Ukrainian river restoration project during wartime wins major award
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has brought death and destruction not only to towns and cities, but also to the country’s natural environment.
An EU report published earlier this year identified how military activity has released greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, destroyed biodiversity habitat, caused widespread water, air and soil pollution from munitions and fuel, and sparked an increased risk of destructive forest fires.
Such military damage to natural environments has been termed ‘ecocide’ in Ukraine, and can take years, if not centuries, to be reversed. In this way, the legacy of war will be evident in Ukraine’s ecosystems, long after fighting finally ends.
Russia’s invasion has had a significant impact on Ukraine’s freshwater ecosystems and water infrastructure, particularly through the destruction of major dams such as the Kakhova Dam in 2023. A huge surge of water was released from the reservoir – Ukraine’s largest – held behind the dam, inundating downstream regions with polluted water and threatening populations of fish including sturgeon and esturine perch.
Amidst this landscape of loss, green shoots of recovery have recently sprouted from a different – intentional – form of dam removal on rivers in Western Ukraine. Last month, a river restoration project in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, close to the Romanian border, was awarded the 2024 Dam Removal Award after successfully removing three dams and reconnecting 200km of rivers.
Led by the Danube-Carpathian Programme and the UNESCO-listed Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, the project removed three obsolete dams on the Kvasnyi, Bilyi, and Bohdan Rivers in the Zakarpatska region of Ukraine.
“Air alarms, bombings, and Russian propaganda have created a challenging environment to work in, but thanks to team efforts, the outstanding achievements have been realised alongside our partner, the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve,” said a representative from the Danube-Carpathian Programme. “The dam removal movement is gaining momentum in Ukraine, and we anticipate linking it with broader wetlands restoration initiatives.”
Restoration work is designed to reopen vital migration routes for eight IUCN Red List fish species along the rivers. The projects will also benefit communities living in the catchments by reducing flood risks, rebuilding critical road infrastructure, and reopening access to mineral springs, grazing lands, and tourist trails.
“It is astonishing that Ukraine is still restoring rivers despite all its wartime challenges – this project is truly an inspiration to all of us,” said Chris Baker, Director of Wetlands International Europe, which coordinated the award on behalf of the Dam Removal Europe coalition. “This award reminds us that restoring nature is not just about the environment: it’s about resilience, unity, and hope. Ukraine’s achievement shows that even in the most challenging times, people can unite to let rivers flow freely again.”
“Ukraine understands that removing obsolete dams is a fast and effective way to reconnect rivers and restore their natural flow – bringing life back, reducing risks to people, enhancing water and food security, and building climate resilience,” continued Baker. “Europe’s rivers are the most fragmented in the world and we must accelerate investment in dam removals and river restoration for people, nature and climate. We can all learn from Ukraine’s remarkable example.”
The Dam Removal Award is an annual event that celebrates the restoration of free-flowing rivers across Europe. The award highlights innovative projects that remove obsolete barriers, revive ecosystems, and strengthen communities’ connection to healthy rivers. The Ukrainian Three Dam Removals Amid Wartime project was chosen as the winner of the €20,000 prize after a process involving an international jury of experts and a public vote.
How to find grant funding for your freshwater restoration project
As the need to restore Europe’s freshwaters becomes ever more pressing, so too does the demand for funding to support ambitious restoration projects.
Grant funding – which in Europe is often provided by the European Commission or national governments – is an important source of large-scale funding for freshwater restoration. A new publication from the EU MERLIN project provides guidance and support for restoration managers seeking to find financial grants to support their projects.
Around €112 billion is dedicated by the EU to funding biodiversity projects between 2021–2027, however not all of this funding is directly available to environmental managers. As a result, national and regional grant programmes can offer more direct and targeted funding for restoration projects, often co-ordinated by EU initiatives such as the European Regional Development Fund.
In Europe, this funding landscape is strengthened by new policies such as the Nature Restoration Regulation and the Water Resilience Strategy, which will open new grant funding opportunities targeted at freshwater restoration. In particular, the importance of Nature-based Solutions in addressing ecological issues is increasingly recognised, with targeted funding for their use rising to over €2 billion in 2025.
Globally, the need for ambitious funding for biodiversity conservation and restoration is also increasingly recognised, with nations at COP15 in 2022 committing to mobilise €200 billion each year to support nature recovery.
