{"id":4592,"date":"2018-07-22T11:14:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T09:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ern.org\/?p=4592"},"modified":"2020-06-23T15:34:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T13:34:39","slug":"2018-euronatur-award-goes-to-roberto-epple-award-for-a-river-conservationist-with-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ern.org\/en\/2018-euronatur-award-goes-to-roberto-epple-award-for-a-river-conservationist-with-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"EuroNatur Award 2018 goes to Roberto Epple, ERN founder & chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press release from EuroNatur 4 july 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

2018 EuroNatur Award goes to Roberto Epple, founding President of the European Rivers Network, he has devoted himself for decades to the wild rivers of Europe.<\/p>\n

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An inspirational river conservationist: Roberto Epple receives the EuroNatur Award in October 2018. \u00a9 ERN\/France<\/p><\/div>\n

Hydroelectric dams downgrade living river landscapes into a string of species-poor reservoirs. This trend has been resisted with body and soul by Roberto Epple over many years. For this commitment he is being awarded the EuroNatur Award<\/a> on 10th October 2018.<\/p>\n

This native of Switzerland was quick to recognise the importance of intact rivers for man and nature. As early as the 1970s, he was organising small campaigns against the construction of power stations in the Swiss Alps. He drew considerable attention to the issue in his documentary \u201cResistance on the River\u201c from 1987, which showed the protests against the construction of a power station on the Danube near Hainburg in Austria.\u00a0 One of the last big floodplain forests in Europe was designated as a national park as a result of the protest movement. Epple won further acclaim for his commitment for the saving of the Loire in France where he prevented the construction of four large dams and achieved the dismantling of two more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commitment of Roberto Epple to Central Europe\u2019s river landscapes serves as an inspiration for the campaigns being waged by EuroNatur and its partner organisations against the hydroelectric power lobby in the Balkans,\u201d said EuroNatur President, Christel Schroeder<\/a>, supporting the choice of this year\u2019s prize winner. With this award, Epple joins the ranks of public figures such as Klaus T\u00f6pfer, Prince Charles and the American best-selling author Jonathan Franzen<\/a>. All have received the EuroNatur Award for their exemplary commitment to the European natural heritage.<\/p>\n

Again and again, Roberto Epple\u2019s creative campaigns have succeeded in raising public awareness of river conservation. He it was, for example, who initiated the Big Jump, in which people from all over Europe gather on the banks of their rivers, and all go for a swim at the same time. With this collective jump into the water, young and old celebrate European River Swimming Day, and highlight the need for clean rivers, unspoilt by development. On Sunday 8th July at 3pm Central European Time, this event will be again taking place in numerous locations throughout Europe.<\/p>\n

Background Information:<\/b><\/p>\n