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GIHM - Gestion Intégrée de la Haine Méridionale (Integrated Management of the Southern Haine)
The Hauts-Pays Nature Park is the first operator of the GIHM proejct (European Project INTERREG III) in partnership with Valenciennes Métropole and Hainaut Développement ASBL. 5 partners are assisting the Hauts-Pays Nature Park:
- The Ministry for the Walloon Region– the Natural Resources and the Environment Department
- The Trouille Basin river contract
- The royal society "Les Naturalistes de Mons et du Borinage"
- Phragmites A.s.b.l.
- Espace Rural A.s.b.l.
But what is GIHM? Incomplete, erroneous knowledge of water courses can often be the underlying reason for harmful actions. This is why, before carrying out any improvement works on a water course, it is vital to have all the information to hand, and know all the factors affecting the water course. This is the purpose of the GIHM (Gestion Intégrée de la Haine Méridionale (Integrated Management of the Southern Haine): to integrate all the data regarding the southern Haine from the Trouille basin to the Hogneau-Rhônelle basin in order to provide an appropriate management tool for users and managers of water courses. The studies carried out during this project will be used, among other things, as a basis for future improvements designied to curb the effects of flooding.
 The GIHM project initiated in 2001 was a forerunner in the area of water course management, as it incorporated the concepts of cross-border management of flows of water (hydraulic and hydrological data), conservation and increasing biodiversity on the terrain, management of materials extracted from the water courses, and providing for the problems of information and awareness. The GIHM falls within a new policy for management of water courses, in application of the European Framework Directive on water, which involves designing and re-establishing more natural circulation of water.
Specifically, several studies have been carried out within the framework of this project:
 survey of the flows into the drainage basin: setting up a cross-border alarm system, topographical surveys of the main watercourses with a view to hydraulic modelling, mapping flood zones, hydrogeological survey and hydrological modelling;
- study of the ecosystems: gathering and analysing the existing data, identifying the main plant groupings along the water courses, returning data in the form of mapping and a data base, setting up a list of recommendations, and initiating pilot actions along the edges of the water courses in farming environments;
- management of materials extracted from the water: the aim of the study is to provide the information necessary for the managers of water courses to define recommendations for management of the materials extracted and to set up a georeferenced data bank containing the results of the analyses carried out;
- awareness: informing the local authorities and setting up a website.
This project should make it possible to create joint integrated water course management tools for the whole of the southern Haine drainage basin, which would be an efficient tool to assist in technical decision making, and the setting up of joint development schemes for the border basin.
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