Advancing freshwater restoration

Last year at this time The Oder River in Poland and Germany suffered from massive fish kills due to toxic algae, high temperatures and low water levels… Different organizations attributed factors like mining salts, agricultural nutrients and poor water quality of the freshwater ecosystem as factors that contributed to and intensified the disaster.

What must we do to restore our freshwaters to make sure there is no repeat performance???

Already this year a tributary of the Oder suffered a fish kill  and authorities are trying to prevent further degradation by infusing the creek with oxygeh.

There are lessons to be learned from the last 20 years of freshwater ecosystem restoration projects – how do we leverage the knowledge and experience we have gained?

Join us at  https://lnkd.in/dkvAfFAQ to learn from the past and do better in the future!

Europe has taken one more step for restoration!

After the win in the Council of the European Union yesterday to move a revised Nature Restoration Law forward, Europe is getting closer to fulfilling the intent and potential of the European Green Deal.

But the battle is not over!

This version serves as the basis for further negotiations, of course, so changes are possible. For Member States with plans to restore freshwater ecosystems not yet protected that have languished in the wings for lack of resources or attention, this is the opportunity for Freshwater Champions to make sure freshwater ecosystems move to the top of the list.

The original specificity of binding targets took a bit of a beating, but the new version will hopefully mean serious restoration for freshwater ecosystems – and not just an exclusive focus on one type of habitat or project. The revised text allows Member States to look at all habitats together and prioritize the most urgent restoration needs.

If you know a Freshwater Champion in your country – someone who has advocated for restoration and protection of freshwater ecosystems – tell them about EcoAdvance – an EU project to help freshwater ecosystem restorations be more successful. Join at www.ecoAdvance.eu.

Starting a conversation about balancing hydro renewable energy goals with freshwater ecosystem environmental goals at a CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency meeting with introductions by Thomas Schleker for DG RTD and Jill Michielsen DG ENV.

Mark Morris, EcoAdvance (Horizon Europe) coordinator joined a cluster of hydropower research projects managed by CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency in Brussels earlier this week. 
The meeting, with presentations by AFC4Hydro, XFLEX HYDRO, ALPHEUS, Hydro4U, HYPOSO, H-HOPE, AGISTIN (Horizon Europe project), ETIP HYDROPOWER showed important efforts to address the energy crisis and support the clean energy transition with hydropower playing a key role in the integration to the energy grid of renewable sources such as wind and pv. Hydro pumped storage solutions also offer an effective option for storing and providing energy on demand. However, balancing the needs for clean energy with the needs for freshwater ecosystem restoration, and in particular river connectivity, poses a challenge.
 
That's where EcoAdvance comes in, Coordinator Mark Morris explained – finding the nexus where measures are being taken to create more sustainable hydropower solutions which address or minimise impacts and provide an acceptable balance between energy and environmental goals.
Know of an example or have some thoughts to share? Comment below and register for the consultation at www.EcoAdvance.eu

#freshwater #Ecosystem #restoration #hydropower #connectivity

Great pix of the cluster coordinators with Mark Morris coodinator at EcoAdvance

"Restore our Ocean and Waters - EcoDaLLi Project in the Danube and Black Sea Lighthouse" on June 7th in Romania demonstrate the power of continuity: The event was organized as part of the 30th edition of the “Deltas & Wetlands” Danube Delta National Institute Scientific Event in Tulcea.

Participative working sessions identified gaps, inter-linkages and challenges  and proposed actions to enable locals to provide and support innovation around the Danube Delta and Black Sea region. #DanubeLighthouse

A great example of just what EcoAdvance is all about:  THE PEOPLE who are driving #freshwater restoration to success!
Register to add your perspective on Advancing Freshwater Restoration in Europe at http://www.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 

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.

#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.

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/