Over the past year, our engagement with French partners unfolded through a series of events dedicated to the future of the Seine

In these professional discussions, we presented the Dnipro River Integrated Vision and brought the Ukrainian experience into the broader conversation on rivers.
Ro3kvit researcher Svitlana Usychenko contributed to the workshop “Great Sequanian Garden” (Les Ateliers de Cergy), the public discussion “The River: What a Character” (Cergy-Pontoise Agglomeration, ENSAPC, Fondation Jean-Jaurès), and the conference “Seine en Partage” together with the Île-de-France Region and Initiatives pour l'Avenir des Grands Fleuves.
In the French discussions, the river is not separated into “ecology,” “infrastructure,” or “culture.” It is approached as an integrated system in which these dimensions operate together.
This resonates with how we have worked with the Dnipro. The Dnipro River Integrated Vision is about aligning different functions and interests along the river. Cities, industrial territories, natural areas, access to water, climate risks — these cannot be addressed in isolation.
Discussions at the scale of the entire basin were particularly significant. French colleagues consistently approach the river not within the limits of a single city, but as a system that runs across territories and jurisdictions. For Ukraine, this approach is critical — given the destruction, fragmented governance, and the need for long-term solutions in wartime conditions.
It is important for us that the Ukrainian context is present in international river debates as a full and equal part of the professional conversation on ecology, governance, and spatial development. It is through such dialogue that a shared understanding emerges of how to work with large rivers under conditions of climate instability, complex governance, and societal transformation.