HARMONICOP: Harmonising collaborative planning

The main objective of the HarmoniCOP project is to increase our understanding of participatory river basin management in Europe and support the implementation of the Water Framework Directive on this point. The research will focus on three aspects that are both essential for river basin management and scientfically challenging: - scale issues (at which level and in which phase to organise which kind of PP?) - the role of information and information tools - the influence of the cultural-/ political-/ geographical context. Nine countries will be studied and in-depth case studies will be conducted. The research will result in a Handbook on public participation methodologies to be used in implementing the Water Framework Directive. Throughout the project, end-users will be involved through workshops, the case studies, the Internet, etc.