The rivers were celebrated at 3pm on 14 July in over a hundred locations across Europe, mostly in fine weather.
New registrations are still coming in.
You can still label your event for 14 July or this weekend.
Every two years, the WWF publishes a report measuring the state of biodiversity. In 2024, we are presented with the state of France’s rivers.
The report states that “Despite spending an estimated €500 billion on water policies over the past 20 years, freshwater bird and fish populations are stagnating at a worrying rate, and only 43.1% of rivers and water bodies in France are in good ecological condition”. It also highlights “a slight decline in bird and fish populations observed in rivers (-0.4% in 20 years), with emblematic species such as the river trout and the great crested grebe particularly threatened. This virtual stagnation masks an overall deterioration in the quality of small rivers in rural areas, offset by an improvement in the water quality of rivers downstream of large towns”. River trout populations, which depend on upstream areas of rivers, are a good illustration of this phenomenon, with a 44% drop in populations in 20 years, as a result of serious deterioration in many rivers at the head of the basin.
With 3 years to go before the deadline set by the WFD, we need to think again and give a major boost to improving the resilience of the water cycle (preserving wetlands, overhauling the agricultural system).
Read Roberto Epple interview in the newspaper “Liberation”
Will swimming in the Seine become a reality? We’ll find out when the Olympic Games get under way in less than 100 days’ time.
But before the Olympics, on 14 July 2024, Europe’s citizens will be holding a major rally for their rivers. For more than 20 years now, the second Sunday in July has been a rallying call for citizens to restore water quality and reconnect with their rivers.
Once again this year, get involved and organise an event near you to highlight your commitments and work to improve the quality of your rivers, celebrate your rivers or ask our politicians to choose the right path. In 2023, more than 130 events in Europe will be taking place.
For more information and to register, visit Big Jump – Return to the River
The 🇪🇺 has dropped an essential plan to make Europe more water resilient 🤯
Floods & droughts are worsening, we must be prepared!
Today, 28 organisations, including NGOs, city networks, sustainable farmers, trade unions and professional associations, are calling on the @EUCommissionto put a nature-based EU Water Resilience Initiative back on the agenda before the 2024 🇪🇺 elections.
Presented as an end-of-term priority by the President of the European Commission, this communication was announced for 12 March, before finally being postponed to an unknown date. However in the face of more intense and frequent extreme weather events related to climate change, the EU should accelerate its action to address recurrent water scarcity and protect society against the effects of droughts, floods, wildfires and sea level rise. Achieving water resilience through nature based solutions should be a political priority under the next European Commission, with healthy freshwater and marine ecosystems – rivers, lakes, wetlands, deltas and coastal areas – at its core.
Read our open letter to @vonderleyen
We have some very good news from Brussels. The European Nature Restauration Law has been adopted.
The opposite was to be feared, as it had become one of the targets of farmers’ protests in the Member States. Farming unions had urged members of the parliament to support the agricultural sector by rejecting the text. Lawmakers passed the law with 329 votes in favor, 275 against, and 24 abstentions.
According to the new law, the EU must put in place restoration measures for at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems by 2050. As far as RIVERS are concerned, among others, the objective of 25,000 km of free-flowing RIVERS!
Our NGOs and allied coalitions (including LRE ) fought very hard. It deserves a big bravo.
Background:
Over 80% of European habitats are in poor shape. The Commission proposed on 22 June 2022 a nature restoration law to contribute to the long-term recovery of damaged nature across the EU’s land and sea areas, to achieve EU climate and biodiversity objectives and to reach the EU’s international commitments, in particular the UN Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity framework. According to the Commission, the new law would bring significant economic benefits, as every euro invested would result in at least 8 euro in benefits.
In a couple of weeks, we’ll be celebrating wetlands all over France and the world!
530 events have already been approved for WWD 2024.
From 2 to 29 February, organise or take part in an event on the theme: “Wetlands, sources of human well-being”.
2023 was another successful BJ year. About 120 events were organised by various organisations. Many thanks to all of them ! The next Big Jump will take place on 14 July 2024 at 15h (heure de Paris).
More information : www.bigjump.org
While this is a global campaign for Patagonia, we have a clear and specific ask for our leaders across Europe:
“Bottom trawling is bulldozing our ocean floor, undermining small-scale fisheries, and deepening the climate crisis. We call on European leaders to end this destructive practice, starting with an immediate ban in marine protected areas and inshore zones. Sign the petition to end bottom trawling at patagonia.com/oceans.
More infos : https://eu.patagonia.com/…/eu-marine-protected-areas.html
On July 9, 2023
from source to sea, citizens will take a giant plunge by joining convivial events, demonstrating their commitment to bringing Europe’s rivers back to life. It is a symbolic act to make our voices heard and protect our rivers. By participating we are sending a strong signal to European leaders that much more needs to be done to protect and restore our rivers
Free swimming in the Loire or its tributaries is banned in many places, sometimes for good reasons but rarely explained why, sometimes banned for no reason at all and often to avoid liability in the event of a problem or accident.
Nevertheless, in the summer, more and more people go to the river banks and many of them cool off by wading or swimming in the river. This is why the prohibition signs are not respected, tolerated by the authorities. But for those who have never learned to swim in rivers, it can be dangerous. In the future, more and more people will flock to the beaches, thanks to the general improvement of (bathing) water quality and the desire to live more naturally in a very artificial world.
On 9 July 2023, the date of the annual BIG JUMP Rendez vous, SOS Loire wants to organise the first Loire Big Jump. In addition to swimming in the river, there are many other forms of action that could take place along the Loire, the Allier and other tributaries. The aim is to raise awareness, learn how to swim in the river, understand what is forbidden and reconcile people with their rivers.
On 13 and 20 December, we are organising a first open videoconference on these themes. After presenting the idea of a Loire Big Jump, we will propose a long sequence of general debate and a round of “Questions and Answers” (in french only). If you wish to participate > register
ERN France
ERN is the official WWF Freshwater Partner in France and cooperates with WWF Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands and others
