People and Projects Solving Freshwater Restoration Challenges

EcoAdvance European Project

Showcase category ➤ Recreating Freshwater Ecosystems

CROATIA

Marina Petrić

Monitoring and Restoration officer - WWF Adria

NGOs & Civil Society
My Projects

Restoring the Amazon of Europe: Reconnecting Riverine Habitats in the First five-country UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

  • Key project facts

    Restoration of side channels and floodplane forest in Kopački rit and Gornje Podunavlje area.

    Establishing the Restoration Task Force, and work with the local community.  

  • What impact did these projects have on biodiversity, if any?

    improving habitat conditions for fish, birds, amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, improve water storage capacity and hydrological conditions in the TBR MDD.

  • What work challenges did you face and what approach did you take to solve them?

    For some institutions, restoration is still not regarded as a feasible or priority option. This is often due to a lack of awareness, limited technical capacity, or insufficient funding. Additionally, the overall administrative and decision-making processes tend to be slow and fragmented, which significantly delays the planning and implementation of restoration measures. As a result, valuable time is lost, and opportunities to improve ecosystem health and resilience are missed.

  • What lessons learned are transferable to other places/projects?

    The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement for successful ecosystem restoration.  The effectiveness of establishing a dedicated Restoration Task Force to guide and scale up restoration efforts. The benefits of restoring native habitats, such as wet meadows and native forests, for climate resilience and biodiversity.

  • Is there anything you would do differently if you could do it all over again?
    Put focus more on the restoration of hydrology in the entire area.  
My Focus and Approach
  • Lessons Learnt - Some recommendations for others?
    1. What’s most important:

      Be persistent and patient.

    2. Do this, not that: 

      Be adaptable.

    3. Always start by:

      Understanding.

    4. What to do when things get difficult…:

      Sill be persistent and patient. It will pass.

    5. 5 simple steps to:
      1. collaboration with the stakeholder
      2. find solution together
      3. be adaptable
      4. conduct monitoring
      5. prepare detail restoration plan

    6. The biggest barrier and what I am trying to do about it:
      collaboration with different stakeholder.
My Journey
  • My current role:

    I'm 2 year in WWF Adrian on current position, biologist by education.

  • My journey:

    I really like a restoration on nature, that is my topic.

  • My Education:

    • Biologist

  • Favourite part of the work I do:

    Fieldwork

Interview

Key Topics:

Key Topics

These relate to specific topics (e.g. technical solutions; restoration activities etc.) addressed within the showcase materials.

  • Cross-border restoration
  • Floodplain
  • Landscape-scale planning
  • Cross-sector collaboration
Prone2Success Factors Demonstrated:

Prone2Success Factors Demonstrated

These are the Prone2Success checklist factors which are highlighted within this showcase. More information on the Prone2Success checklist can be found here.

  • Measurable goals to improve ecological status
  • Supports WFD, NRL and other restoration policy goals
  • Communicate/engage with stakeholders from the outset
  • Obtain sufficient finance for all project stages
  • Restoration works (design) are self-sustaining 
  • Local planning processes are transparent / clearly understood
  • Include long term monitoring
  • Include adaptive management approaches (combined with monitoring)
  • Ensure stakeholder understanding / education of restoration goals & benefits
  • Demonstrate specific ecological improvements/legal compliance / communicating results during and after the project
NRL Restoration Categories:

NRL Restoration Categories

These are the restoration categories (listed under Annex VII of the European Nature Restoration Law (NRL) which are relevant to this showcase.

  • [2] Improve hydrological conditions
  • [22] Improve connectivity across habitats
  • [26] Restore fish spawning / nursery areas
Acknowledgements & Links

This material was provided by: Marrina Petrić.

Funding: Endangerd landscape and seascape program

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