River Basin management plans and their programs of measures map the needs and actions required to bring EU’s freshwaters to good ecological status.
But the works are many and the funds are limited, requiring decisionmakers to choose between the important and the urgent, the immediate and the strategic, the “low hanging fruit” and the “real solution”. They must figure out how to use funds strategically and optimize their plans within the ecological, economic, social, cultural and political context. They must predict what will be most successful and have the greatest positive impact with the lowest unintended negative consequences.
And they face lots of conflicting data, uncertainty about the assumptions made in research and how it might apply in their specific situation, even too much data. Too often, meaningful background and context is difficult to access; risks are unknown, potential consequences threaten but their likelihood is difficult to forecast with confidence.
It’s a Puzzle: Our logo highlights our mission and approach
Without all the pieces, the whole picture is almost impossible to interpret. EcoAdvance (Assessing and Consolidating Recent Advances on Freshwater Ecosystem Restoration) A Coordination and Support Action under grant agreement 101060497 supports decision makers by disentangling the threads and knots of Freshwater restoration research, practice and assessment to help funders invest in projects that are prone to success and maximize synergies and impacts.
EcoAdvance will highlight – country-by-country – for member states – through a literature searches and bibliometric research -- the factors that will help or hinder project success.
EcoAdvance will guide decisionmakers through the maze of data by putting a human face on freshwater restoration – developing a searchable library that showcases people who have made it happen and can guide them around pitfalls, obstacles and risks with meaningful advice.
The five elements of the puzzle logo emphasize the challenge of balancing floodplain and habitat impacts, stakeholder perspectives and needs, NBS construction innovations and barrage removal, and biodiversity with river connectivity considerations to create a holistic view. The shape and flow of each segment can be different in different situations, under different conditions in different countries. Still, these five segments are foundations for EcoAdvance’s work in developing the Prone 2 Success Checklist and buttressing it with the narratives and guidance of those who have succeeded in making a difference.
How will EcoAdvance Develop a meaningful checklist if each situation is different?
EcoAdvance will, by country:
Collect and analyse international and national river basin management plans for implementation of measures intended to improve the ecological status of freshwater, including habitats, floodplains and lakes
Catalogue and consolidate best practices in assessment of success
Identify and recognize the people who have made it happen: scientists, journalists, communities; funders
Bring their experience and advice (in video interviews) to the people who must solve similar problems
Formulate a Prone2Success Checklist that provides a clear, easily accessible, user-friendly process to sort through the factors that are important to achieving results in this particular situation.
Timeframe
EcoAdvance focuses on freshwater restoration projects(since 2012), initiatives and research (since 2000).
EcoAdvance starts August 1, 2022 and runs through January 2025.
Can I Join?
We are building a wide and diverse collaboration platform and community and you can join!
Please be in touch if you
- want more information,
- have a restoration or research project you think was/is relevant
- are a decisionmaker who evaluates freshwater restoration policies, strategies or projects
- care about issues in freshwater restoration
Presenting EcoAdvance
Introducing EcoAdvance in 5 slides