The new MERLIN publication helps restoration practitioners navigate this grant funding landscape. It provides in-depth analysis on the types of grants currently available to restoration projects, and highlights who can apply for them, and how.
Part of an ongoing series of ‘Off-The-Shelf-Instruments’ designed to help European restoration managers adopt cutting-edge practices, the new publication explores the operational dynamics of different grant programmes, including their prerequisites for applying, their funding lifecycles, and the associated costs for establishing and managing initiatives they support.
The publication highlights the key organisations involved in restoration grant funding in Europe, including the European Commission, national governments and environmental agencies, and outlines how each individual body supports projects.
Practical guidance from real-world case studies is also provided to help support environmental managers in adopting best practice insights and Key Performance Indicators (or KPIs) in their projects.
The publication authors conclude with a note of caution on over-reliance on grant funding, and a call to embrace new forms of public and private funding sources to address environmental goals. You can find out about diversifying funding sources for freshwater restoration in existing MERLIN Off-The-Shelf-Instruments here.
They write, “While grants remain a central funding mechanism for many restoration initiatives, they also have limitations. The complexity and long-term nature of restoration projects often means that grants only cover part of a project’s lifecycle, requiring practitioners to seek new funding repeatedly.
“We encourage restoration teams to look beyond traditional biodiversity-focused grants and consider a broader spectrum of public sector funding opportunities. Many government agencies and public bodies offer grants tied to other societal objectives, such as disaster risk reduction, water management, climate adaptation, or public health, which can often be addressed through Nature-based Solutions.
“By actively expanding their funding horizons and engaging with both conventional and unconventional financing pathways, restoration teams can build more resilient, long-term projects that not only restore ecosystems, but also contribute meaningfully to broader societal and climate objectives,” the authors conclude.
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This article is supported by the MERLIN project.
How can water-friendly farming be mainstreamed in Europe?
Freshwater protection and restoration should be at the heart of how farming is managed in Europe, according to new recommendations.
Reshaping the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support freshwater ecosystems by encouraging water-friendly farming practices is a key task, say a team of researchers from the EU MERLIN project in a newly published policy brief.
The researchers draw on cutting-edge research and case studies to outline a vision for water-resilient agricultural landscapes across Europe. They highlight the value of so-called nature-based solutions such as the creation of ponds and wetlands, agroforestry, and the rotational resting of farmland in creating landscapes which support both food production and freshwater protection.
Finding space for healthy freshwaters within Europe’s agricultural landscapes is a key task in supporting both people and nature. More than a third of the continent’s land area is used for farming, which whilst vital for food security and livelihoods, is also a major driver of freshwater habitat degradation.
Around 60% of European floodplains are used for agriculture, and farming activities can significantly contribute to freshwater habitat loss and pollution. At the same time, farmers depend on healthy soils and stable water cycles in order to remain productive, particularly in landscapes increasingly stressed by the effects of the climate emergency.
As a result, encouraging water-friendly farming practices has the potential not only to help restore Europe’s degraded freshwaters, but also help foster more resilient and sustainable food systems.
The authors of the new MERLIN policy brief make a series of recommendations to help shift Europe’s agricultural system towards these goals. They state that CAP payments to farmers should remain tied to high environmental standards, particularly those which benefit rivers, wetlands, lakes and ponds.
They outline how these payments should be linked to a performance-based framework which ensures that they are targeted, and that their impacts on freshwaters are measurable. Moreover, CAP should recognise how the local and sited conditions of different farms influence their ability to implement water-friendly practices.
An awareness of these factors should lead to a more strategic approach to CAP payments to farmers which helps enable a diverse set of farm transitions to secure long-lasting ecosystem benefits, the authors state.
To make this aspiration a reality, farmers need training and support in adopting water-friendly farming approaches. This support needs to be coordinated and collaborative to help join up initiatives across entire catchments and landscapes.
At the same time, it is important that farming practices which harm freshwater ecosystems are avoided. This means targeting payment systems to disincentivise practices such as drainage schemes, irrigation and reservoirs in water-stressed landscapes.
The MERLIN policy brief is released ahead of the next revision of CAP in 2027, and the upcoming Europe-wide adoption of the Nature Restoration Regulation.
