Book Cover

France: The New Poutès dam, partialy removed and now transparent will be inaugurated Oct. 24 – A book will be published

After a long struggle over 30 years, the New Poutès dam on the Upper Allier River, tributary of the Loire River, is officially inaugurated on 24 October 2022.

The dam, which was partialy removed from 20 m to 7 m, is now equipped with a fish lift and two huge gates. They are fully opened every year for 3 months and during floods and ensure good passage, especially for Europe’s last wild salmon. The downstream migration is also guaranteed by the low dam height of 6 m and the reduction of the length of the dam from 3.5 km to about 0.5 km. The project allow also the fully restoration of 20 km of the Allier River.

The “Nouveau Poutès” project has been co-constructed over the last 10 years by EDF, NGOs including ERN-SOS Loire Vivante, the municipalities and other stakeholders and can be described as the result of collective intelligence.
A book will be released in November 17 (in french only) > order the book and info in french

> more information on the “Nouveau Poutès” project

 

Naaer River Summit 2022

The River Summit by the ONGs starts in Brussels (29 sept – 1 october)

EUROPEAN RIVERS SUMMIT

 

Wetlands International Europe, EuroNatur, GEOTA, Riverwatch and WWF Adria invite you
to the third European Rivers Summit in Brussels, Belgium from 29 September to 1 October.

The European Rivers Summit aims to inspire a movement of connected citizens in Europe to protect and restore European rivers, fight new dams and remove obsolete barriers. Healthy rivers are essential to delivering the European Green Deal and we aim to connect river champions around Europe to policy-makers in Brussels, with a two-day conference plus a third day to visit a river restoration site.

The event will inform attendees on the most important policy issues, big ideas and latest science around healthy rivers, and engage directly with Brussels as the home of the European Commission and Parliament in defending healthy rivers for people across Europe. We will also explore the power of communicating about rivers in film and art and see the transformative power of restoring urban rivers.

> to the programme

Living Rivers Coalition publishes its briefing paper on the natural connectivity of rivers and natural functions of the related floodplains

Freshwater ecosystems are one of the most degraded in Europe, with freshwater molluscs and fish the two most threatened animal groups  and 60% of surface waters failing to reach good ecological status. The fitness check of the Water Framework Directive concluded that the main reasons for failure are for a large part connected to insufficient measures to tackle diffuse pollution coming from agriculture, and the hydromorphological changes affecting water bodies. Restoring freshwater ecosystems is therefore a necessity to sustain the natural functions of rivers, lakes and wetlands. Only with healthy, biodiverse water bodies can we allow nature to thrive, ensure clean and sufficient water supply, and resilience to climate change impacts.

read the complet document : > FINAL LRE briefing – freshwater – NRL

Logo ERN, petit format

Next days : World Rivers day and European River Summit

In the next few days, rivers will once again be in the international spotlight.
On 25 September, a large number of river events will be organised in over 100 countries and the European River Summit will take place frim Sept 29 – Oct 1 in Brussels. ERN will also be part of the programme.

> more info World Rivers Day
> more info European Rivers Summit

Sélune River / France : The salmon is back !

France / Sélune River : Only 4 weeks after the demolition of the Roche qui boit dam and 2 years after Vezin’s demolition, a first salmon was already electronically located upstream of the construction sites !

more information on the dam removals on the Sélune River !

Ecosystem services of wild rivers: Webinar replays available

The study relating to the research and development contract on the ecosystem services of wild rivers in connection with the ecological label “Site Rivières Sauvages” carried out by the Office Français de Biodiversité (OFB) in partnership with ERN France, Association du Réseau Rivières Sauvages and Cerema is being finalised, one of the stages of which was the holding of a restitution seminar in the form of a webinar, remotely, on Tuesday 07/12/2021 from 9.30 am to 12 noon.

This webinar highlighted the main lessons learned on the technical and scientific, social, environmental, territorial and economic aspects of the so-called ecosystem services generated by rivers in very good ecological condition that have been awarded the “Wild Rivers Site” label.

The challenge in terms of research consisted in addressing the dynamics of the interdependence between an ecosystem and the stakeholders who benefit from it, in order to shed light on the modalities of an adapted sustainable management. The aim was to go beyond an approach based on the pure functionality of the ecosystem.

Three labelled watersheds were analysed: the Estéron (06), the Léguer (22), the Nant Bénin (73) following the study on the Taravo (2A) …

 

> to the replay page (in french only)

France/Sélune River : the large Roche qui boit dam removed

– The “La Roche qui boit” dam has been removed!
After many postponements, the second 17-metre high dam “La Roche qui boit” on the Sélune has been demolished. A 45-metre wide breach has already been opened to allow the flow of any floods. The remaining sides of the 120 m wide structure and the renaturation work should be completed by the end of 2022. After the demolition of the 37 m high Vezins dam two years ago, the ecological continuity of the historic salmon river Sélune is now restored after about 100 years. In the main river alone, more than 60 km are free and allow access to former spawning sites. Salmons could swim up the Sélune from the Baie Saint Michel during the next salmon migration, at the latest in spring 2023. Two castillons (salmon that have only spent one year at sea) have already been observed by specialists just downstream of the “Roche qui boit”. The campaign for a free Sélune led by associations including ERN, the French Fishing Federation, FNE and others will have lasted 20 years. A great success!

 

Copyright : ERN – Roberto Epple

> more information 

 

Big Jump July 10 – Time to register your event

Big Jump July 10 !

It’s that time again, in one month’s time on 10 July the Big Jump will take place all over Europe. Whether small or large, individual or group or big event, with swimming or not, all forms of celebrating our rivers are welcome. Please inform yourself and if possible register your project on our > Big Jump website.