TIDE considered tidally influenced North Sea Region estuaries with large sediment transportation, which were used as shipping channels to large harbours. The ecosystem services of intertidal and shallow estuarine habitats were threatened and needed to be considered to ensure economic benefits and the maintenance of ecologically important areas. At the same time, decision-makers at these estuaries were faced with an increasingly challenging legal and global economic framework.

TIDE led the path towards a more sustainable and effective use of large scale investments made into mitigation and compensation measures in North Sea Region estuaries by applying for the first time a unified ecosystem approach to guide the process of integrated participatory management planning.

Thus TIDE not only improved the effectiveness of European, national and regional policy and provided instruments for regional development, but made an essential contribution towards a more sustainable and effective use of investment into North Sea estuaries - since their planning would be based on a unified assessment concept and integrated management planning procedures.

Inspired by the North Sea Region Interreg IVB projects, the “TEN‐T and the North Sea Region” project analysed the opportunities and consequences for freight transport of the new EU TEN‐T Regulation, the Connecting Europe Facility, the Clean Power for Transport Initiative and the Europe2020 Strategy seen on a regional level.

A toolbox of regional measures was developed to optimise regional impact on TEN-T and freight transport development. The toolbox measures were illustrated on a number of cases that reflected the project findings in relation to TEN-T development.