Advancing freshwater restoration

NetworkNature EU challenged practitioners to articulate the biggest myths about Nature Based solutions and then showcased the winners at their  Annual Event 2024 | Busting myths: People with Nature

Last week the follow-up came: a friendly, easy-to-understand pamphlet that brought the myth, the truth and proof points together with cartoons!

As an example, take the myth that it is “Biodiversity or Profit” that many consider the choice a business must make.
Myth Buster Carlos Ruiz González of SEO/BirdLife flipped it to : “Biodiversity makes profit” and proved the point in olive groves in Spain where various nature based solutions increased bird, ant, pollinator and plant populations – lower input cost for farmers, increasing profits.

Or the myth that "under climate change, dams are more needed than ever" to store more clean water.
Fish conservation/river restoration expert Carlos Garcia de Leaniz of the EU HORIZON AMBER project (Adaptive management of Barriers in European Rivers) focused on environmental hazards of dams, and that alternative technologies like recharged aquifers, and precision agriculture may provide the same or better results, if upscaled, without the downsides of barrages.
He suggested the mantra: "under climate change, free-flowing rivers are more needed than ever"! With the hashtag#NatureRestorationLaw recently enacted, focus is on how to reconnect rivers and balance needs for renewable energy rather than driving to build dams as the exclusive reaction to climate change.

At EcoAdvance (Horizon Europe) we're constantly searching for the people and projects that make freshwater restoration a success. The Nature-based Solutions (NbS) myth busters have the right approach – NBS is not just techniques but a mindset. Understanding the nuances will bring real progress!

https://networknature.eu/product/32254 

The latest hashtag hashtag#Cop16 report on the implementation of Kumming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework says 50% of global freshwater systems are degrading!
HALF of the worlds freshwater systems going DOWN!!
 
Here are the UN Environment Programme ideas (translated approximately):

1. Focus on water related nature based solutions.
 
2. Invest in water quality monitoring…what we don’t measure and track often won’t happen! In projects in Ireland (such as the Fish Counter at the Adare River Basin, and the Mulkear Life Project) simple trackers are giving policy makers the data they need to make better decisions.
 
3. Embrace local knowledge – people who have been on the scene for generations have water management knowledge that complements and often exceeds scientific knowledge!
 
4. New tools offer new pathways and data to understand hydrobasins from aerial perspectives that were not accessible before. The UN’s Freshwater Explorer (see link in comment below) provides whole new data framework for understanding climate change risk.
 
5. Think holistically about water resources management and freshwater ecosystem restoration by including experts from all disciplines, policy levels, stakeholders and advocates in planning and decision-making. Waste management and water management are really just two sides of the same coin!
 
EcoAdvance (Horizon Europe) is profiling the people around Europe who are implementing these ideas -- like Ellis Penning in the Netherlands and Jone Lescinskaite in Lithuania. Check out our Showcases!

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/heres-how-protecting-freshwater-ecosystems-can-help-countries-meet-their 

The World Soil Day next week from FAO and Global Soil Partnership celebrates research and progress in improving soil health around the world.
It is really the other side of freshwater restoration!

Erosion, agricultural over-fertilization, pesticide and herbicide pollution are the core pressures that compromise the quality of our streams and aquifers.

Last year’s theme was Soil and Water – this year emphasis is on improvements in soil data.

How can the restoration community build bridges across these silos? 

 As we begin to analyze the data from our recent survey on what makes freshwater ecosystem restoration initiatives prone to success, use of Ecosystem Services Concepts is clearly becoming the method of choice. 

90% of our respondents set goals in terms of Ecosystem Services. Another indicator of the increasing acceptance of this methodology is the recent Ecosystem Services Partnership Europe Conference which attracted over 500 participants to hashtag#Wageningen, Netherlands this past week. 

Our own University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) partner Lisa Waldenberger and others hosted a session on Freshwater Ecosystem Biodiversity and the impact of the pressures they face. DIscussions revolved around the need for transdisciplinary research to understand the various concurrent drivers at work and what they mean for the Ecosystem Services that can be delivered.

Do they continue to effectively reduce pollutants; continue to be a cost-effective way to treat wastewater?

How do we know? 

Answering those critical questions is on the agenda for DALIA Danube Lighthouse Demonstrator 5 at the Begecka Jama Nature Park and Atila Bezdan and his team from the Department of Water Management at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Agriculture (Serbia). 
 Restored by a CWS that went operational in 2004, Begecka Jama has faced 20 years of climate change, increasing agricultural use of fertilizers and pesticides, and a shift from hunting to preservation that increased wildlife-human interactions. Begecka Jama Nature Park is a key ecotourism spot with significant biodiversity buttressed by improved habitats, breeding and spawning for 150 species of birds, 14 species of fish, 11 species of amphibians and 6 species of reptiles, despite the pressures from pollution and water variability. 

