EU.WATER, carried out in 8 rural study areas belonging to 8 SEE Countries, tackles the emergency related to water consumption and contamination in Europe, aims at spreading, at transnational level, an integrated water resource management in agriculture based on the optimization of water consumptions and cutback of groundwater pollution Through a joint strategy and its downscaling within each PPs governance framework, EU.WATER (which starts from the capitalization of the extreme & fragmented load of results of previous projects) moves towards (1) application of the EU Water and Nitrate Directives across SEE Countries (2) development of adaptive-learning practices and innovative solution to contribute at the transition of local agriculture towards innovative and environmental-friendly measures (3) incentives to farmers to adopt eco-prescriptive practices. EU.WATER, fostering the ongoing rural reforms and agricultural transformation process of most of the SEE Countries (some of them approaching the EU entry), has the capacity to positively influence the process for choosing agricultural management practices at the field scale, where the application of environmental protection measures bring to A) the stewardship of the natural resources B) the generation of incoming benefits in terms of crop's productivity. Ownership & capacity to achieve the expected results is ensured by the profile and legitimation of PPs and by the role assigned to stakeholders: combination of governance actors (at national, regional and provincial scale) + high-professional technical institutions (as agro-environmental research centres & universities) + permanent network of technicians, association and farmers (called upon to contribute to the general strategy and to apply land-based practices) assure the reach of objectives and the effective impact of the project in the local rural policies. Achievements: • EU.WATER GIS-based maps• EU.WATER Green book describes measures to reduce water consumption and nitrate pollution in agriculture• EU.WATER Transnational strategy for integrated water management in agriculture• Jointly for a new European agricultural Water Management• Vulnerability reports synthesisFor more information see:http://www.southeast-europe.net/en/projects/approved_projects/?id=84