Salmon Comeback Rhine: Visit to the fish pass construction site

From Thursday 30 November to Friday 1 December, the ERN team travelled down the Rhine to see the progress of the fish passes under construction at the Marckholsheim and Rhinau sites. These projects, managed by EDF, represent an investment of several tens of millions of euros to protect the Rhine’s large migratory species. The two projects, which are identical, are being carried out with a slight time lag of 8 months between the two sites.
These fish passes have several entrances on each side of the power station, on the left and right banks, enabling each fish to find its way to the pass. To pass from the left bank to the right bank, the fish will use a “bridge” that will pass over the power station. This will take them a total of 1 kilometre to get around the power station. The fishways will span a 13 m difference in height, and consist of more than 90 upstream pools with a 20 cm drop between each pool.
Friday morning was devoted to a meeting in Kembs to monitor the renaturation of the Rhine island.

More info about Salmoncomeback Rhine campaign

 

© ERN

© ERN

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Open Rivers Programme continues to support projects in France and across Europe

72 projects supported by the Open Rivers programme throughout Europe and a new call for projects underway

At the beginning of November 2023, the Open Rivers Programme* launched a new call for projects to provide financial support for the removal of weirs and dams. Applications can be sent in until 8 December.

After two years of the implementation of the Open Rivers Programme, 72 projects are supported throughout Europe, either underway or completed, contributing to the achievement of the objective of 25,000 km of freeflowing rivers by 2030 in Europe, voted on 09/11/2023 by the European Parliament as part of the Restoration Naturation Law. It is a significant support for restoring rivers in Europe, including in France where legislation to restore ecological continuity is frequently attacked to slow the momentum and hamper the efforts made by a community of stakeholders to restore our rivers effectively and sustainably in favour of energy issues of little interest.

France is one of the pioneers of the dam and weir removal movement in Europe, which began in 1998, and the results are encouraging, not only in terms of reconnecting river habitats but also in terms of increasing functionality and reducing the risk of flooding. Other European countries, such as Finland, Spain and Sweden, also see dam removal as a viable solution for restoring rivers. Elsewhere, however, tools are still lacking, particularly in Eastern Europe, to facilitate the implementation of such measures. This is why ERN, together with regional and international partners (World Fish Migration Foundation (WFMF), Fauna & Flora, MedINA Greece, Wetlands International (WI), WWF Netherlands, Slovakia, and Adria) are running a project with the Open Rivers Programme to facilitate and accelerate the removal of barriers in 4 target countries: Croatia, Greece, Romania and Slovakia. These countries have all the conditions needed to develop, inspire and raise awareness of the benefits of this tool for restoring nature: high ecological potential, emerging opportunities and projects, strong community involvement (more info).

In this context, WWF, WFMF and ERN are organising Q&A sessions to answer technical questions from potential projects on 15 and 20 November. Interested parties can contact corinne.ronot@rivernet.org  The next Open Rivers application session is scheduled for the end of February for all grant categories.

Latest news on French projects run by ERN and its local partners

Since 2021 and the launch of the programme, ERN has applied with several local partners for preliminary studies and works, and 6 projects have been selected.

In 2022-2023 ERN worked with the SYMBA on the Open Rivers Programme application to restore the Tardoire, an european eel river. After six months of works to removed four obsoletes weirs, the river was flowing again on more than 20 kms. After just a few months, the riverbed was unrecognisable, and habitats were quickly recreated (more info). To make this story happened Open Rivers Programme funded 100% of the works, because even the local stakeholders were all in favour of the project, the States at this moment was not in a position to finance such project. A 12 minutes movie in French and English subtitle relate the project and the stakeholders involvement.

Latest, ERN and its local partners obtained two new preliminary study projects for the removal of small obsolete weirs. One is located in the Eyrieux river basin (Ardèche catchement) and is run by the SMEC and the other is in the Branugues river basin (Cère and Dordogne catchement) and is run by the SMDMCA. These two projects are located in preserved area with high biodiversity potential and will allowed to reconnect habitats for fish (trout) and white-clawed crayfish, increase their range, and improve the resilience and morphology of the river. A great opportunity to restore the functionality of the river through a simple acte : remove obsolete barrieres on rivers.

More info

* Open Rivers Programme is a foundation funded by Arcadia which aims to restore endangered European rivers by supporting interventions that lead to the removal of small dams and the restoration of river flow and biodiversity.

 

Download press release 

A look back at the Conference Salmons an People 3, another step towards saving salmon

Over the two days of Thursday and Friday 19 and 20 October 2023, 100 people took part each day, with a total of 7 different nationalities (France, Germany, England, Ireland, Canada, Denmark and the United States) came to listen to original presentations and debate with speakers from all over France (from the Gaves, the Rhine, the Garonne and, of course, the Loire-Allier), as well as international experts, local players, government representatives, researchers, engineers, associations, hydro-electricity companies and other users (VNF, professional fishermen, recreational fishermen, etc.). ). The various presentations highlighted the current issues surrounding the conservation of wild salmon, from their impact on the high seas to the heart of the rivers.

