Welcome to the pages of the Unesco Chair River Culture – Fleuves et Patrimoine. Established in 2014, the Chair has been renewed in 2018. The Chair is held by Karl Matthias Wantzen, Tours University (chair holder) and Aziz Ballouche, Angers University (co-chair). Together with the network of partners to the Chair all over the world, we are working on a harmonization between human activities in river landscapes (riverscapes) and the diversities of their biological and cultural heritages. The main activities of the Unesco Chair are the scientific exchange between the partners in the Global North and South, the identification of research issues, performance of comparative studies and the publication and teaching on best practices on science-based river management.

The scientific baseline of the Chair is described in the River Culture Concept. A book on River Culture, comparing human-river-relationships all over the world will appear in 2021.

The UNESCO Chair River Culture – Fleuves et Patrimoine is part of the UNESCO Water family and the IHP, and it contributes to UNESCO’s international network of water museums WAMU-net.