The variety in physio-geographical properties, socio-economic conditions, management practices etc. in different river basins throughout Europe (and beyond) requires individual and specific treatments of each river basin considering its own unique characteristics and specifics what makes the development of river basin management plans all but simple and straightforward. Therefore a necessary step in WP3 has been tozanalyse successful "real world" IRBM case studies and to synthesize the experiences of these studies with the WP3-specific objective. To integrate this experiences into the framework a meeting (author tutorial) was held in Potsdam (January 6-9 2004), where a generalized scheme

A flyer of the IMA-PIP was prepared including a condensed text of the IMA-PIP description and of the six case studies. The flyer and the IMA-PIP description were presented at the Harmoni-CA-Conference in February 2004, where WP3 organized one of the workshop sessions. The results of the workshop were synthesized and used to update the flyer and the outline of the anticipated publication. The updated and further developed flyer was then presented to working group 2B of the CIS in its meeting in April 2004 in Madrid. It can be downloaded from the Harmoni-CA web site. (madrid_flyer_final.pdf (1.69 Mb))

To finalize the framework and to develop an open discussion with the other Harmoni-CA WPs and the catchmod cluster projects and the whole science community the flyer was presented in the internet on the Harmoni-CA homepage. It will also be presented at the Harmoni-CA workshop in November 2004 for open general discussion, in particular with the WFD working group 2B since it is foreseen as a basis for the Harmoni-CA web-portal. To improve the common understanding of the IMA-PIP and its role in IRBM it is necessary to clearly define the basic terms used in the IMA-PIP in an IRBM context. These are (in view particularily of more complex cases of IRBM):

• Integrated (I) = interdisciplinary + intersectoral + multipurpose + multifunctional + multiobjective + multiscale + all processes, components and elements relevant in river basin management.
• River Basin (RB) = water and land and other natural resources (i.e. all related physical and ecological domains in a defined landscape area, namely the drainage basin area) as well as their integration with socio-economics and the participation of stakeholders (policy makers, decision makers, the public and others concerned; left block in Figure 3.1).
• Management (M) = planning and management strategies, including sustainable and efficient operational control of the available environmental and human resources in a river basin based on long-term predictions or projections into the future (more than 20 years) of climate, population, socio-economic conditions and related land and water use (development scenarios).

Fig. 3.1: "Integrated Methodological Approach for Participatory Interdisciplinary Planning" (IMA-PIP) for Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM).

Considering the complex interdependencies and interrelations between the above mentioned processes and components it was clear from the beginning that the analysis and decision-making processes had to be

1. participatory, i.e. based on the involvement (participation) of relevant stakeholders, including the responsible politicians, governmental and nongovernmental authorities, decision-makers, the public and others concerned (see Figure 3.1, left and upper block).
2. based on the application of advanced Information and Communication Technology and Tools (ICT- Tools), including GIS, modeling and simulation, uncertainty and risk analysis techniques (right lower block in Figure 3.1) as essential components for Decision Support Systems (DSS).

It should be emphasized that the IMA-PIP represents the highest level in the hierarchical system of methodologies to be developed in Harmoni-CA and may therefore be classified as "Generalized IRBM-Methodology". It is supplemented by other methodologies for the tasks in other Work Packages of Harmoni-CA and CatchMOD Cluster projects such as, for example, "Toolbox"-development (Harmoni-CA WP2), joint use of monitoring and modeling (Harmoni-CA WP4), stakeholder involvement (participation), including social learning (Harmoni-CA WP5 and HarmoniCOP), diffuse sources pollution assessment and modeling (Euroharp), uncertainty and risk analysis (HarmoniRiB), information technology and model linking (HarmonIT), quality assurance (HarmoniQuA), model benchmarking (BMW) and multi-sectoral integrated decision support (MULINO).