 

In the run-up to the event, SOS Loire Vivante – ERN worked in partnership with schools and after-school care centres in the Loire basin on a project to raise awareness of the river and hold creative workshops on salmon. The paintings and works produced by the children were exhibited at the conference. Fifty students from the Brioude Bonnefont agricultural college, some of whom had taken part in the educational programme, attended the Thursday morning plenary session, and two Brioude nursery classes surprised us by visiting the exhibition on the Friday morning.

 

More than sixty people also took part in the meal organised at the Hotel Restaurant la Crèche, a venue that was once home to experienced salmon fishermen. During the meal, two 15-minute videos on restoring ecological continuity by removing dams were shown.

 

Friday afternoon marked a break with the rest of the programme by refocusing the discussions on the Loire. The round table provided an opportunity for constructive discussion, and for unblocking positions so that we could finally move towards a shared roadmap.

 

On Saturday, 35 people took part in the day’s visit, including some new participants. After a visit to the Maison du Saumon et de la Rivière in Brioude, which includes aquariums showing the species found on the Allier and the history of the Brivadois region around salmon, two itineraries were proposed:

 

Itinerary 1: Visit to the Allier valley between Brioude and Chanteuges, with a “virtual” visit to the “new Poutès dam” due to the vigipirate plan preventing visits to the site, in partnership with EDF, and a visit to the National Wild Salmon Conservatory de Chanteuges, with Nature A Lier.

 

Itinerary 2: Visit to the Alagnon basin, where major efforts have been made to restore ecological continuity: visits to dams that have been removed and restored in the basin: Grand Pont, Chambezon, Massiac, Stalapos), in partnership with SIGAL.

 

Presentations, summaries and photos are online. The replay and summary will follow shortly on the following page : Colloque « Des Saumons et des Hommes 3 » 19-21 Oct 2023 à Brioude – SOS LOIRE VIVANTE

NGOs call for new EU Climate and Water Resilience Law

On 26 October, a coalition of six NGOs grouped under the umbrella of Living Rivers Europe published a position paper calling for a more resilient Europe.

Read press release from WWF :

“Six NGOs call for a new EU Climate and Water Resilience Law to address the climate and water crises”
A coalition of six NGOs is asking for a new “EU Climate and Water Resilience Law” that prioritises restoring and protecting freshwater ecosystems to ensure clean and sufficient water for drinking and sustainable farming. The NGO call comes as the European Economic and Social Committee holds a high-level “Call for an EU Blue Deal” conference today, and it follows the European Commission’s announcement that it will present an Initiative for Water Resilience in the first quarter of 2024.

Freshwater ecosystems have been overexploited for decades, severely degrading their health and undermining Europe’s resilience to the fast-growing consequences of climate change: increased drought, floods and fires, while also driving massive biodiversity and habitat loss. The new EU Climate and Water Resilience Law supported by the NGOs would create a network of natural Water Reserves to protect critical water supplies and their catchments in water-stressed areas, provide adequate finance for protecting and restoring natural “sponge” landscapes, and contribute to setting sectoral water efficiency and water abstraction targets for all water users at basin level.

“Rather than calling for an EU Blue Deal which relies heavily on grey infrastructure, we need to continue implementing the Green Deal and accelerate efforts to safeguard water for nature and for people,” says Claire Baffert, Senior Water Policy Officer at WWF’s European Policy Office and Chair of the Living Rivers Europe coalition. “We urge the European Commission to draw up a new EU Climate and Water Resilience Law that ensures clean and sufficient water for people by securing healthy freshwater ecosystems for nature.”

The NGOs caution against turning to concrete infrastructure in a bid to temporarily fix water shortage and flood problems: “Building new dams, channelling riverbeds or implementing large-scale water transfers only increases our vulnerability to climate change impacts in the future. Instead, natural ecosystems including free-flowing rivers, restored floodplains, wetlands and peatlands need the space and freedom to do their job of absorbing, filtering and storing water, and providing vital habitats for nature,” Paul Brotherton, Freshwater Manager at Wetlands International Europe.

In the position paper for water resilience, the coalition also calls for the full enforcement of the Water Framework Directive, climate adaptation to be integrated into all EU policies and an end to subsidies that harm freshwater.

Download the document : https://wwfeu.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/climate-and-water-crisis-report_web-final.pdf

logo Living Rivers Europe

Hydroelectricity – EU: Open letter from Living Rivers Europe (LRE)

In February, around a hundred NGOs co-signed Living Rivers Europe’s letter to the European Commission calling on EU decision-makers to protect Europe’s rivers from the deployment of new hydropower plants. The Commission’s response, received on 4 May 2023, contains several erroneous statements about the role of hydropower in the deployment of renewable energies in Europe.

LRE responded to the Commission on 20 October with a new open letter co-signed by 100 NGOs.

