24 August 2012: The European Environmental Agency (EEA) has published a technical report examining challenges posed by managing water resources that cross political and administrative boundaries. The report, titled “Territorial Cohesion and Water Management in Europe: the Spatial Perspective,” calls for integration of spatial planning and water management.

The report notes that while the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the central element of EU water policy, integrates spatial elements into its implementation through River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs), water management and spatial planning should be more closely linked. Territorial cohesion and spatial planning in river basins are identified as important not only for human uses but also for biodiversity supported by European surface waters, including in particular migratory fish.

The report introduces environmental aspects of territorial cohesion and the role of RBMPs, and discusses integrating river basin and spatial planning, cohesion policy and the WFD, building cooperation across borders and in “macro-regions,” and addressing future challenges, including adapting to climate change, land cover changes and population shifts. Key findings of the report include potential synergies between spatial planning and RBMPs, that land use and river basin planning already are being linked, that a number of approaches can strengthen linkages spatial and river basin planning, that water management in the EU is strongly influenced by cohesion policy, and that cooperation across national boundaries is essential. [EEA Press Release] [Publication: Territorial Cohesion and Water Management in Europe: The Spatial Perspective]