News
River basins engaged in WWF6 process
In the period 2012 – 2015 a program is to be developed on communication, exchange of information on existing and gained new knowledge and know – how about the elaborated solutions on land and land use planning, best practices of river restoration including stakeholder involvement, public education and sustainable tourism development by studies, field visits, study tours, seminars and conferences.
The following river basins have now expressed their commitment to follow this up:
This cooperation between pilot basins and the supporting organizations, under the coordination of ECRR, started of with a joint kick-off meeting in March 2013, hosted by the Rhône basin authority, in Lyon, France. During the kick-off meeting representatives of all pilot areas were present.
All basins have decided to start a Community of Practice, in which they intend to exchange experiences, and interact to build further on the various targets they agreed upon for the pilot basins. The first results of the different target pilots, and further progress of action plans will be presented in Vienna during the 5th River Restoration Conference in September 2013 at a side event.
In addition, by the end of 2014, an ECRR Seminar about River Restoration and Integrated River Basin Management Planning is foreseen, with presentation of the draft basin plans and the related aspects land and land use, best practises of river restoration, stakeholder involvement, and public education and participation and integrated land and water management concerning sustainable tourism development.
It is foreseen that, finally in 2015 at the next World Water Forum a common presentation of results by the pilot organizations will be organized.
5th European River Restoration Conference
The ECRR is currently working on preparations for the 5th European River Restoration Conference. This will take place 11-13 September 2013, Vienna, Austria.It will provide all those working on river restoration on various levels a great opportunity to share experiences and learn about the successes and challenges of river restoration, from allover Europe, and beyond.
Visit the conference website at www.ERRC2013.eu.
You can now submit your contribution for a session.
Euro-INBO 2012
On behalf of ECRR, secretary Hil Kuypers presented at the 10th Europe INBO conference, held in Istanbul, October 17-19. The conference’s theme was implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). More than 350 people, representatives of national administrations, basin organisations, NGO’s, as well as companies and international organizations attended this conference, representing 47 countries.In his presentation, Hil focussed especially on the EU Blueprint, and the need to develop a comprehensive water policy that addresses environmental impacts of major water using sectors, and the lagging implementation of water legislation.
ECRR, together with Wetlands International, RESTORE, Face and UK’s RRC, have submitted a contribution to the consultation for the Blueprint earlier this year. The blueprint will set the agenda for EU water policy for the years to come.
World Water Forum 6 session: Protection and restoration of river ecosystems
Healthy rivers through adoption of best practice ecological restoration and strategic land use planning in integrated basin management
The ECRR delivered an interactive session on the World Water Forum, in close cooperation with EWA, ONEMA, INBO and the LIFE+ RESTORE project. The session attracted over 100 participants, who were informed about the extended WWF process up to 2015, and engaged in the discussions.
Diverse means of presentation
The session offered a diverse program including:
Commitments
Also, the Rhône-Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency and the Arpa River Basin committed to contribute to the Target Action Plan by developing pilot projects for the key areas identified for improvement:
A special edition newsletter presenting the discussions and presentations is now available.
ECRR World Water Forum Session, Marseille, 15th of March
ECRR organises the session "Develop new knowledge and know how on rivers hydro-morphology,restoration and protection of water ecosystems" at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France on the 15th of March, 2012.
This session is one of the milestones in the five year process centred around the WWF. The session proposal on the target and the action plan outlines this process and its components.
The intended output of the session is to gather commitment and endorsement of the action plan, that is already supported by key partners. The action plan specifies how to realize healthy rivers through adaptation of best practice ecological restoration and strategic land use planning in integrated basin management.
Currently the draft target is:
By 2015, evidence based developed best practices of ecological restoration measures and land use planning adopted by at least 3 integrated river basin management plans with field visits, study tours, seminars, and conferences.
The ECRR, as lead partner, works in close cooperation with EWA and ONEMA, and is supported by DLG, INBO, GWP, Wetlands International and the LIFE+ RESTORE project.
