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Finland, Kemijoki river : End of the Kemiharaa dam project !

Last week, hopefully, the death knell for the old Kemihaara (Vuotos) hydropower plant project on the Kemijoki River in Finland.

For many years, the peatlands of Kemihaara, located in north-eastern Finland, had been threatened by hydroelectric power plant projects, and by the development of a water reservoir in the Vuotos area, which would have flooded 250 km2 of peat bogs and forests along the Kemijoki River. The argument put forward by the Lapland authorities, besides the production of hydroelectricity, was the protection of the population against floods.

The Finnish Nature Conservation Association has fought hard for 50 years to prevent this project. The Supreme Administrative Court was seized twice (2002 and 2019) and twice, the “builders” lost. The 2002 trial was won thanks to the national water law. In 2019, it is Natura 2000 (the Habitats Directive), as well as the national law on the conservation of nature, which saved these wetlands.

In 2019, therefore, the Council of State rejected the application for derogation from the Natura 2000 rules (Article 6.4 of the Habitats Directive) requested by the manufacturer in 2018. The government’s decision is based on the existence of other alternatives than this artificial lake. In other (legal) words, the criterion “no alternative solution” (Article 6.4) was not fulfilled.

For more informations :
Mr Tapani Veistola /Finnish Association for Nature Conservation / Helsinki, Finland /
https://www.sll.fi/

And for those who read Finnish, here is the decision made by the government;
https://www.kho.fi/fi/index/paatoksia/muitapaatoksia/muupaatos/1554870994926.html

“Artifishal” : Patagonia new documentary on rivers and future of wild fish

Patagonia’s new documentary “Artifishal” denounces intensive salmon farming in northern European aquaculture farms. It shows the consequences of these farms for our wild fish and our rivers.

Patagonia invite you to sign their online petition supported by North Atlantic Salmon Fund Iceland
Redd Villaksen – Norwegian Wild Salmon Alliance, Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland, Salmon Watch Ireland to call on decision-makers to ban fish farms in Europe and restore habitats.

More info : www.patagonia.com/artifishal.html

A preview screening of the film is scheduled April 24 at 7:30 pm at the Maison des Métallos in Paris.

Watch trailer :

 

375,000+ citizens tell the European Commission “Hands off our water law!”

Public consultation ended yesterday 12 March and #protectwater campaign managed to mobilise 375,386 people from across Europe and beyond to stand up for our strong EU water law!
Citizens have spoken up loud and clear in numbers that neither the European Commission nor Member States can turn a blind eye to
Our deepest thanks and congratulations to all citizens and NGOs who participated.

Read Press release from Living Rivers Europe
Brussels, 13 March 2019 :

375,386 people have called on the European Commission to defend Europe’s strong water law, making the EU’s public consultation on the legislation one of the largest ever in the history of the European Union. This law is critical to ensure that Europe’s rivers, lakes and wetlands are protected and brought back to good health.

The NGO-led #ProtectWater campaign inspired citizens across Europe and beyond to take a stand for Europe’s rivers, lakes and wetlands, and the strong law which protects them, the EU Water Framework Directive, during the European Commission’s ongoing fitness-check

“375,386 citizens have spoken up for Europe’s precious rivers, lakes and wetlands, and against their ongoing destruction. They have told their governments loud and clear not to undermine the EU water law – decision-makers must now listen up and take these voices seriously”, said Ester Asin, Director of WWF’s European Policy Office, “With 60% of Europe’s waters in a critical state, the need for action from Member States is urgent. They were meant to put a stop to this destruction when they signed up to the Water Framework Directive in 2000, but, instead, have spent the best part of two decades brazenly side-stepping their commitments and not implementing it. We urge them to own up to their inaction today and, instead of pushing for this law to be changed, take citizens’ views on board.”

 “One need only look elsewhere in the world to see that Europe is incredibly fortunate  to have a general and cross-border legal framework in the shape of the Water Framework Directive to protect its rivers, lakes and  wetlands, underlined Roberto Epple, President of the European Rivers Network,  “It would be shameful to weaken it. Citizens have understood that. Member States should respect this and move up a gear to achieve the results outlined in this text, which can be considered a treasure.”

The #ProtectWater campaign was led by WWF, the European Environmental Bureau, the European Anglers Alliance, the European Rivers Network and Wetlands International – who together form the Living Rivers Europe Coalition. It facilitated citizens’ participation in the European Commission’s public consultation on the Water Framework Directive (the only opportunity for the general public to have its say during the EU fitness-check) to express their clear opposition to changing the legislation. It was launched in October 2018 and went on to be supported by more than 130 civil society organisations, including national partners and offices of Greenpeace, BirdLife and Friends of the Earth, as well as unions.

