A look back at the exchange and training days on the voluntary protection of private natural areas

Since 1989, the association SOS Loire vivante – ERN has successfully protected the Upper Loire Valley between Mont Gerbier de Jonc and Le-Puy-en-Velay, 60 km of gorges and valleys, the wildest in the entire Loire region. Its civic and activist victories have enabled its preservation, but in a context of agricultural decline and a desire to pass on the land, a new approach complementary to regulatory protection must be initiated to ensure long-term protection.

By including landowners in the process, SOS Loire Vivante – ERN aims to create the ” Collective Protection of the Upper Wild Loire Valley,“ a project that will rely on voluntary commitments from each landowner across a valley or large area, using, in particular, Environmental Real Obligations (ORE) [1], as the ”voluntary nature reserve” tool no longer exists.

In order to strengthen the sharing of experiences between landowners in other basins, SOS Loire Vivante – ERN, with around twenty members, visited the Vis Valley in early June to study the case of the Lo Ranquas “voluntary reserve,” a 250-hectare site that is particularly interesting due to its size and the presence of golden eagles. The program included a visit to the reserve with a presentation of the management choices implemented over the past 40 years and a round table discussion with SOS Loire Vivante-ERN, the president of Euronatur, the Horizons Séranne association, and the owners of Ranquas, highlighting the similarities and differences between the situation in the Upper Loire Valley and the Vis Valley in terms of the means for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the ecological management of the sites.

It emerged that Real Environmental Obligations (ORE) are a key tool for ecosystem conservation and sustainable property management. However, in the context of coherent management of large areas and/or with several owners, the associations considered complementary tools, in particular the possibility of creating an endowment fund. This fund would provide additional protection for the areas by offering owners more options and support, such as donations and bequests, and organizing fundraising to ensure the management of the sites. The fund could also play a role in the co-contractualization of OREs and guidance towards appropriate management structures. In the medium term, the coordination of the network of landowners would enable new owners to join a global and regional project. Finally, the fund would make it possible to promote large entities that are collectively and voluntarily protected, whether on the Vis, in the Haute Loire, or elsewhere.

These are very promising discussions, which will naturally be followed up:

More information on the two territories involved in the experiment: Review of the exchange and training days on the voluntary protection of private natural areas

Horizons Séranne | Gîte L’ Aire de la Séranne – Home

Haute Vallée de la Loire – Un lieu à découvrir

 

[1] The ORE is a voluntary land-based environmental protection mechanism that is unique in that it is contractual and can be invoked by any landowner. Codified in Article L. 132-3 of the Environmental Code and included in a contract signed by a notary, it commits the owner of a property (including in the event of a change of ownership) to implement environmental management and protection measures for a period of up to 99 years.


Reserve naturelle du Ranquas ©Corinne Ronot – SOS Loire Vivante


Christian, propriétaire et fondateur de l’association Horizon Séranne, explique les outils de gestion et suivi mis en place ©Corinne Ronot – SOS Loire Vivante

Post-flood work in the Haute Loire: Stop indiscriminate management and clear-cutting

In an open letter to those responsible for planning, delegating or carrying out work to remove logjams, SOS Loire Vivante welcomes the rapid decision by the French government to provide financial support to communes and communities of communes, but is also surprised at the way in which the work has been carried out.

In some sectors, clear-cutting was carried out without any distinction being made between vegetation that poses a problem for the flow of water and vegetation that is useful for the proper functioning of the environment and for maintaining the banks. Riverside vegetation is a habitat for numerous species, including the emblematic beaver, the otter and many birds. The lack of training or guidelines for the companies to whom the work is delegated is no longer possible.

In its letter, the association also asked that future logjam removal and, above all, maintenance projects in the Allier region be subject to precise specifications to take account of biodiversity issues, while respecting the environment and species protection laws.

Read letter (in French only)

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Living Rivers Europe publishes its position : Making Europe climate and water resilient

from wwf epo , 24 january

Europe stands at a critical juncture. As the fastest-warming continent, we are witnessing the devastating impacts of climate change – from deadly floods to severe droughts and wildfires – all driven by extreme water events. At the same time, Europe’s freshwater is widely polluted, with less than 30% of surface waters meeting pollution standards set by the Water Framework Directive. Time is running out, but decisive EU leadership can pave the way for a resilient future.

As the EU prepares its Water Resilience Strategy, the Living Rives Europe coalition is launching its joint position on the path forward for a water and climate resilient Europe.

Read the position here.

Flood of 17 October 2024 in up part of the Loire

We were all impressed by this latest episode of flooding on the upstream Loire, which brought back a few memories.

