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

Logo Openrivers

Open Rivers : Second weir removed on the Tardoire !

Read more

Save the date : international colloquium “Des Saumons et des Hommes 3 ” 19-21 October 2023 – Brioude (France)

Ten years after the last meeting, SOS Loire Vivante – ERN is organising a new conference on the Loire salmon. This is an opportunity to take stock of the situation of the Atlantic salmon in the Loire and elsewhere. National and international experts will try to understand the reasons for the decline despite restoration efforts and whether our actions are still in line with current and future challenges.
Is it due to climate change or to phenomena at sea or in the river? During the health check and the presentation of the results of restoration actions, we will compare the case of the Loire with other highly migratory river basins such as the Rhine, the Elbe, the Adour, the Garonne, the Sélune, etc,
Are you interested in this event?

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Sélune dams removals in video (12 min)

The Sélune has been free since last autumn. After the dismantling of the two large dams, the path is free for sediment and migratory fish for almost 100 km.

In a 12-minute video (in French and English) with spectacular images, you can follow the steps of the renaturalisation:

Video in french https://vimeo.com/549070141
Video in english https://vimeo.com/546711100

 

More infos about the Sélune

 

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 !

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 

 

May 21, 2022 is World Migratory Fish Day !

May 21, 2022 is World Migratory Fish Day !

Organized every two years by the World Fish Migration Foundation, this day honors free-flowing rivers and migratory fish, which are often threatened. This day, many organizations around the world organize events on the theme “Reconnecting fish, rivers and people”. Already 95 events open to the public are registered, and it is not over.

> Check out the events

> Any association or individual can get involved and register an event.
Organize an event

> Take part in the actions organized by SOS Loire Vivante / ERN:
Virtual visit of the “New Poutès” dam completely reconfigured for salmon migration.

The location of the dam on the upper Allier river is of crucial importance: it determines the access of the salmon to the best spawning areas for the Loire-Allier strain of salmon, a unique strain able to migrate over long distances!

SOS Loire Vivante / ERN will organize a visit to the “new Poutès” dam and will record the visit and conduct interviews on site.

Other actions are being organized by SOS Loire Vivante.

 

> Website of the world fish migration day

The international Dam Removal Europe seminar starts tomorrow!

This year, Dam Removal Europe International Seminar is being organized by WWF (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), Dam Removal Europe partners, and in cooperation with regional and international partners. It will take place online from 4 to 7 May 2021 (every afternoon from 2 to 5 p.m. Central European Time).

  • May 4, 2021: What is on stake? Why do we need dam removal?
  • May 5, 2021: How to push dam removal forward?
  • May 6, 2021: Benefits of dam removal to nature and people
  • May 7, 2021: Political frameworks and financing

ERN will be among the speakers on the subject of the removal of large dams on the Selune.

You can still register !

>> Find the whole program and register online