ECRR Technical Newsletter 2 - 2022, December
Topics: EU Directives, Habitat & Biodiversity, River continuity, Social benefits, Land use: forestry / agriculture / fisheries,
Regions: Greater Europe, Published: 11-12-2022 , ISBN: n.a. , Authors: Karolina Gurjazkaité, Karin Olssen, Kristina Schauffler, Saija Koljonen, PetriNieminen
The ECRR would like to reiterate that its members are excited to see that the proposed EU Nature Law emphasises the restoration of freshwater ecosystems, which are one of the flagship ecosystems in the ‘EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030’, and in particular the key objective of the restoration of at least 25,000 km of free-flowing rivers.
In order to support the elaboration and subsequent implementation of the regulation ECRR was the (co-)organiser of two workshops organized in the last half year, these were:
- Free-flowing rivers and restoration of river connectivity: from theory to operational approaches. This workshop was held at the I.S. Rivers 2022 Conference in July, in Lyon, France.
- River restoration: a European goal at the crossroads of several legislations. This workshop was held at the Europe-INBO 2022 Conference in September in Annecy, France.
The main conclusion of the first workshop, based on a number of empirical based presentations is that practical metrics for free-flowing rivers, prioritisation tools and guidance for barrier removal needs to be addressed by the EC before the Nature Law comes into force. While the main conclusion of the second workshop, based on a number of presented case-studies is, that EU water legislation and policies support integrated river (basin) restoration and national and local legislation certainly do not hinder this approach, at most can be better aligned with it.