“Healthy freshwater ecosystems are not only fundamental for food production but also for drinking water supply, recreational use, economic development, biodiversity, and climate adaptation,” the authors conclude. “Strengthening the synergy between agricultural practices and freshwater protection is therefore essential to ensure long-term resilience and sustainability across sectors.”
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This article is supported by the MERLIN project.
Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities: Lake Titicaca ‘scrotum’ frog adapted to the high life
If you’re a long-time follower of the Freshwater Blog, you might remember our Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities project from more than a decade ago. That website has since washed away down the rivers of time, but we thought it was the right moment to showcase our collection of curious freshwater plants and animals again. So keep your eyes peeled over the coming months as we dust off the Cabinet and celebrate the wonderful world of freshwater life!
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One of the largest frogs on the planet, the Lake Titicaca water frog makes one of the strangest fashion statements in the amphibian world. Its excessive skin folds have earned it the whimsical Latin name of Telmatobius culeus, or ‘aquatic scrotum’.
The ‘scrotum frog’s’ bizarre outfit is actually the perfect adaptation to the cold waters of its high-altitude home. This bottom-dwelling frog – which can live at depths of 100 metres – is only found in Lake Titicaca, sandwiched between Peru and Bolivia.
The frog is entirely aquatic, living in the reed beds of the lake and its rivers. Avoiding the oxygen-depleted air, its ornate skin folds and abundance of capillaries allow it to absorb oxygen directly from the saturated water, making up for its tiny lung size and allowing it to stay permanently below the surface. This adaptation protects the frog from the high levels of ultraviolet radiation found in the area. The species also benefits from a high number of small red blood cells, which efficiently deliver oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from its body tissues.
This oddball frog has fascinated people for centuries. Lake Titicaca frogs were believed to have special powers, particularly in bringing rain: once carried in a ceramic pot to a hillside, the frogs would call in distress, which supposedly sounded to the gods like a plea for rain. Once the downpour began, the pot would overflow and the sacred animals would escape back to the lake.
Jacques Cousteau, searching Lake Titicaca for Inca treasure in the 1960s, was equally enthralled, reporting “thousands of millions” of the frogs, some almost 60cm long. These days, such giants are unlikely to be seen. Aside from global threats to amphibians such as the chytrid fungus and invasive species, in this case a trout that preys on its tadpoles, the Lake Titicaca water frog suffers from over-popularity.
It is a favorite menu item at tourist restaurants around the lake, and is also taken to Lima markets where it is sold as an aphrodisiac. The frogs are skinned and then blended with water, maca (a local root vegetable) and honey into a juice, thought to be the cure for several ailments, including impotence. It is also collected as a pet or curiosity, while pollution, habitat loss, and overfishing of its main prey – the small fish known locally as ipsi – could also be pushing the critically endangered frog towards extinction.
In response, captive breeding programs have been established for the giant amphibians, both around Lake Titicaca and internationally. One possible plan is to farm the frogs for consumption, taking the pressure off those left in the wild, although this could subject the small population to increased risk of disease from large, densely-kept captive populations. Scientists from both Peru and Bolivia are studying the frog to assess its ecology and feeding habits as a base for captive breeding.
In 2018, Bolivia and Peru signed a bilateral agreement to recover Lake Titicaca and protect the Titicaca water frog , outlining the priority actions that will protect the species across its range. In 2016, the Titicaca water frog was included in Appendix I of the CITES Convention, which restricts international trade of the animal.
“There have been some amazing champions working on the ground both in Bolivia and Peru to prevent the extinction of this species and to inspire the political will to join these efforts,” said Ariadne Angulo, co-chair of the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group.
“And we have been inspired by both governments working collaboratively with one another and hand-in-hand with conservation groups in recent years. Given the threats that the species continues to face, however, the efforts to date are the building blocks for what it is going to take to save the Titicaca water frog in the long-term.”
Free online training on engaging people and policy-makers in freshwater restoration is launched
A free new online learning module offers a wealth of information around bringing people and nature together in freshwater restoration.
The module is part of the open-access Academy created by the EU MERLIN project. The MERLIN Academy offers free resources and training to support researchers, practitioners and policy makers in applying cutting-edge restoration concepts to their work.
The newly-released module leads users through a series of videos, graphics, quizzes and podcasts to introduce key concepts around stakeholder engagement and governance in freshwater and wetland restoration.
