Advancing freshwater restoration

It is easy to recognize a customer’s rights when they pay for services and goods.
Even the rights of the Non-paying customers like our children, family and friends…
What about the “customer rights” of Nature? Who champions Nature’s rights?
We are seeing increasing litigation on behalf of Nature and legislation to establish Nature’s rights..

But then what? Law is one thing…implementation is another ballgame!

Ecologist Avi Uzan has spent his career making Water for Nature doable and real.
In a country where the Water Law legislated who had the rights to water resources, once Nature was put on the list, it took leadership and collaboration to build the framework and tools to implement Nature’s right to water.
His journey is a Showcase on how to build the foundation for freshwater restoration from scratch and achieve #Eflows in freshwater ecosystems on a national level: gathering data, persuading government officials, collaborating with his colleagues at Israel Nature and Parks Authority Parks Authority, The Israel Water Authority and The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the Ministry of Environmental as well as other stakeholders, leveraging opportunities, perseverance and resilience.

Look for more on his journey, and his advice on how to get it done, coming soon at www.EcoAdvance.eu 
Register to add your perspective on Advancing Freshwater Restoration in Europe at www.EcoAdvance.eu.

Congratulations to NetworkNature EU and Victoria Blessing for publishing a guide on how to start and run a #NBS business.

Well organized and just what we need to help advance #ecosystemrestoration and make it self-sustaining!

Advice on how to take advantage of the business opportunities presented by the need for #NBE and #NBS.

Thanks to joint efforts of Steinbeis Europa Zentrum with Biodiversa+, IUCN, Oppla and ICLEI. Working together makes the difference!

Download the package at: https://lnkd.in/d-RGrnrw 

Register to join the consultation on advancing freshwater ecosystem restoration at https://ecoadvance.eu/ 

• AGMA's Annual Stream Conference brought over 250 scientists, government professionals and civil society to the table to dialogue about how to preserve and enhance Israel's rivers and streams in
  the face of climate change and competing needs.

  Israel's population is doubling every 30 years – now up to 10 million. AGMA was organized to create a professional learning community of freshwater stakeholders in Israel. In the two years since
  its launch, it has developed a common vision among municipalities, national planning and regulatory agencies, architects, planners, developers, NGOs and engineers. Field trips, webinars, educational courses are bringing them all together to address freshwater
  ecosystems while balancing housing and other requirements in face of semi-arid conditions and flooding from severe storms, poor drainage, and extensive development.

  The conference mapped out plans for restoring Israel’s streams and addressed issues like how to manage flood risks in the face of rampant development. Congrats to
  Hilla Beinish, the CEO of
  Agma - The Israeli Watersheds and Rivers Center,
  Yael Ilmer,
  Maya Milrad-Givon,
  Roy J. and
  Avital Gasith among others working to raise a generation of environment professionals.

  More on what AGMA is doing to restore freshwater ecosystems
  https://lnkd.in/d3kYk8B2 
   
  Are you doing something similar in your country? Let us know by commenting on this post and posting it to your networks!

  More on EcoAdvance (Horizon Europe): https://ecoadvance.eu/ 

All around Europe policymakers, environmentalists and stakeholders of all stripes will gather to debate the latest projects and challenges of the EU Green Deal.

Join one (or more!) of the #freshwater events going on:

1. June 5th at 15:oo CEST Merlin is  hosting: State of European freshwaters - Restoration needs and potentials.
   Paulo Branco, University Lisbon, will talk about using River Restoration Units  to analyze EU Directive compliance. The webinar will also focus on how considering ecosystem services co-benefits can optimize restoration potential to guide large-scale freshwater management decisions.
   ➡️More information at: https://lnkd.in/eiSYcEcV 
2. June 5th at 16:30-18:oo CEST International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) is hosting: Capacity of the Youth and International Organisations Towards Partnership, Cooperation and Environmental Protection to Accelerate SDGs!
   How can international organizations engage and support youth led initiatives to accelerate progress towards the SDGs.
   ➡️Register at: https://lnkd.in/grue4BQZ 
3. And check out the 263 Partner events that will surround the official EU Green Week conference on June 6th – 7th in Brussels, Belgium.  The conference itself is available live at https://lnkd.in/ebdxMSRY 

The Partner Events map shows what is going on and where – probably something near you!
Partner Events around the EU are catalogued at https://lnkd.in/e9qmjVan 

Do you know about other events on freshwater ecosystems restoration?
Share them with us EcoAdvance (Horizon Europe) in the comments ????
Weigh in on how to advance #freshwater
#ecosystem restoration. Register at www.ecoadvance.eu 

#Make_Nature_Count – an online webinar May 24th from the Netherlands Foundation for Sustainable development was a brilliant tour de force from Dolf de Groot. Vince van t' Hoff and Victoria Guisado Goni among others.

They have taken the concept of ecosystem services valuation and made it real through collating, analyzing, classifying and reporting thousands of ecosystem services valuation studies from around the world.
 
Their database, ESVD.net collects all these valuation studies, analyzes them, standardizes them and makes it easy for restoration proposers and funders to compare values of the ecosystem services that can be provided by restoration with alternative scenarios. Their methodology preserves the full breath of context-driven valuations and provides a good foundation for funders, #biodiversity policy makers and restorationist to find country, service and biome specific data and even get the original studies to check details and context if they want.
They have almost 3000 studies from Europe alone!   And the new interface and upgrade they introduced to include updated classification systems and standardize over 70% of the studies on a single baseline scale are really user friendly, especially with their mapping tool.
 Kudos to the Dutch government, represented by Franc van der Steen for financing the system and keeping it open for free public access. A clear showcase for how and public of how developing foundational data can help Europe restore its
 
 What a resource for freshwater ecosystem restoration practitioners and funders! A clear showcase for initiatives that make a real difference and advance freshwater ecosystem restoration in Europe.

Register at www.ecoadvance.eu to contribute and find out more about the people and projects that are improving the repeatability of in freshwater ecosystem restoration success in Europe and beyond.