ECRR Chairman interviewed for EU LIFE publication
EU LIFE interviewed ECRR Chairman Bart Fokkens in its publication on the achievements of 20 years of LIFE. Starting on page 30, Bart Fokkens talks about the contribution of the LIFE programme to establishing the ECRR, back in 1999. Support by LIFE even started as early as the mid-1990's with the 'River Restoration: Benefits for Integrated Catchment Management' project. LIFE funding was used to set the foundations for the ECRR, create the website, and helped to expand and soliday the network, and thus made an invaluable contribution to capacity building for river restoration in Europe.
ECRR organised the seminar "Forging targets and Solutions for Rivers and Water Ecosystem Restoration" in Ljubljana, 16-18 November 2011.
The seminar presentations are now available!
This first event in the process of the 6th World Water Forum was a great success. Over a 100 participants from 27 countries attended the seminar. Participants came from everywhere between Uzbekistan and Portugal. In a highly interactive programme , participants discussed targets and solutions for better and more river restoration, inspired by key note speakers from wide ranging backgrounds.
The ECRR would like to express its gratitude to fellow organizers RESTORE, ONEMA, EWA, INBO, WI and, maybe above all, IzVRS, the Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia.
The ECRR will now focus on continue work on the preparations for the World Water Forum itself, March 2012 in Marseille. Also various directions for follow-up activities are explored, so check back on this site regularly to stay up to date.
The ECRR welcomes the Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia as the Slovenian national centre within the network
ECRR looks forward to continuing collaboration with the Institute, most notably within framework of the further activities within the WWF6 process.
You can find more information on the institute on their website.
Russian version of the proceedings book of the IVth ECRR International Conference on River Restoration.
From 18 -20 May 2011 the XI International Symposium "Clean Waters of Russia" was held in Ekaterinburg in the Russian Federation. During this conference Nadezhda Prokhorova, director of the Russian Research Institute for Integrated Water Management and Protection (RosNIIVKh) presented the Russian version of the proceedings book of the IVth ECRR International Conference on River Restoration. With this book the articles, reflecting the present state of the art of river restoration in Europe and beyond, are now also accessible for all who have a common knowledge of the Russian language, what might help to promote river restoration over more countries and amongst their river managers. The translation and editing was all done by RosNIIVKh staff. And the book was presented to ECRR Chairman, Bart Fokkens, who participated in the "Clean Water of Russia" on behalf of the European Regional Committee for the World Water Forum 2012 to be held in Marseille, France. A book could be ordered by sending an e-mail to wrm@wr.ru.
- The above text in Russian translation
- cover
Preparation 6th World Water Forum, Marseille, France
The WWF organising committee is preparing work for the 6th World Water Forum, to be held in Marseille, France in March 2012. The ECRR was asked to become, together with EWA and ONEMA, the lead partner for the theme: 'Protect and restore rivers and water ecosystems to reach a good ecological status of European water bodies'.
read moreReports of the ECRR Seminar Bucharest, Romania - 7/8 July 2010
National River Restoration Centers / NetworksBucharest, Romania - 7/8 July 2010
River Restoration Center Spain
Set up in Barcelona the new Centro Ibérico de Restauración Fluvial - CIREF. To know more about visit: www.cirefluvial.com
Thematical resources
Thematical Resources on River Restoration. A selection is available on this page.
Secretariat ECRR in the Netherlands
As per 1st January 2010 the secretariat of the European Centre for River Restoration (ECRR) is hosted by DLG Government Service for Land and Water Management in The Netherlands. The executive secretary is Mr. Hil Kuypers. The European Centre for River Restoration (ECRR) is a non profit organization established in 1999 in Silkeborg (Denmark), originally within a LIFE Environment programme, that ensured funding during the 1999-2002 period. For the first three years the secretariat was held by the National Environmental Research Institute (NERI, Denmark); then, for the following four years, by the Institute for Inland Water Management and Waste Water Treatment (RWS-RIZA, The Netherlands); from mid 2006 until the end of 2009 the Italian Centre for River Restoration (CIRF, Italy) hosted the secretariat.
Lelystad declaration
Download the Lelystad declaration draft during the seminar "Synergies between River Restoration and River Management focussing on Natura2000 and Ramsar sites" - Lelystad, The Netherlands, 28/29 May 2009.