The document at hand concerns the “best practice document”, which is an update of the United Nations and Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) Guidelines on Sustainable flood prevention (2000). It is a living document that will need continuous input and improve-ments as application and experience build up in all countries of the European Union and be-yond. We agree, however, that this document will be made publicity available in its current form in order to present it to a wider public. The “best practice document” consists of three parts. In part I the more basic principles and approached are described. Part II concerns how to translate and implement the principles and approaches. The conclusions are drawn in part III.