6533b7d9fe1ef96bd126c128

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Final Considerations and Open Scenarios

subject

description

European river contract experiences demonstrate a growing integration between these contractual agreements and the other instruments of water resources management, and urban and territorial planning. Therefore, river contracts represent innovative places for a new governance of river ecosystems and territories, also in compliance with subsidiarity principle. The twofold nature of these contractual agreements—technical dimension and concertative approach—together with their expected wide evolution, allow to identify river contracts not only as sectoral tools for water resource protection and management, but also as catalysts of a new culture of water, recalling the deep interrelationships existing between hydrography, hydrogeology, ecology, sociology, economics, public health and cultural values.