Read the Rivernews France November 2018 (french only)
Notre Directive-Cadre sur l’Eau est menacée !
Continuité écologique : Pays-Bas 1 / France 0
Le Prix EuroNatur 2018 attribué à …
La Métropole du Grand Paris adopte le Big Jump !
Effacement sur la Sélune, Abaissement sur l’Allier
L’Eau vous consulte : Donnez votre avis !
En bref…
The #ProtectWater campaign call exceeded 100,000 signatures in less than a month. Congratulation !! But that’s not enough for the European Commission!
The announced threat of a weakening of the Framework Directive is coming to fruition. Member States have been preparing a paper on the future of the WFD which is explicit on the need to change the WFD. 29 November in Vienna, the Water Directors are aiming to adopt by a consensus this document announcing a weakening of the law.
Remain mobilized and of course if you have not done yet sign the public consultation
The #ProtectWater campaign call exceeded 100,000 signatures in less than a month. Congratulation !! But it is not enough !
For the second phase of the campaign, we launched new visuals to engage the public.
The threat of seeing our emblematic species disappear if the WFD is changed or weakened is the theme for the month of November.
Follow us on Facebook and sign the public consultation
Radolfzell, Mainau Island (Germany).
October 10, Roberto Epple, president of the European Rivers Network (ERN), received the EuroNatur Award 2018 on Mainau Island (Lake Constance) for his outstanding personal dedication to protecting the rivers of Europe. “The passion that Roberto Epple brings into his efforts for Central European river landscapes is exemplary for our conservation work and further encourages us to never give up, even if the opponent seems too strong. With his unswerving love for the rivers he is an inspiring example for us”, EuroNatur president Christel Schroeder states a reason for the choice of this year’s award winner.
Read the complet Pressrelease including a link to HD Photos :
20181010_Preisverleihung Roberto Epple_engl
European rivers and lakes are under attack ! Act now to protect them ! Participate in the European Commission’s public consultation !
This is the appeal of the online campaign #ProtectWater, lunched today by WWF, the European Environmental Bureau, European Anglers Alliance, European Rivers Network and Wetlands International, who together form the Living Rivers Europe coalition.
During the first step, the campaign uses provocative scenarios and imagery around the future of beer to encourage citizens in Europe and beyond to participate in the European Commission’s public consultation on the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), which is running until 4 March 2019.
This consultation is the only opportunity for the general public to have its say during the evaluation of the law, and the campaign provides an easy tool for citizens to express their support to keep this law strong and effective.
Campaign page and link to participate to the public consultation
#ProtectWater #ProtectBeer
Pioneering actor for swimming in Ile-de-France, the Syndicat Mixte “Marne Vive” (Val de Marne) has been conducting actions since 1993 to bathe again in the Marne, in complete safety. With its experience of 13 editions of the Big Jump (co-organized with ERN), especially in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, the Marne Vive president, Sylvain Berrios, has launched a deliberation with the Greater Paris Métropole. Its objective is to support “the development of perennial bathing sites on the Seine and Marne” with the aim of “sharing a culture of” living rivers “with the population”. This deliberation was adopted unanimously on September 28th.
15 other cities have already applied: Saint-Maurice, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Champigny, Nogent / Marne, Gournay / Marne, Chelles, Epinay / Seine, Ile-Saint-Denis, Paris (several sites) , Rueil-Malmaison, Ivry / Vitry, Choisy-le-Roi, Villeneuve-le-Roi, Orly and Viry-Chatillon.
“Grand paris” Metropolitan President, Patrick Ollier, also expressed their wish to organize a metropolitan “Big Jump”. He welcomed this festive event, originally launched by Roberto Epple and coordinated throughout Europe by our association “ERN”.
Press release from EuroNatur 4 july 2018
2018 EuroNatur Award goes to Roberto Epple, founding President of the European Rivers Network, he has devoted himself for decades to the wild rivers of Europe.
An inspirational river conservationist: Roberto Epple receives the EuroNatur Award in October 2018. © ERN/France
Hydroelectric dams downgrade living river landscapes into a string of species-poor reservoirs. This trend has been resisted with body and soul by Roberto Epple over many years. For this commitment he is being awarded the EuroNatur Award on 10th October 2018.
This native of Switzerland was quick to recognise the importance of intact rivers for man and nature. As early as the 1970s, he was organising small campaigns against the construction of power stations in the Swiss Alps. He drew considerable attention to the issue in his documentary “Resistance on the River“ from 1987, which showed the protests against the construction of a power station on the Danube near Hainburg in Austria. One of the last big floodplain forests in Europe was designated as a national park as a result of the protest movement. Epple won further acclaim for his commitment for the saving of the Loire in France where he prevented the construction of four large dams and achieved the dismantling of two more.