 The EU’s official analysis of the public consultation, which closed on 11 March, is likely to be published in the autumn of 2019, with the final decision on the future of the legislation expected by the first half of 2020. As Living Rivers Europe, we will be there every step of the way to ensure that the Water Framework Directive remains intact, and will continue to push for this visionary legislation to be fully implemented by Member States and enforced by the European Commission so that it that the vast majority of Europe’s waters are returned to good health by 2027 (at the absolute latest).

 Download press release (in english)

Contact:
Sophie Bauer, Communications Officer (Freshwater)
WWF European Policy Office
sbauer@wwf.eu
+32 471 05 25 1

Notes to the editor:

About the state of water in Europe:

About the #ProtectWater campaign:

  • The goal of #ProtectWater is simple: to defend the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and in doing so, protect Europe’s rivers, lakes, groundwater and wetlands, and the wildlife they house, for generations to come.
  • The campaign was led by Living Rivers Europe (WWF’s European network, the European Anglers Alliance, European Environmental Bureau, European Rivers Network, and Wetlands International), who together represent a movement of over 40 million people across Europe.
  • 130+ civil society groups went on to support the campaign
  • The campaign allowed anyone to easily take part in the European Commission’s public consultation on the evaluation of EU water policy, which includes the WFD.
  • By filling in the e-action’s form (available on livingrivers.eu as well as individual organisations’ websites), individuals could quickly and easily send the suggested response to the public consultation to the European Commission on their behalf.
  • For more information, please visit livingrivers.eu

About the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD):

  • The WFD is one of the EU’s most progressive pieces of environmental legislation. It requires the protection, enhancement and restoration of our rivers, wetlands, lakes and coastal waters.
  • Under the WFD, EU governments have committed to ensure no deterioration and achieve good status for the vast majority of all water bodies by 2015, and at the very latest by 2027.
  • The WFD 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 WFD (and its ‘daughter’ directives) and the Floods Directive. It includes the ongoing stakeholder consultation and public consultation.

Recommendations for improving the implementation of the Water Framework Directive:

The following recommendations outline some of the actions Member States and the Commission need to take to ensure no further deterioration occurs and that the majority of water bodies in the EU achieve good status by 2027.

  • Member States should develop more effective and ambitious third-cycle river basin management plans (2021-2027) and associated programmes of measures to bring European waters to good status by 2027.
  • Member States should significantly restrict their use of exemptions to exceptional cases only. To uphold the purpose and effect of the WFD, the European Commission should use enforcement measures to facilitate significant reduction in the use of exemptions.
  • Member States should strictly apply the non-deterioration principle and
    precautionary approach. They must protect remaining free-flowing, unaltered
    and clean stretches of rivers for their biodiversity and ecological values and
    not leave them open to further hydropower development and modifications
    for inland navigation.
  • Member States should increase the uptake of nature-based solutions and
    dam removal to ensure that freshwater biodiversity can spread back into
    degraded areas.
  • Member States should apply in full the ‘polluter/user pays principle’ in line with the WFD, ensuring that water pricing reflects the true value of water and that all users, including agriculture, contribute to the full costs of water services in a more equitable way, the European Commission should take prompt and
    effective enforcement actions to ensure introduction of adequate water pricing.
  • Member States should improve transparency and enable effective public
    participation in river basin management planning and application of
    exemptions (e.g. Article 4.7 WFD).
  • Member States and the European Commission should ensure coherence between management and conservation of water ecosystems and relevant sectoral policies (most notably energy, agriculture, transport, flood management).
  • Member States and the Commission should improve procedures and introduce effective tools for preventing, detecting and sanctioning breaches of established water and conservation laws.
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European Commission to take Spain to court over destruction of Doñana Wetlands

The European Commission announced last week that it would be referring Spain to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the serious deterioration of the Doñana wetlands, and for its failure to implement the Water Framework Directive/WFD and the Birds and Habitats Directives

WFD “Fitness check” : The paper jeopardizing the WFD was NOT endorsed at the Water Directors’ meeting!

Good News : The paper drafted by a group of government officials was NOT endorsed at the Water Directors’ meeting November the 29!!

This document included a series of proposed changes to the WFD which, if ever put into effect, would constitute a significant weakening of the legislation.

The letter sent to Water Directors on behalf of the Living Rivers Europe coalition, as well as all the separate letters sent and communications were explicitly recognised in the discussion and in the final report of the meeting ! Congratulation !!

This really is a major success for Living Rivers Europe.