“We developed this module to help bridge the gap between ecological knowledge and real-world action,” says project lead Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber from BOKU in Vienna. “Restoration doesn’t happen in isolation, it depends on people, partnerships and policies. This module is about empowering practitioners to work more effectively with others, to mainstream Nature-based Solutions, and ultimately to support the recovery of our freshwater ecosystems.”
The module begins by introducing ideas around mainstreaming and upscaling Nature-based Solutions in restoration projects. Nature-based Solutions are increasingly popular approaches to environmental management, and seek to harness natural processes to benefit both people and nature.
For example, a ‘rewiggled’ river channel may benefit aquatic biodiversity whilst at the same time helping buffer flash flooding downstream; or a restored peatland can lock-up carbon from the atmosphere and offer new recreational opportunities to local communities.
Many environmental scientists and managers across the world are optimistic about their value, and so advocate for their mainstreaming into public, political and economic systems, and upscaling across wide geographical areas. The hope is that such approaches can help reverse the harmful effects of the ongoing climate emergency and ecological crisis, whilst also supporting strong and sustainable green economies, both in Europe and globally.
The MERLIN Academy is an important step towards this goal. Written and presented by experts across environmental science, management and policy, the new module highlights the importance of engaging the varied stakeholder communities with an interest in a river, lake or wetland.
These stakeholders can include local citizens, industries, decision-makers and businesses – all of whom are likely to have different uses for, and values about, the ecosystem. The new module offers valuable resources to help identify, prioritise, and map stakeholders using tools such as stakeholder analysis, value chain analysis, and the ladder of participation.
In mapping the various views and needs of communities around a freshwater ecosystem, the new module empowers users to be able to design inclusive engagement strategies that align stakeholder interests with restoration goals. These strategies are informed by real-world case studies explored in the MERLIN project in Scotland and Israel.
Finally, by applying such participatory approaches to restoration projects, learners will be able to navigate policy frameworks and institutional settings to build or adapt partnerships, addressing potential barriers and identifying opportunities to enable restoration. The module highlights the dynamics of working within a complicated policy environment guided by legislation such as the EU Green Deal and Nature Restoration Regulation.
By offering free and open-access resources and training on these cutting-edge topics, the MERLIN Academy seeks not only to train the environmentalists of the future, but also to strengthen the knowledge shared amongst those working today.
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This article is supported by the MERLIN project.
MERLIN Podcast EP.12 – How nature-based solutions can support people and nature in freshwater restoration
Harnessing the potential of natural processes in freshwater restoration can create significant ecological, social and economic benefits, according to a major new report.
Researchers from the MERLIN project analysed restoration monitoring data from eighteen rivers, streams and wetlands across Europe to assess the impacts of so-called ‘nature-based solutions’ on the environment and society. Such approaches aim to help amplify natural processes to benefit both people and nature. For example, a healthy wetland can help filter water pollution and buffer floodwaters, whilst planting so-called ‘riparian zones’ of trees and other vegetation along river banks can help provide valuable biodiversity habitat, keep water bodies cool, and lock up carbon to help mitigate climate change.
The new report explores the impacts of a diverse range of European freshwater restoration strategies using nature-based solutions. These include peatland rewetting, beaver reintroduction, floodplain restoration and reconnection across a variety of landscapes. The results show that such restoration approaches can generate significant benefits for nature and society. In particular, many of the impacts support the goals of the European Green Deal, which aims to support climate neutrality, sustainable economies and healthy, diverse ecosystems across the continent.
In this podcast, we hear from two MERLIN researchers behind the new report: Laura Pott from the University of Duisburg-Essen, and Axel Schwerk from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. Laura and Axel cover a range of topics including how to monitor the impacts of nature-based solutions in complex landscapes across Europe, the importance of engaging stakeholder groups around an ecosystem, and the value of Theory of Change approaches in helping map how a restored landscape might develop over time.
You can also listen and subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Podcasts. Stay tuned for the next episode soon!
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This article is supported by the MERLIN project.
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A guest blog by Zeb Hogan and Monni Böhm
What do Lake sturgeon, European eel, and Atlantic salmon have in common? They are all fishes that migrate – at least for part of their life – in freshwater systems. These migrations can take vary in length from tens to thousands of kilometres, but are often predictable and cyclical depending on the species’ ecology and environmental cues.