Some of the species are sensitive and while the Park itself is protected, outside its boundaries suffer from the discharge of untreated wastewater from surrounding settlements, chemicals from agriculture, illegal dumping, and leachate from a landfill.

An extensive program of CWS monitoring by Atila Bezdan, Jovana Bezdan (Dragincic) and Bosko Blagojevic (with certain analyses provided by @Jasna Grabic and colleagues from the water quality laboratory of the Department of Water Management) suggests that the CWS design and operation overall demonstrate effectiveness as a nature-based solution and has stood the test of time.

Of course, under different conditions results vary, though they have been fairly consistent. The results from 2012 to 2023 range between 95-80% for removal of suspended solids; 85-80% for reduction of BOD5; 65-45% for the efficiency of nitrogen compound removal; and 40-25% for the efficiency of total phosphorus removal. 

This work includes development of methods to monitor changes using drones and other advanced techniques and will anchor CWS as a proven long term nature based solution for many communities inside and outside the Danube Basin.

DO Not Miss this MERLIN Academy Webinar Monday -- EcoAdvance will share what makes a difference in advancing freshwater restoration in Europe. Join us to hear our preliminary results and next steps for the project -- pick up some useful tips on how to make restoration projects prone to success...particulalry as implementation planning moves into full throttle for the Nature Restoration Law. 3pmCET.

Freshwater restoration is growing in popularity across Europe, increasingly backed by better scientific knowledge, practical experience and political support. However, as work in the EU MERLIN project shows, there is still a need to demonstrate how successful restoration can be mainstreamed across the continent.

A new survey aims to help advance freshwater restoration in Europe by identifying the factors that make restoration projects successful. The EcoAdvance project – funded by the EU Horizon scheme – has designed the survey to gather the perspectives of freshwater scientists, academics, managers, community organisers and policy makers across Europe.

The results of the survey will contribute to a tool which supports freshwater restoration projects by showcasing best-practice examples and case studies, at both continental and national scales. This work is extremely timely given the adoption of the EU Nature Restoration Law – and its commitment to restoring 25,000km of free flowing rivers across Europe – earlier this year.

“Success inspires success, and when you hear these people, when you see the varieties of paths they followed to be successful, when you read their insights into how to deal with barriers, it is nothing short of inspiring,” says EcoAdvance partner Phyllis Posy. “You understand that Europe really has the people and resilience to achieve the Green Deal.”

“The survey will help us understand country differences – the diversity of stressors and climates – and what factors make restoration projects prone to success,” adds EcoAdvance coordinator Mark Morris. “This includes the tools people use to adapt to specific technical and social challenges that could derail a project.”

For EcoAdvance partners Helmut Habersack – voted the Austrian of the Year in Research 2023 for his work on river restoration – the work is important to help bring people together, recalling years when “engineers and ecologists were colliding, and no one could go forward.” Habersack explains: “there is only one river – and we have no choice but to come to the table and work together.”

The EcoAdvance survey is open until 30th October and can be completed here.

Image: -JuhoP- | Flickr Creative Commons

TOMORROW IS OUR DAY!!! EcoAdvance (Horizon Europe) featured in the @NatureforLife HUB Day 3 focused on restoring the balance between Nature and People. Our video is part of the Deeper Dives section and features BioAgora Project and Onewater. Twan Stoffers,Lisa Waldenberger, and others consider how to transform and restore our freshwater resources but considering other points of view -- even a fish's!

EcoAdvance stars again! The 2024 edition of the @UNEP Nature for Life Hub broadcast world-wide starting September 30 will feature a video collaboration between EcoAdvance BioAgora Project and Onewater.   Nature for Life Hub, co-hosted by the United Nations Development Programme, The United Nations Environment Programme, and The Convention on Biological Diversity, is designed as a platform for raising awareness of the value of nature. Every year it holds a competition to find the most persuasive media to inspire and engage people from across the spectrum and across the world in improving the environment.

This year our contribution will be broadcast on October 2nd, on demand, in the Deep Dives section in the "Behavioral Change and Environmental Impact" segment. We will be featured with @Rodale Institute, @The Nature Conservancy, @ Rare, and  @Ayni Studios, among other winners. 
Our video captures transformative learning based on a workshop at the Alpine Rivers Symposium to help stakeholders reimagine how to adapt to climate change.

 Changing attitudes and expectations of easy answers is the first step; people have to appreciate other points of view before they will change to more environmentally sustainable behaviors- change we all understand is urgently needed but continues to be difficult to attain.
Put hashtag#NatureforlifeHub2024 on your calendar! Register here: https://lnkd.in/dv_zdcd4