The 'TRAP' project has began - Integrated management of river catchments

TRAP deals with the challenge of integrated management of rivers and river territories. Its purpose is to build on and transfer good practices that embed aquatic and cultural heritage landscape protection in regional, sustainable growth solutions.

TRAP contributes to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the European Landscape Convention (ELC) and the Europe 2020 strategy. The WFD establishes a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater, good water status is to be achieved by 2015 throughout the EU.

The ELC stresses European identity and diversity through the protection, management and planning of European landscapes, living natural and cultural heritage, ordinary or outstanding, urban or rural, on land or in water. Europe 2020 is the EU’s growth strategy for the coming decade, aiming at smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Reaching good water quality status, continuing the WFD implementation and addressing the ELC, require considerable resources and upscale development solutions. These relate to regional policy areas dealing with the resources and tools required to improve and sustain river basins' quality, stakeholder involvement and commitment in maintaining good water quality, as well as solutions and tools ensuring high quality, inclusive growth. Thus, the overall objective of TRAP is to benefit from partners' good practices in these policy areas and improve accordingly regional policies and tools.

TRAP focuses on 4 THEMATIC AREAS (TA:s) for the good practice analysis. The first three build directly on the WFD, their purpose is to support the implementation of the regional river basin action plans (RBAP), while the 4th introduces more directly the growth dimension.

TA1 GOVERNANCE: processes ensuring stakeholder commitment to the implementation of the WFD and the RBAP in their regions, especially economic impact assessment tools as a base for stakeholder involvement and consensus building methodologies,

TA2 MONITORING: monitoring programmes and measurement tools ensuring the enforceability of the WFD,

TA3 AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT: enhancement of the aquatic environment policies, projects, and technologies,