Some species – like the European eel – migrate between freshwater and marine environments to complete their life cycle, other species remain exclusively in freshwater. Many of these freshwater migratory fishes are also vitally important to food security, cultural identity, and livelihoods of Indigenous and rural communities around the world.
Freshwater migratory fishes are also in trouble. Monitored populations of migratory freshwater fish species have declined by 80% in the last fifty years. A prominent threat to freshwater migratory fishes is the loss of connectivity. Globally, only 37% of rivers longer than 1,000 km remain free-flowing, and key biodiversity hotspots such as the Amazon, Mekong, and Congo basins are increasingly subject to hydropower expansion.
In terms of conservation policy, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), – sometimes referred to as the Bonn Convention – provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats. It lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a species’ migratory range.
To aid the conservation of migratory freshwater fishes, a group of leading scientists, conservationists, and policy experts from five continents recently met at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe to discuss latest progress in migratory fish work, develop outputs that are usable and impactful for parties to the CMS, and to further develop a Swimways concept – akin to flyways designated for migratory birds.
The meeting was hosted by the Tahoe Institute for Global Sustainability and supported by PlusFish Philanthropy, and produced a set of tangible outcomes that will directly inform global conservation efforts, including preparations for the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Brazil in 2026.
Key achievements included the identification of migratory freshwater fish species that meet the criteria for CMS listing, and further development of a designation of globally significant migration corridors, such as the Danube in Europe, the Mekong in Southeast Asia and the Mississippi river in North America, amongst others.
Participants also committed to several coordinated outputs in the near future, all of which will shape how we better conserve freshwater migratory fishes. These include a report to CMS and COP15; a peer-reviewed scientific paper on freshwater fish migrations; a public-facing global database of migratory freshwater fish for use in conservation planning and research; an analysis of challenges and opportunities in engaging with international policy frameworks; IUCN Green Status assessments of high profile freshwater migratory species; and a suite of educational and outreach materials designed to raise awareness of freshwater biodiversity.
“These are not symbolic conversations—we’re generating the data, strategies, and commitments that will shape global policy,” says Dr. Zeb Hogan, aquatic ecologist and workshop organiser with the University’s College of Science. “The outcomes of this meeting will directly inform global efforts to protect migratory fish populations and restore connectivity in rivers around the world.”
The workshop brought together experts from the UN CMS Secretariat, World Wildlife Fund, IUCN Species Survival Commission, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, the Global Center for Species Survival at the Indianapolis Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, Cornell University, University of Tennessee, the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, alongside faculty and students from the University of Nevada, Reno.
“This gathering showcased the University of Nevada, Reno’s growing leadership in freshwater biodiversity and environmental sustainability,” says Melanie Virtue, Head of the Aquatic Species Team at the CMS Secretariat. “The UNR Lake Tahoe campus, located on the shores of one of the world’s most iconic lakes, is acting as a global hub for science-informed policy and local-to-global conservation action.”
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Learn more about the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals
Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities: tiny freshwater insect is the ‘loudest animal on Earth’
If you’re a long-time follower of the Freshwater Blog, you might remember our Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities project from more than a decade ago. That website has since washed away down the rivers of time, but we thought it was the right moment to showcase our collection of curious freshwater plants and animals again. So keep your eyes peeled over the coming months as we dust off the Cabinet and celebrate the wonderful world of freshwater life!
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This month’s entry into the Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities is the lesser water boatman – Micronecta scholtzi – a common European freshwater bug that produces a peculiar courtship song by rubbing its penis along its abdomen, a sound which reaches an incredible 99.2 db! That’s a sound level equivalent to sitting in the front row of an orchestral concert, or standing close to a passing train!
As Dr James Windmill at the University of Strathclyde – a lead researcher on the June 2011 study “So Small, So Loud: Extremely High Sound Pressure Level from a Pygmy Aquatic Insect” – describes, “Remarkably, even though 99% of sound is lost when transferring from water to air, the song is so loud that a person walking along the bank can actually hear these tiny creatures singing from the bottom of the river.”
Micronecta means “small swimmer”, and their sound, used by tiny (2mm) males to attract mates, is produced by rubbing its ribbed penis across its abdomen, in a process called stridulation. In the lesser water boatmen the area used for stridulation is only about 50 micrometres across, roughly the width of a human hair.
