River Restoration Best Practices:

Important tools to enhance river management

and works in partnership with

The RESTORE project is made possible with the contribution of the LIFE+

financial instrument of the European Community

1. Environmental conditions in European rivers

• Widespread decline in river ecosystems across Europe

• < 20% of European rivers in their natural physical state

• Threat to quality of life and biodiversity

• Loss of the ecosystem services that have (potential) value

• Threat to traditional land-use systems and livelihood of local communities

• Large number of rivers failing to achieve WFD/GES due to hydromorphology

2. River restoration

• Restoring the natural state and functioning of the river and the riverine environment

• A large variety of management activities including reconnecting river channels and their floodplain

3. Status of river restoration in Europe

• Historically single site, single funder and single policy driven• Narrower range of benefits• Smaller scale of impact

• Increasing range of relevant EU policy drivers• Flood risk reduction, increased biodiversity, CCA…

• More recently increasing landscape scale approaches• Multiple benefits • Experiences biased to northern and western European regions

• Need to gather, develop and share information on best RR practices to support the implementation of EU Directives

4. RESTORE Project review of EU policy drivers

• Those which drive the delivery of river and catchment restoration, e.g. WFD, Habitats and Birds Directive, Floods Directive

• Those which support the delivery of river restoration, e.g. CAP, Nitrates Directive

5. Obstacles to river restoration implementation

• Policy- inflexibility- alignment of multiple policies

• Financial- limited funding- funding arrangements

• Societal- Institutional and administrative

boundaries- (lack of) capacity building- lack of understanding of RR- stakeholder involvement

• Spatial planning- agricultural land use and

practices- multiple and competing

floodplain uses

• Land use- requirement to purchase land- land use change / planning

• Other- promotion of hydropower

schemes- water quality- time scale

Challenges

• Limited awareness of planners and practitioners

• Insufficient access to best practice

• Geographical variation in understanding and capacity

The RESTORE project and the 6th World Water Forum process will seek to tackle these challenges.

6. Consensus on river restoration best practices as a means to support delivery of European policy goals

7. Solutions and Way forward

Support policy makers and practitioners to make more informed decisions

• 1. Consensus on river restoration best practice- What is best RR practise and how is this needed by different countries?

• 2. Communication of information to key target audiences- Engage stakeholders, establish networks and build information resource

• 3. Stimulate integrated catchment approaches

8. Round table discussions on policy drivers

14:45 – 15:30 • What do you regard as the principal drivers for restoration in your

country and why?e.g. WFD, Habitats and Birds, Floods Directive; Land Use Planning, CAP.

• In general what do you regard as the main obstacles to delivering river restoration?

• And what are the opportunities to support you delivering river restoration?

• What knowledge do you need to help you deliver river restoration?

15:30 – 15:45• Reporting

Please contact us about your:

• River restoration needs

• Experiences of river restoration

and works in partnership with

The RESTORE project is made possible with the contribution of the LIFE+

financial instrument of the European Community

Miss Antonia Scarr Environment Agencyantonia.scarr@environment-agency.gov.uk

Romana Gaspirc Wetlands International

romana.gaspirc@wetlands.org