ECRR is the key network to promote and build capacity for river restoration across greater Europe. | ECRR's members and 2500 followers actively share their knowledge and experiences. | ECRR has chosen river continuity restoration as a guiding theme for its promotion plans, activities and communications.
http://www.ecrr.org ECRR eNews #21 | 06 March, 2021
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Dear <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>,
It is a pleasure to present to you this first e-newsletter of 2022.
This is a rather comprehensive issue, especially as it includes the announcement of, also the first ECRR Technical Newsletter of 2022. This issue contains appealing articles on innovative approaches supporting the implementation of ecological restoration of rivers, floodplains and wetlands.
There are also many publications and events we like to ask your attention for. We made a selection with the highest relevancy for river restoration practitioners. For more information about the events we recommend to connect with the ECRR, website, event calendar.
We wish you a good read and we welcome your reactions through secretariat@ecrr.org.
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NEWS, PUBLICATIONS & EVENTS
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Content
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Brown trout in Norway. © Andreas Lium.
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ECRR Technical Newsletter 1 - 2022, March; Articles teach us that the future started already some years ago!
Each of the articles describes a start of a new initiative in the past and showing the results today. It appears that these results match very good with the objectives and future targets of the Biodiversity Strategy and the Green Deal policy. This means that implementing these strategy and policy today, is not starting from scratch, but that it is a matter of scaling and speeding up these new types of integrated river basin restoration including funding and financing.
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Dalmatian pelicans on the Danube in Bulgaria. © Reni Petrovan.
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Guidance on Barrier Removal for River Restoration
As announced in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Commission has developed a guidance document to assist Member States in identifying and prioritising barriers that could be removed to help achieve the Biodiversity Strategy’s goal of restoring 25 000 km of rivers to be free-flowing, and in identifying possible funding sources. The Strategy proposes two main types of action to achieve that goal: removal of barriers and the restoration of floodplains and wetlands. The guidance document aims to clarify the concept of free-flowing rivers and to develop a common understanding of the link with the Water Framework Directive and the Bird and Habitat Directive. In addition, the document offers an overview of existing methods that could be adapted and used to support the planning of barrier removal to restore river connectivity, and of existing EU financing tools that could be used to fund the removal of barriers and the restoration of floodplains and wetlands.
Read here the guidance document.....!
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Removing the seven-metre dam, in Fåvang, Norway, which has not been used in 50 years. © Rob Kleinjans
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Environmental Flows;
Managing Water Allocations and Trade-Offs
Environmental flows provide the means for integrated management of river flows to meet the needs of people, agriculture, industry, energy and ecosystems within the limits of available supply and under a changing
climate. Environmental flows is a practical tool for managing allocation in the water-energy-food nexus. An IUCN WATER BRIEFING describes that adoption and implementation of environmental flows requires incorporating into water policies and laws. These should include the need for a negotiated consensus on flow allocation among all stakeholders.
Read more......!
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Pite River, Sweden. © Bart Fokkens
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Environmental Flow Scenario's for a Regulated River System: Projecting Catchment Wide Ecosystem Benefitsand Consequenses for Hydroelectric Production
To enable prioritization among measures for ecological restoration, knowing the expected benefits and consequences of implementation is imperative but rarely explicitly quantified. A novel method was developed to prioritize among environmental flow measures to rehabilitate ecosystems in the Ume River catchment in northern Sweden, a river system heavily regulated for hydropower production. They found that it would be possible to introduce environmental flow options that would lead to substantial gains in the area of habitat for lotic species and riparian plants, while keeping the costs in terms of losses of hydropower production within the limits outlined in a strategy for increased environmental consideration of hydropower permits in Sweden.
Read more.....!
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CONFERENCE REPORT
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Conference report European River Symposium; European Rivers and Wetlands 2021
This report captures the main themes and messages in a coherent and organized mannor. It can contribute to the work in the coming years on the collective efforts to strengthen and improve the conservation, protection and restoration of rivers and their associated landscapes. The report should be useful for all who are working on rivers to stimulate and create opportunities for dialogue and cooperation.
The Conference Partners look forward to coming together in the future to evaluate the progress that has been made in using the already existing instruments and developing tools to better conserve, protect and restore rivers and wetlands. And they are grateful for all the interest and contributions to the Symposium.
Read more......!
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ECRR Session and Partner's Workshop on river continuity and connectivity at I.S.Rivers Conference!
Conference
The aim of this international conference is to share research and experiences among scientists and water stakeholders to improve practices for a sustainable management of large rivers. Particular consideration is given to the integration of physical, ecological and social perspectives of the different stakeholders involved in river management (governance, economy, culture).
ECRR Partner
Since the previous conference in 2018 ECRR partners with I.S.Rivers and organises in the 2022 conference a river continuity restoration session and supports and feautures a workshop; Free-flowing rivers and restoration of river connectivity: From theory to operational approaches.
EU Policy
The restoration of river connectivity is a key measure to fulfill the objectives of EU legislation on water and nature conservation. In the guidance recently published by the European Commission "Biodiversity Strategy 2030; Barrier Removal for River Restoratio", fullriver-connectivity is recognised to have four dimensions. However, the EC proposes to primarely focus efforts on barriers to longitudinal and lateral connectivity and mainly interprets 'free-flowing rivers' as surface waters that are not impaired by artificial barriers and not disconnected from their floodplains. The development of concrete methods and tools is still an open task and several questions require technical discussion.
Workshop programme
The workshop will take a whole day, on the 3rd of July prior to the conference, with in the morning two paralel sessions and a field excursion in the afternoon on the Yzeron catchment, in the Southwest of Lyon.
Information and registration
The full conference and workshop programmes will be launched by mid-March.
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Join the 5th World Fish Migration Day (WFMD)
Organizations from around the world organize their own event in order to create awareness about the importance of migratory fish and free-flowing rivers. At the same time, through this global celebration, we highlight the efforts of each organization that somehow works on river, wetlands, lakes restoration and/or migratory fish population recovery.
This next May 21st we will celebrate a truly special World Fish Migration Day 2022, with our new BREAK FREE campaign! 😄 You can already see new events registered on our website. A few example are a documentary screening in Venezuela and a school coastal clean-up in Turkey. There are so many events, small and large, that can be organized on May 21st (or another day if it suits you best). You are welcome to REGISTER YOUR EVENT!
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Connected Rivers: International Seminar on scaling up dam removal as a river restoration tool in Europe
WWF/ANP Portugal, World Fish Migration Foundation, Wetlands International and The Nature Conservancy invite you for the 7th Dam Removal Europe seminar (May 19-21, 2022) taking place in Lisbon (Portugal). This time we will focus on scaling up dam removal and that can help enhancing the biodiversity of rivers across Europe. Speakers from the USA and several European countries will touch base on their best practices. The event is open to river authorities, ministries, policy makers, EU project managers, companies, engineers, researchers, students, and social experts, and so on. The third day of the event will include a trip to visit a potential barrier to be removed. The seminar is part of the global World Fish Migration Day celebrations and one of the highlights will be the Portuguese premiere of the DAMBUSTERS documentary.
For information read more !
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'Making river restoration mainstream'
23rd RRC UK Annual Network Conference
28th & 29 June 2022, Chesford Grange, Warwickshire
A face-to-face conference, with a smaller programme online.
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