Our Scheldt River Family
From the 22nd of April to 23rd of May 2025 we walked from the source of the Scheldt to its mouth in the North Sea, over 370km.
Along the way, several large and small events took place in the context of a clean and healthy Scheldt. In the video on the right you can experience some of these beautiful moments with us.
During this walk, we were joined by an array of people that now form our Scheldt River Family: residents, schoolchildren, farmers, fishermen, teachers, journalists, politicians, environmentalists, mayors and artists.
Du 22 avril au 23 mai 2025, nous avons marché de la source de l’Escaut à son embouchure dans la mer du Nord, soit plus de 370 km.
En chemin, plusieurs événements, petits et grands, ont eu lieu dans le cadre d’une Escaut propre et saine. Dans la vidéo à droite, vous pouvez revivre certains de ces beaux moments avec nous.
Au cours de cette marche, nous avons été rejoints par toute une série de personnes qui forment désormais notre famille de l’Escaut : des habitants, des écoliers, des agriculteurs, des pêcheurs, des enseignants, des journalistes, des politiciens, des écologistes, des maires et des artistes.
Van 22 april tot 23 mei 2025 hebben we een wandeling gemaakt van de bron van de Schelde tot aan de monding in de Noordzee, een afstand van meer dan 370 km.
Onderweg vonden er verschillende grote en kleine evenementen plaats in het kader van een schone en gezonde Schelde. In de video rechts kunt u enkele van deze mooie momenten met ons meebeleven.
Tijdens deze wandeling kregen we gezelschap van een hele reeks mensen die nu onze Schelde-familie vormen: bewoners, schoolkinderen, boeren, vissers, leraren, journalisten, politici, milieuactivisten, burgemeesters en kunstenaars.
Video impression of our Scheldt Walk
Sign for a drinkable Scheldt and join the family
Together with our Scheldt family, we have drafted a River Intention to strengthen the commitment of our members to a drinkable Scheldt. On the 1st of October 2025, we gathered in Ghent with 50 representatives of local government, business owners, conservation groups and other stakeholders to sign the leadership version of this intention.
We would like to invite any representative to join our growing family and share their intention to make the Scheldt drinkable again by signing our Scheldt River Intention in English, French or Dutch:
Upcoming events:
Autumn 2026
Scheldt family Council
Scheldt Family Council
As a follow-up to the live meeting in Ghent and the online Scheldt Watershed Workshop, we will be hosting an in-person Scheldt Family Council in the autumn of 2026.
The Scheldt Family Council will be led by Embassy of the Earth, an organisation that has been creating positive enviromental change through community-led projects all around the world. They use an existing method called Search Conference of Future Design Basecamp to bring government officials, the private sector, and local voices together in a multi-day gathering to co-create a future which honours the environment and redesigns the future of the river and its community.
With the guidance of Embassy of the Earth, we are planning to gather with around 80 stakeholders from the Scheldt region —ranging from water managers and industry, to farmers, artists and educators— for two to three days of intensive dialogue. The aim is to jointly develop a vision for the future of a vital and healthy Scheldt region and to draw up concrete action plans.
We will share more information about the Scheldt Family council here soon.
Scheldt River Family – Watershed Workshops
During the Scheldt River Watershed Workshop, we moved from thinking to doing. Together with other committed people from the watershed, we explored what’s happening, gathered insights, and worked towards concrete action that strengthen our goals, promote collaboration, and lead to an ecologically healthy Scheldt River that we could someday drink from again.
The outcomes of the five sessions can be found below in Dutch and French:
Kick-off session | October 23rd | Our Shared Scheldt Watershed
In this session, we created a synthesis based on the insights of the participants. Read more here in Dutch or here in French.
Session 2 | December 4th | Source
In this session, the participants discovered how they can support each other with existing initiatives for a Drinkable Scheldt and to develop new ideas together. Discover the connections they made here in Dutch and here in French.
Session 3 | January 8th | Meandering
This month, we worked on various sub-dreams with key questions that examined how the visibility of and connection to the Scheldt could be increased. Check the various slides with concrete actions here in Dutch and here in French.
-Session 4 | February 5th | Confluence
This time, we investigated the question of how we can involve more system players in the river family. In this overview (Dutch & French), the participants identify the most important system players in our Scheldt river basin.
Scheldt river family events
The first meeting of the Scheldt River Family in Ghent
1 October 2025, Ghent We look back fondly on the first live meeting for a drinkable Scheldt and how a wonderful group of 50 mayors, aldermen/councillors, scientists, residents and other stakeholders came together around a common goal: to make the Scheldt drinkable...
Journal de la Marche de l’Escaut 2025
23 mai, jour 32, Hoofdplaat à Flessingue (12 km) Nos derniers kilomètres le long de l'Escaut, l'Escaut occidental, comme on l'appelle ici.Nous avons eu droit à une excursion en bateau entre Breskens et Flessingue pour observer les phoques. Malgré la marée haute et le...
Scheldt Walk 2025 Diary
23 May, day 32, Hoofdplaat to Vlissingen (12 km) Our last kilometres along the Scheldt, Westerschelde, how they call her here.We were treated by a seal excursion on the boat between Breskens to Vlissingen. Despite the high tide and the wind making the water even...
Contact us
Are you a municipality within the Scheldt watershed or another important partner and wish to be on our invitation list, please contact us here.
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