Extract : “In Europe, a large majority of the planned hydropower capacity is small plants – 93% of planned projects have a capacity <10 MW and 60% below 1 MW. Therefore they are unable to significantly back up variable renewables. On the contrary, the smallest run-of-river hydropower plants are subject to seasonal river flows, thus they operate as an intermittent energy source. Many of those planned small plants are in protected areas. Building new storage and pumped storage power plants where two reservoirs do not already exist is likely to cause irreversible damage to rivers, due to landscape change and hydropeaking.

read the open letter

International conference “Salmons & people “: Registration now open

The salmo salar – extinction or restoration?
We need a shared roadmap!

Salmon is in decline in France, as is biodiversity in general. Migration statistics are clear: fewer and fewer migratory fish are reaching their best spawning grounds, particularly those on long rivers, such as the Loire-Allier axis….
All hope is not yet lost, however, as there are promising examples where rigorous, jointly-developed measures have resulted in an upward trend. Despite climate change.
Ten years after the last meeting, SOS Loire Vivante – ERN is organizing a new event in an attempt to unite the players around a common roadmap. Probably the last chance!

> More info and registration

 

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Open Rivers : Third weir removed on the Tardoire!

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Nature Restauration Law : Encouraging but fragile results from the ENVI Commission

June 15 MEPs from ENVI Comission saved the Nature Restauration Law project, the amendment to reject the legal proposal did not pass, although with the smallest margin possible (44/44).

Compromise amendment 6 on Article 7 (river connectivity) was approved, which means that the 25,000 barrier removal target is – so far – still in the ENVI report. Although an encouraging result, it does not mean much, as there is a chance that the ENVI report ends up being rejected. MEPs will continue the voting of the last individual amendements during the next ENVI Committee meeting end of June, and then will vote on the full ENVI report.

So nothing is certain at this stage, advocacy efforts will need to continue until the plenary vote on the week of 10 July.

More infos : Save the “Nature Restauration Law” – European Rivers Network (ern.org)

Read the Press release from EEB

European People’s Party fails with disinformation campaign

Nature and the ever-growing list of stakeholders supporting the Nature Restoration Law can breathe a sigh of relief as the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee of the European Parliament rejected attempts by conservative and right-wing groups to kill the proposed law in a very tight vote on Thursday morning.

[…]

Sergiy Moroz, Policy Manager for Water and Biodiversity at the European Environmental Bureau, said: “Recent weeks have seen a growing chorus of unprecedented support for the Nature Restoration Law [2], including from the scientific community, as this law offers a solution to tackle both the climate and biodiversity crises. Science is clear: the biggest threats to food security and to farmers are climate change and the degradation of nature. We urge the MEPs to resist the misinformation campaigns and continue negotiating constructively towards the adoption of a strong Nature Restoration Law in the lead committee and plenary without further delay.”

read Press release in full : https://eeb.org/the-nature-restoration-law-lives-to-fight-another-day/ 

Save the “Nature Restauration Law”

The Nature Restoration Law, which will be shortly put to vote in the European Parliament, sets the target of restoring at least 25,000 km of free-flowing watercourses by 2030 (Article 7) in order to improve the natural longitudinal and lateral connectivity of watercourses. These objectives complement the obligations of the Water Framework Directive and is necessary given the significant degradation of aquatic ecosystems.

Read our note for Members of the European Parliament  in french  and english.

We should even go further and set a target of 178,000 km by 2030.

But even more, there is a high risk that it will be fully rejected as several parties went as far as calling to completely denied it back this past May.  This next Thursday 15 June the ENVI Committee of the European Parliament must be strong.

Send a message easy and quick message to your decision-maker to be ambitious : https://www.restorenature.eu/en/take-action #RestoreNature

 

The Nature Restoration Law proposal lays out plans to restore thousands of kilometers of rivers.

More info about fragmentation by dams

More info about Nature Restauration Law (anglais)

DRE launch today the dam removal progress report for 2022

The latest report uncovers a surprising figure of (at least) 325 barriers have been removed in 16 European countries – a new record! As in 2021, most of the removed barriers were weirs, as these structures have a high probability of being old and obsolete and can be removed in a cost-efficient way. But large dams such as the Roche-qui-boit dam in France (16m high) are also among the 2022 achievements.

Several factors have contributed to the new numbers such as newly available funding opportunities, like the Open Rivers Programme, the coordinated efforts of national and regional public authorities to report removed barriers, and the hype created by findings of last year’s report disseminated all around Europe.

Given the latest developments in European climate policy and the Commission’s proposal for a Nature Restoration Law, it is important to keep highlighting dam removal as a crucial tool to accomplish ecosystem restoration and celebrating success stories across Europe. Moreover, barrier removal also contributes to the global Freshwater Challenge to restore 300,000km of degraded rivers by 2030, a goal launched at the UN Water Conference held in New York in March. Besides pollution, habitat degradation, and over exploitation of natural resources, freshwater ecosystems face one major issue: dams.

It has been found that over 1,2 million barriers fragment European rivers, with many being obsolete. Among the several harmful consequences is biodiversity loss, with a decline of 93% in freshwater migratory fish populations in Europe and 76% on a global level. The alarming numbers ask for costeffective and efficient solutions to restore rivers. Dam removal has been paving its way in nature
restoration tools – a trend has been confirmed across Dam Removal Europe’s annual reports.

Read the press release

Read the report