Eco-Masterplan shows value of Balkan Rivers (PR EuroNatur)

Post extract from the web site of Riverwatch

++ 80,000 kilometers of rivers in the Balkans scientifically assessed ++ 76 percent thereof identified as no-go zones for hydropower development ++ Switch in energy policy is necessary and possible ++

Vienna, Radolfzell, November 27, 2018 – Three quarters of the rivers in the Balkans are ecologically so valuable, that they should be completely off limits for hydropower development. This is the conclusion of the Eco-Masterplan, which was published today by the NGOs Riverwatch and EuroNatur within the context of the “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” campaign. The Eco-Master Plan is a kind of spatial plan for the watercourses between Slovenia and Greece, indicating No-go zones for new hydropower plants. For this purpose, a river network of over 80,000 kilometers in length was scientifically assessed. The result: about 61,000 kilometers of river (76 percent) are of high ecological quality and therefore designated as No-go zones for hydropower expansion (click here for visual story-map). “We call upon investors and decision-makers in the Balkans and in the EU to refrain from approving hydropower plants in these No-go areas in the future. The protection of Balkan Rivers is a pan-European task and the Eco-Masterplan is a tool for all those in charge in order to preserve this treasure,”… read the complet Pressrelease and download the report  

WFD “Fitness check” : Living Rivers Europe writes to Water Directors

Living Rivers Europe coaltion (European Anglers Alliance, EEB, ERN, Wetlands International et WWF) sent to the Water Directors, before the meeting in Vienna 29 and 30 November, a letter to express there grave concerns over the process and the  content of the work of the Consultation Group on the future of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). LRE strongly urge Water Directors not to endorse the document on ‘the future of the WFD’ .

Read the letter

Rivernews France from November 2018 is published

Read the Rivernews France November 2018 (french only)

Contents :

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…

 

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Vehicle tyres and synthetic clothes are two of the leading causes of household microplastic pollution (FoE)

Vehicle tyres and synthetic clothes are two of the leading causes of household microplastic pollution, a report from Friends of the Earth UK has found. 

The UK study estimated that just four main sources delivered between 9,000 and 32,000 tonnes of microplastics into waterways every year.

The two worst causes were tyre abrasion and the washing of synthetic clothes, such as fleeces.

When people wash clothes made from synthetic material it passes through the sewage system because there are no systems to recover these tiny plastic fibres. They eventually end up in rivers or the marine environment. In parts of Europe it is estimated that two-thirds of clothing are made from synthetic materials.

Recent studies have shown that plastic ends up in the human body. 

This study, which was carried out by Eunomia for Friends of the Earth UK, reveals that household plastic waste is roughly on par with large plastic waste, such as bottles, as around 26,000 tonnes of that also enters UK waterways each year.

The four main sources of microplastic waste, according to the report which was reported on today in the Guardian, were as follows:

  • Vehicle tyres: plastic microfibers are created when abrasion on the road surface creates tiny fragments which wash into streams and rivers;
  • Clothing: the washing of synthetic clothing separates tiny specs of plastic which make their way through the water treatment system;
  • Plastic pellets used to manufacture plastic items: These tiny cast off from manifactured items make their way to waterways;
  • Paints on buildings and road markings: Weather and flake-off results in tonnes of these tiny fragments ending up in surface water every year.

Earlier this year Eunomia also produced a report for the European Commission on microplastics, particularly those created by wear and tear.

They concluded that the largest reductions could be made at source. They called for new measures to limit the release of manufacturing pellets, to remove the worst performing tyres from the market and to analyse the synthetic clothing that emits the most microfibers when washed and take measures to limit their access to the market.

Netherlands : Gateway to the Rhine open for salmon

Photo Guy Warzée

November the 15 the Netherlands were celebrating the opening of the storm surge barrier on the Haringvliet, exactly 47 years after the Haringvliet sluices were rendered operative. That is where one of the three branches of the Rhine flows out into the North Sea. Until now, the storm surge barrier was a major obstacle to the passage of salmon and sea trout into the Rhine delta. Its partial opening greatly increases the chance that salmon and other “long distance migratory fish” will gain access to the Rhine catchment area. In addition, letting in saline water will improve the biodiversity of Haringvliet water.

Because of the drought that has affected the Netherlands over the past few months and the low river discharge, the sluices still remain closed on 15 November, only the decree has been officially adopted. They will from now operate in a fish friendly way in a “learning by doing” approach. As soon as sufficient fresh river water is entering into the Haringvliet Lake they partially open the sluices (maybe this week). If too much saline water is entering, the sluices will be closed. 

The partial opening of the Haringvliet barriers has figured on the long list of measures advocated by environmental associations and the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) for decades. Tenacity and commitment to conservation of nature and the environment has been effective.

Now the Rhine goes open until France and Rhinau hydropower plant. But France and EDF are still making no real progress with the construction of fish ladders at their 3 hydropower plants to enabling migratory fish to make their way up the Upper Rhine at long last. More than ever, effort has to be continued and it is up to France to respond to the great challenges on the Upper Rhine.   

The lack of action on the part of EDF might lead to a situation in which the statutory requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) are missed by a wide margin.  

The environmental associations in the Rhine catchment area have therefore registered an appeal seeking to oblige the EU Commission to open proceedings against the French Republic for breach of treaty obligations because of failure to comply with the WFD. We hope that France will at last put this topic on the top of his priority list !! 

 More info :

Read more : www.salmoncomeback.org and last press release from salmon comeback