BIG
JUMP
2005 2010 2015
-
Big
Jump aims at reconciliating people with their rivers.
This project will induce the citizens to reconquer their rivers
and lakes and will revive
the powerful links that used to bind people to these spaces.
Reconciliation is an essential element to gain people's support
to the big European
restoration effort for rivers and wetlands, this huge project
being expressed in the Water Framework Directive of the European
Community.
The
Big Jump project includes numerous actions on the
main
European water basins, like the organisation of a serie of transboundary
swimming days on different European water basins. Educational
events on the theme of water quality or river restoration are
always held during these actions.
The
project will culminate in 2005 , 2010 and 2015 with the European
River Swimming Day on all the big European river basins
or stretchs where the quality standard has been reached. This
will be the celebration of the living rivers. Everybody will
swim in the rivers on the same day, at the same hour, in all
the European rivers, from the sources and the glaciers to the
oceans.
Big Jump
is a campaign by European Rivers Network (ERN) and many partners
and has been initiated by its president Roberto Epple.
European
Water Management News, 22 June 2005
The Big
Jump is ....
an inspiring project that captures the essence of current EU
water
protection legislation into one single public act: at one date,
at one time, people will jump into rivers all over Europe.
In a nutshell, BIG JUMP is a European river swimming day, where
people reclaim their environment and demonstrate their wish
to have clean and living rivers again. The Water Framework Directive
(WFD; EU's main law for water protection) is the EU's legislative
tool to achieve good status for all rivers and lakes in Europe.
But a legislative tool alone is not enough to reach this goal.
It is essential to gain people's support for it. Without
a broad public support all over Europe, the WFD might never
work.
see
also "Background and History of the Project"