“The commitment of Roberto Epple to Central Europe’s river landscapes serves as an inspiration for the campaigns being waged by EuroNatur and its partner organisations against the hydroelectric power lobby in the Balkans,” said EuroNatur President, Christel Schroeder, supporting the choice of this year’s prize winner. With this award, Epple joins the ranks of public figures such as Klaus Töpfer, Prince Charles and the American best-selling author Jonathan Franzen. All have received the EuroNatur Award for their exemplary commitment to the European natural heritage.
Again and again, Roberto Epple’s creative campaigns have succeeded in raising public awareness of river conservation. He it was, for example, who initiated the Big Jump, in which people from all over Europe gather on the banks of their rivers, and all go for a swim at the same time. With this collective jump into the water, young and old celebrate European River Swimming Day, and highlight the need for clean rivers, unspoilt by development. On Sunday 8th July at 3pm Central European Time, this event will be again taking place in numerous locations throughout Europe.
Background Information:
ERN / WWF Press release Monday 9 July – 10.30am
Citizens jumping in rivers & lakes across 18 European countries to protect the future of our waters
Yesterday, thousands of people across Europe jumped into rivers, streams and lakes in more than 160 European ‘Big Jump’ events. Groups of families and friends were jumping to make a statement and protect our rivers and lakes, and to show that Member States must follow the positive spirit of the EU water law which they committed to: “Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such”, as stated in the introduction of the EU Water Framework Directive.
The public engagement event saw people jumping, diving, wading, kayaking in 18 European countries from Spain to Poland. The Big Jump is an annual event founded by European Rivers Network that has taken place since 2002. WWF offices across Europe organised 48 Big Jump events, and used this occasion to kickstart its #ProtectWater campaign to save the EU Water Framework Directive, a crucial legal instrument to protect Europe’s freshwater ecosystems.
A landmark policy to its core, the Water Framework Directive recognises that, if we are to secure a sufficient supply of good quality water in the future, we must conserve our freshwater ecosystems. “This Big Jump has shown that people love rivers and lakes. It is a place of pleasure, joy and fun. The abundance of wildlife makes these ecosystems a special place for our threatened nature. However, it is very worrying that Member States have been skirting around their legal commitments under EU water laws for the majority of the past two decades. It is high time to understand that water is the base of all life on earth and not a commercial product like any other,” says Andreas Baumüller, Head of Natural Resources at WWF’s European Policy Office.
“Sunday was a fun day out in places that people love but with a serious purpose: Europe’s leaders must do more to protect our wonderful waterways,” stated Roberto Epple, founder of the Big Jump and chair of European Rivers Network.
NOTES TO THE EDITOR
Facts about the Big Jump
Founded by the European Rivers Network in 2002, the Big Jump is an open source event that aims to remind people of how valuable Europe’s rivers, lakes and wetlands are. The Big Jump seeks to inspire people to remember the powerful ties that bind them to freshwater ecosystems, and encourage them to join the fight to save them.
Since 2002, around 200,000 people have taken part before in over 2000 events.
Facts about the WFD
By restoring people’s connection to rivers and lakes, the Big Jump seeks to build support for efforts to protect and restore Europe’s freshwater systems – the goal of the EU’s world-leading Water Framework Directive (WFD). This directive is now under review and the Big Jump 2018 sent a clear message to the continent’s decision-makers to not weaken these laws, but to implement them.
The Water Framework Directive is currently undergoing its standard review in the form of a ‘fitness check’. Every piece of EU legislation goes through this process. The fitness check will look at the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value of the Water Framework Directive (and its ‘daughters’) and the Floods Directive. This will include a stakeholder consultation and a public consultation, which is expected to be launched in September 2018.
Contact info
Liesbeth Van den Bossche
EU Campaigner – WWF European Policy Office
lvandenbossche@wwf.eu +32 477 81 10 20
Roberto Epple
Chair of European Rivers Network roberto.epple@ern.org +33 6 08 62 12 67
160 Big Jump in 18 countries ! Congratulations !
United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey and Israel were there ! Thank you very much !
See pictures from few BIG JUMP in our Facebook « Big Jump For Rivers »
Next Big Jump is 14 July 2019, save the date !
Today 10 000 citizens will celebrate the rivers and jump in the water. More information
ERN France
ERN is the official WWF Freshwater Partner in France and cooperates with WWF Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands and others
Copyright ERN