Fortunately, once again, the arrangements at Brives-Charensac and the warning systems for major floods worked well.

The SOS Loire Vivante – ERN association is delighted to be behind this 4th solution.

In December, we will be organising a webinar on the subject of flood defences at Brives-Charensac, including an assessment. This will be an opportunity to find out more about the project.

In the meantime, for more information, you can read the brochure published in 2019 by the Ministry on the role of ecosystems in preventing natural hazards and page 11 dedicated to Brives-Charensac.

You can also read the article in L’Eveil about the flood of 17 October 2024.

World Migratory Fish Day: Watch and share our videos

To mark World Migratory Fish Day on Saturday 25 May, ERN-SOS Loire Vivante is launching three videos about Atlantic salmon and ecological continuity.

These videos are previews of remixed extracts from the documentary entitled “Pour une fois qu’il faut laisser couler”, which will be released shortly.

The 2-minute portrait and landscape modules presented here, in French and English, plunge you into the life of the Atlantic salmon in the Allier and Sélune rivers and present 2 major innovative and far-reaching actions that France has taken to restore access to the upstream areas of rivers and streams, the historic breeding grounds of the Atlantic salmon.

Discover these videos :

The New Poutès, the dam that opens for wild salmon 
watch the French version / watch the English version

Allier River : An obstacle course for salmon
watch the French version / watch the English version

France: The largest dam removal project in the world, 2017-2022
watch the French version / watch the English version

 

All the videos can also be viewed on our new YouTube channel: “Rivières Vivantes – Laisser Couler”: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjokCmOpXMcgD4ag3UY3ctg

Note :

  • France is the European leader in the restoration of ecological continuity, particularly through the removal of small and large transverse structures. Since 1997, it has built up recognised expertise through innovative policies and major international projects. At a time when the decline in populations of migratory fish and fish at the head of river basins, such as trout, is alarming, we need to pursue innovative actions that provide the most effective response to the challenges of biodiversity.
  • To publicise France’s experience, you will soon be able to watch the full documentary produced by ERN – SOS Loire Vivante as part of the OFB’s Mobbiodiv call for projects. The 3-part film, told from the point of view of our association, traces the history of the major events and projects that have marked the restoration of free movement of rivers in France from 1997 to the present day.
    “For once it’s time to let things flow
    part 1/3: Reopening river routes to large migratory species
    part 2/3: Reconnecting small and medium-sized rivers
    part 3/3: Rethinking and reconfiguring major blocking structures

81% average decline in migratory fish populations since 1970

The new Living Planet Index (LPI) report on migratory freshwater fish published today by the World Fish Migration Foundation (WFMF), ZSL, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Wetlands International and WWF has highlighted an 81% decline in the size of monitored populations on average between 1970 and 2020, including catastrophic declines of 91% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 75% in Europe.

Populations of migratory freshwater fish species continue to decline across the globe, risking the food security and livelihoods of millions of people, the survival of countless other species, and the health and resilience of rivers, lakes and wetlands. Habitat loss and degradation – including fragmentation of rivers by dams and other barriers and conversion of wetlands for agriculture – account for half of the threats to migratory fishes, followed by over-exploitation. Increasing pollution and the worsening impacts of climate change are also fuelling the fall in freshwater migratory fish species, which have now been declining consistently for 30 years.

The index reports on population trends of 284 monitored freshwater f ish species, representing 1,864 populations (Figure 1). Globally, the index shows a decline of -81% between 1970 and 2020, or an annual decline of 3.3%. This downward trend has been consistent over the last 3 decades. In terms of global species trends, 65% of species have declined on average, while 31% have increased.

In a press release Herman Wanningen, founder of the World Fish Migration Foundation said Herman Wanningen, fondateur de la World Fish Migration Foundation a déclaré “The catastrophic decline in migratory fish populations is a deafening wake-up call for the world. We must act now to save these keystone species and their rivers. Migratory fish are central to the cultures of many Indigenous Peoples, nourish millions of people across the globe, and sustain a vast web of species and ecosystems. We cannot continue to let them slip silently away.”

The report is not all doom and gloom. Nearly one third of monitored species have increased, suggesting that conservation efforts and improved management can have positive impacts. Some promising strategies include the improved and/or species-focused management of fisheries, habitat restoration, dam removals, the creation of conservation sanctuaries, and legal protection.

For example, in Europe and the United States, thousands of dams, levees, weirs and other river barriers have been removed in recent decades, and momentum for such actions is growing*. Dam removals can be cost-effective, job-producing solutions that help reverse the disturbing trend of biodiversity loss in freshwater systems as well as solutions that improve river health and resilience for people, too.

