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Open letter: Counting on new hydropower to accelerate Renewable Energy deployment in Europe is irresponsible

ERN and more than 100 NGOs write to EU negotiators asking them to protect Europe’s rivers from new hydropower deployment in the revised Renewable Energy directive.
Already in 2020, 150 NGOs signed a manifesto asking EU decision-makers to stop new hydropower development in Europe.

Read the WWF press release:

 Ahead of the nextpolitical trilogue on the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, more than 100 NGOs are sending an open letter to co-legislators from the European Parliament, European Commission and Council Presidency, asking them to exclude new hydropower from go-to areas as well as to include sustainability criteria recognizing that hydropower has direct impacts on freshwater ecosystems which must be mitigated.

 Because hydropower potential has been so exploited already in Europe, new hydropower would only make a small contribution to the energy transition, while causing immense damage to our waterways. According to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022, freshwater species populations have seen the greatest overall global decline (83%), and within this species group, on average, monitored migratory fish populations have declined by 93% in Europe, making our continent the most affected.

Contact
Florian Cassier
Climate Communications Officer
fcassier@wwf.eu
+32 479 33 92 11

Open letter : Do not weaken legislation for the protection of aquatic environments

The new law concerning “the acceleration of the production of renewable energies” has seen the appearance in the Senate of amendments in favour of the development of micro-hydroelectricity to the detriment of water resources, biodiversity and, above all, the general interest. They were not in the project initially submitted. Fortunately, the Assembly did not retain these proposals and focused on large hydroelectricity under concession. Nevertheless, in order to prevent these anachronistic amendments from coming back during the final drafting of the texts and in the future, we wished to alert the members of parliament in a letter to the dangers and the truncated, even misleading, arguments propagated on the subject of small hydroelectricity. Read the letter (in french)

Participate in the European dam removal report by indicating obstacles removed in your area in 2022

Since 2020, Dam Removal Europe (DRE) has been reported the number of obstacles removed* from rivers in Europe, results that were also highlighted in 2021 by The Guardian.

From the beginning of this year and until 1 March, DRE is launching its 2022 data collection campaign, to share the final report in May 2023.

This collect is essential to evaluate the implementation advancement of EU policies and to analyze the progress of this river restoration measure in each country. Participate in this data collection and answer the survey by indicating the obstacles removed in 2022: https://damremoval.eu/news/tell-us-about-your-dam-removal/ .

*Fish passes and bypass rivers are not considered.

 

More infos : Foivos Mouchlianitis foivos@fishmigration.org

Access to previous reports:

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Open Rivers : First weir removed on the Tardoire !

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France : Lets co-create a Big Jump 2023 event a long the Loire river and its tributarys

Free swimming in the Loire or its tributaries is banned in many places, sometimes for good reasons but rarely explained why, sometimes banned for no reason at all and often to avoid liability in the event of a problem or accident.

Nevertheless, in the summer, more and more people go to the river banks and many of them cool off by wading or swimming in the river. This is why the prohibition signs are not respected, tolerated by the authorities. But for those who have never learned to swim in rivers, it can be dangerous. In the future, more and more people will flock to the beaches, thanks to the general improvement of (bathing) water quality and the desire to live more naturally in a very artificial world.

On 9 July 2023, the date of the annual BIG JUMP Rendez vous, SOS Loire wants to organise the first Loire Big Jump. In addition to swimming in the river, there are many other forms of action that could take place along the Loire, the Allier and other tributaries. The aim is to raise awareness, learn how to swim in the river, understand what is forbidden and reconcile people with their rivers.
On 13 and 20 December, we are organising a first open videoconference on these themes. After presenting the idea of a Loire Big Jump, we will propose a long sequence of general debate and a round of “Questions and Answers” (in french only). If you wish to participate  > register 

Rhine River : Fish passes in Rhinau and Marckolsheim: the work has really entered the active phase

Officially launched on 8 October 2021 by Mrs. Bérangère Abba, Secretary of State to the Minister of Ecological Transition, in charge of Biodiversity, the first shovels began to be dug in Rhinau and Marckolsheim this autumn 2022.

A great technical challenge awaits EDF. These fish passes will be the largest ever built in France and in Europe. The work will be carried out simultaneously on both sites, with commissioning scheduled for 2025 for Rhinau and 2026 for Marckolsheim. This is a great step forward and in line with the timetable announced at the last conference of ministers in Amsterdam in February 2020.

But a bigger challenge still awaits EDF on the Rhine: solving and developing the Vogelgrün dam, the last real obstacle before Basel. In this context the Salmon Comeback coalition will again ask the ICPR to set up an interdisciplinary working group dedicated to Vogelgrün in order to study additional alternative solutions to those studied in the past, which proved to be extremely complex and expensive.

More information and video presentation of the project: :  https://www.edf.fr/hydraulique-alsace-vosges/passes-a-poissons-rhinau-marckolsheim/le-projet-en-bref.

terrassement passa à poisson Rhinau
Rhinau works © EDF

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Joint meeting of maritime and water directors: LRE calls for a commitment to raise ambitions for river restoration

Ahead of the joint meeting of maritime and water directors on 29 November 2022, the Living Rivers Europe coalition is sending a letter to the water directors asking them to engage in the Council deliberations on the European Commission proposal for the Nature Restoration Law to:

● Raise the barrier removal target to 15% of EU river length (178,000 km) restored to a free-flowing state by 2030 and make it legally binding;
● Remove the highlight given to exemptions to the Water Framework Directive objectives and TEN-T regulation to ensure proper implementation;
● Prioritise barrier removals according to the ecological potential of the removal, in particular the connectivity between marine and freshwater ecosystems;
● Increase the intermediary percentage targets laid out in Article 4 for the restoration and re-establishment of areas and the restoration of habitats of species, and shorten the timeline for reaching 100%, as this article also covers some freshwater ecosystems and those restoration actions would also complement the action on river connectivity;
● Recognise the need to expand the EU financing support available for free-flowing river restoration in addition to the sources identified in the EU Guidance on barrier removal for river restoration, for example, through the establishment of dedicated funding for nature restoration, pursuant to the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework.

Around exemptions from the WFD objectives :

● Make full use of the measures provided by the Water Framework Directive and other EU rules to bring Europe’s waters to good status as soon as possible and by 2027 the latest
● Do proper cost benefit analysis before applying exemptions and include long-term costs such as costs related to climate change in the decision-making
● Do proper economic analysis and put in place economic instruments for cost recovery for the coal sector, including mine drainage fees and adequate fees for cooling water abstraction that account for the external costs of operation. Earmark the revenues for restoration measures.

Read letter 

Loire / Rhone-Ardèche basins in France : Watertransfer by solidarity ? Webinary 15 nov 16h-18h

This online webinar, the 2nd episode, out of a total of 4, will explain, using the example of the particularly dry summer of 2022, how the Montpezat hydroelectric complex and the diversion of around 200 million M3 of water from the Loire to the Ardèche worked. How was the support of low water levels and the sharing of water between the two basins organised? Who decided what?
1 hour of debate + 1 hour of questions and answers live.

>  Infos and  subscribing  in FRENCH ONLY

> more information o,n the Hydropower complex of Montpezat

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Open Rivers Programme : 2 Q&R sessions on November

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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