The first river basin management plan (RBMP) of the EU Water Framework Directive
(WFD) is now launched for a period of six years (2009-2015). For the first time in the
history of water management, integrated water resources management principles will be
implemented at the scale of a continent on the basis of a common legal framework. This
represents a huge technical, scientific, socio-economic and institutional challenge, and a
fantastic opportunity to efficiently protect water resources in a coordinated way at the scale
of river basins. Besides the technical dimension, the WFD implementation requires an
open and continuous dialogue among different communities (policy-makers, scientists and
all other stakeholders).