While scaling up dam removals is a key solution to reversing the collapse in freshwater migratory fish populations, there are more. Decision makers across the globe must urgently accelerate efforts to protect and restore free-flowing rivers through basin-wide planning, investing in sustainable renewable alternatives to the thousands of new hydropower dams that are planned across the world as well as other measures that contribute to the ambitious goals in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of inland waters and restore 30% of degraded inland waters. Rising to the Freshwater Challenge’s goal of restoring 300,000 km of degraded rivers will contribute enormously to reversing the trend in migratory fish populations.

Along with protecting and restoring healthy rivers, there is an urgent need to strengthen monitoring efforts; better understand fish species’ life-history, movement and behaviour; expand international cooperation, such as adding more freshwater migratory fish species to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS); and promote greater public and political engagement.

There are many initiatives around the world supporting the recovery of migratory fish species and freshwater biodiversity in general. The Emergency Recovery Plan for Freshwater Biodiversity highlights a variety of measures that could transform the management and health of rivers, lakes and wetlands to improve the health of freshwater systems and biodiversity.

Read the executive summary

Read the study 

*In 2023, Europe removed a record 487 barriers – a whopping 50% increase over the previous high reported in 2022. Meanwhile, in the United States, the largest dam removals in history are currently underway along the Klamath River in California and Oregon.

Read press release (en anglais) 

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Open letter: Nature-based water resilience cannot wait

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

Protest on the Albanian Shushica River: Vjosa National Park in danger

++ An entire valley stands up against the diversion of its water: On Saturday, 24 February, the mayors from the Shushica Valley gathered to protest the nature-destroying plans for the Shushica ++ Albanian government wants to divert the water from the Vjosa tributary ++ Vjosa National Park in danger after just one year ++

Press release from EuroNatur, Eco Albania and Riverwatch

Radolfzell, Vienna, Tirana, Kuç. 12 mayors and numerous other residents of the Shushica Valley and other regions of the Vjosa National Park, activists, lawyers and scientists gathered this morning in the village of Kuç on the banks of the Shushica River. They are protesting the plans of the government in Tirana to take the water from the Shushica and channel it to the Mediterranean coast 17 kilometres away in Himara to promote mass tourism there.

Officially declared in March 2023, the Vjosa Wild River National Park encompasses the Vjosa and its key tributaries, including the Shushica. However, less than a year later, the Shushica faces potential removal from protected status, leading to the “amputation” of the Vjosa National Park. The proposed withdrawal of 140 litres of water per second from the Shushica would completely dry up the upper river reaches during summer. This poses a significant threat to biodiversity and has severe repercussions for the local population in around 30 affected villages. The intervention may lead to the exclusion of the Shushica from the national park, as such measures are prohibited in this protection category, depriving the local community of the benefits of ecotourism.

Elidon Kamaj – Mayor of Brataj says : “We had high hopes for the national park as we anticipated it would boost economic development. Given our region’s challenges with emigration, establishing the national park held the promise of transformative change for us. However, if our water is now taken away and Shushica loses its national park status, our economic future will be at stake.”

The German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and the Western Balkan Investment Framework (WBIF) are financing the project, and the Austrian company STRABAG is carrying out the construction work. The ministries’ approvals and the financing were based on a completely flawed environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA). The consequences of the project for the Shushica were not analysed, and the people living along the Shushica were not informed. National and international scientists who reviewed these analyses concluded “…the results are misleading and incorrect.” (see attachement).

“We won’t stand by as our water is stolen from us. This project was never communicated to us; its existence only came to light when the construction equipment showed up. We won’t tolerate our water being taken away, and we are prepared to take action to halt the construction.” More than 50 residents filed a lawsuit against this project together with the Albanian nature conservation organisation EcoAlbania. The first court hearing is still pending, declares Astrit Balilaj – Mayor of Kuçi.

“The risk lies in the potential for the water diversion on the Shushica to set a precedent. The actions unfolding today on the Shushica might repeat tomorrow in other sections of the national park. The credibility of the entire Wild River National Park is at stake,” says Olsi Nika, Executive Director of EcoAlbania.

“The Wild River National Park is based on a largely natural, undisturbed water balance in its network of veins. This is what makes this area so unique, which is why people from all over Europe come here. This diversion project, therefore, jeopardises the entire national park. Germany and the WBIF must withdraw from the project if Albania does not stop the construction work immediately and order a real EIA,” says Ulrich Eichelmann, Executive Director of Riverwatch.

