Wecan | our future is green | Focus : Results of the NWE INTERREG IVB-project WE

WECAN is a transnational project undertaken with funding support from the North West European Interreg IVB Programme involving six partners from across the UK, France and Belgium.

All partners were selected owing to their socio-economic and industrial history, being densely populated, post-industrial areas. They encompass areas where heavy industry had undergone a massive decline in recent decades with coal mines having been closed down and industrial activities related to the coal industry phased out. As a result, these regions have high levels of economic inactivity and social exclusion.

The local communities involved in the project have a great deal in common: they all used to be flourishing economic communities with vast natural areas, some of which were part of the Natura 2000 network, adjacent to derelict industrial areas waiting to be assigned for another purpose.