Advancing freshwater restoration

1. What’s most important:
   

   Open and regular communication with partners and stakeholders.

2. Do this, not that: 
   

   Don't start the development of the project or activity by piling up things you would like to do but think first of the objectives you want to achieve.

3. Always start by:
   

   imagining what the final goal or the result of some project or activity is and taylor the necessary steps to get there.

4. What to do when things get difficult…:
   

   Being transparent in communication to partners and stakeholders, it pays off.

5. 5 simple steps to:
   
   1. Decide what you want to restore and why.
   2. Ask your stakeholders what they would want.
   3. See if there is some overlap between these two wants.
   4. Assign points based on both of your needs to the potential restoration objects.
   5. Argument the selection of the priorities for restoration.
      
      
6. The biggest barrier and what I am trying to do about it:
   With implementation of new methods or activities it is hard to have everything perfectly organized, but surrounding yourself with key experts makes the job much easier and interesting learning process.

Botany and Habitats Programme Manager at Association Biom.

Through work on grassland restoration projects, we as a team became aware of the need for additional involvement of local communities and providing support in the form of restoration of small water bodies such as ponds and wells. In this way, we ensured their support in efforts to preserve the biodiversity associated with grasslands, and we also created added value for them, which in the end is not only an additional source of water for their livestock but also contributes to the preservation of small freshwater ecosystems and the biodiversity associated with them.

I have always been interested in natural sciences but after getting the BSc degree in molecular biology I decided to specialize in botany, so my master’s degree was in experimental biology - botany. After that I used several opportunities to gather more experience and knowledge through informal education which gave me a good insight into habitat restoration methods and activities.

Through the practical implementation of several bigger projects, I got the opportunity to coordinate preparation of new restoration projects that enabled me to involve the lessons learned and best practices and bring the key partners to the partnerships in order to ensure successful implementation of those projects.

Definitely the opportunity to combine practical knowledge through fieldwork activities with the creative part of the working with people and developing new projects and activities.