“The Albanian government has probably assumed that we will turn a blind eye to one or two nature-destroying projects in return for the designation of the Vjosa National Park, but we will not compromise. We will not give up until the Vjosa and its tributaries are truly safe!” says Annette Spangenberg, Head of Nature Conservation at EuroNatur.

The joint demands of the local residents, mayors, scientists and activists can be summarised as follows:

  1. Halt construction immediately.
  2. Conduct a new environmental impact assessment.
  3. Identify and analyse alternative water resources for the coastal area around Himara as part of the EIA, with the help of national and international experts.

Background information:

– Joint press release by EuroNatur, Eco Albania and Riverwatch,

– In March 2023, the Vjosa National Park was established in Albania, Europe’s first wild river conservation area, which encompasses a total of 404 kilometres of the Vjosa river network with its tributaries Shushica, Drino and Bënça. After less than a year, the national park is now in danger; construction work is already well advanced and is due to be completed in August this year.

– The nature-destroying project has so far also been financed with German taxpayers’ money, namely with funds from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF).

– EIA & position paper available on demand

– The “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” campaign aims to protect rivers with particularly high natural value on the Balkan Peninsula, which are threatened by more than 3,400 hydropower projects and other nature-destroying plans. The campaign is coordinated by the international nature conservation organisations Riverwatch and EuroNatur and implemented together with partner organisations in the Balkan countries. The local partner in Albania is EcoAlbania. Further information can be found at https://balkanrivers.net

– The campaign is supported by the Manfred-Hermsen-Stiftung, among others.

Logo Openrivers

Open Rivers Programme call open and helpdesk support

the Open Rivers Programme call will be opening shortly, on 21 February.

 

The call will be for barrier identification projects, preparation and demolition. Just a reminder that ORP have also extended the opportunity for public entities to apply. There are however restrictions to consider, including 50% co-funding.

 

A DRE helpdesk is in place to support organisations from South Eastern Europe with their applications, an initiative coordinated by WWF, WFMF and ERN, through funding from Open Rivers Programme project “Scaling Up Dam Removal in South Eastern Europe”.

 

If you are thinking about developing a dam removal project, please join us in a series of meetings where we will explain more about Open Rivers Programme, help review your proposal and where you can gain valuable insights from ORP grantees.

 

Important information for those of you who are planning to submit an ORP

  1. Magda Jentgena from WWF Latvia will be presenting about her project on 22 Feb 11:00 CET. Please join us, to celebrate Magda’s work and to hear more about the Dam removal work in Latvia!
  2. There are a series of meetings to explain more about ORP funding and discuss the Expression of Interest and how we can help you in the process (introduction, review process & Q&A) hosted by the DRE Helpdesk. Please choose one of these dates to participate (28 Feb, 7 March, 14 March).
  3. If you would like to make use of the Helpdesk review process. The internal deadline is 14 March (this takes into account easter holidays).
  4. ORP will host a Q&A on 12 March at 16:00-17:00. This is coordinated by ORP. As soon as we have information regarding registration, we will let you know.

Read the helpdesk flyer to find out more about what we can do for you.

Let corinne.ronot@rivernet.org  know if you are taking part in one of these meetings, so that we can send you the links.

Historic milestone for rivers: Emptying of the Iron Gate dam on the Klamath River to prepare its removal

The largest dam removal and river restoration project in the history of the United States is taking a major step toward the removal of all hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in northern California and southern Oregon. The drawdown (draining) of Iron Gate Reservoir began early January so that Iron Gate Dam can be removed later this year. Two other dams, Copco #1 and JC Boyle, will likewise begin to drain in the coming weeks and be fully removed in the summer/fall timeframe. Copco #2, the smallest of the four dams slated for removal, was demolished in October 2023.

IRONGATE dam Klamath

For more than 100 years, these artificial barriers have blocked the migration of several species, like salmon and steelhead trout, impeding them from reaching over 400 miles of habitat. Not only the animals have been harmed. Water quality has been severely damaged, impacting the Hupa, Yurok, and Karuk tribal communities whose livelihoods depend on a healthy river.

To turn the tide, this monumental project symbolizes a collective effort to repair a century of obstruction to fish migration, celebrate indigenous heritage, and ensure the long-term vitality of the Klamath River ecosystem. The project integrates the growing movement to remove more dams and free rivers across the USA, a trend that has also been scaling up in Europe in the past decade through the combined action of several organisations integrating the Dam Removal Europe coalition.

This article is an extract from the article published by Dam Removal Europe (read the complet article)