability and to the citizen construction of Europe.

For further information, please see the U.TdR website: www.terresderivieres.eu

• Key words: Communication, Cooperation, Partnership, Sustainable, Networking
• EU Law references:

32000L0060, Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy
Official Journal L 327, 22/12/2000 P. 0001 - 0073

The Ecosystem Approach is a delivery tool of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)