This stridulation process is similar to that used by grasshoppers and crickets to produce their idiosynchratic chirps and chirrups. Dr Windmill continues, “If you scale the sound level they produce against their body size, Micronecta scholtzi are without doubt the loudest animals on Earth.”
The loudest human shout ever recorded is 129db by British teaching assistant Jill Drake in 2000. Sperm whales have been recorded emitting sounds reaching an incredible 236db, a cacophony required to communicate across vast, turbulent oceanic distances. Decibels are a measure of the intensity or ‘loudness’ of a sound, measured on a logarithmic scale. This means that for every increase of 10 decibels, there is a 10 fold increase in sound energy.
By comparison, a normal human conversation is generally measured at around 60db. Incredibly, at 99.2db, the sound made by the lesser water boatman is almost 10,000 times more powerful – akin to a car horn, power tool or passing train.
The researchers say their findings demonstrate how aquatic animals such as the lesser water boatman have evolved to be able to communicate in underwater environments. In this case, they highlight how their loud stridulations help the male insects to find a mate.
This remarkable little bug shows that remarkable creatures often live in the most everyday freshwater environments. So next time you’re walking along your favourite river or lake, stop for a moment to listen – you may be surprised what you can hear!
Mapping the value of freshwater restoration
We live in an age of ecosystem restoration. Across the world, communities and policy makers are seeking to help guide degraded or destroyed ecosystems back to health, whilst protecting those that remain intact.
Major initiatives like the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration – which runs from 2021–2030 – highlight the vital role restoration plays in supporting both people and nature. As the UN states, “Healthier ecosystems, with richer biodiversity, yield greater benefits such as more fertile soils, bigger yields of timber and fish, and larger stores of greenhouse gases.”
The benefits that the restoration of global ecosystems could generate are significant. The UN estimates that the restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by 2030 could generate US$9 trillion in ecosystem services and remove 13 to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Crucially, it is estimated that the economic benefits of these interventions are more than nine times the cost of investment, whereas inaction is at least three times the cost of ecosystem restoration. In other words – as we’ve explored on this blog and in podcasts – the economic argument for ecosystem restoration is increasingly strong.
Ecosystem services and restoration
But how can these benefits best be quantified? The ecosystem service concept has been used for over twenty years to calculate the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, and underpins many contemporary arguments for restoration action.
Published in 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment identified four categories of ecosystem service. Provisioning services are the products obtained from ecosystems, such as food and raw materials. Regulating services are the benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, such as the water purification and carbon sequestration.
Supporting services are the processes which allow an ecosystem to function, such as nutrient cycling and habitat provision. Finally, cultural services are the recreational, spiritual, historical and artistic values that ecosystems offer to people.
How does freshwater restoration affect ecosystem services?
In recent years, this approach to valuing ecosystems has influenced the development of nature-based solutions approaches which seek to harness natural processes to help benefit both nature and society.
Ecosystem services and nature-based solutions are both tools to provide decision makers with clear, quantifiable evidence for the significant value of healthy, diverse ecosystems. A key task for environmentalists, then, is to continue to strengthen this evidence to help showcase the vital role flourishing ecosystems play in scaffolding our daily lives.
In this context, a new study explores how freshwater restoration using nature-based solutions affects how waterbodies can provide ecosystem services to people. A team of researchers from the MERLIN project compiled evidence on restoration measures implemented across Europe and asked experts to help assess their value and effectiveness through a Delphi survey.
Mapping the benefits of ecosystem restoration
Writing in the Restoration Ecology journal, the authors identify how many freshwater restoration measures enhance multiple ecosystem services simultaneously. River restoration measures including restoring natural flow, channel structure, and habitat complexity are shown to be particularly effective at generating multiple ecosystem services.
The study highlights how freshwater ecosystem recovery has significantly increased biodiversity, water purification and climate regulation at sites across the world. The authors write that such ‘multifunctionality’ of outcomes “shows that biodiversity-focused actions can also enhance multiple ecosystem services, aligning with broader restoration goals.” However, they caution that such outcomes often vary by context and measure.
On the other hand, the study finds that the ecosystem services delivered by peatland restoration are underexplored, particularly beyond their effects on climate regulation. The authors highlight the need for future research in this area.
The researchers also identify that restoration approaches specifically targeting water pollution are less successful at delivering multiple ecosystem services. As a result, they highlight “the need for integrated approaches combining water quality improvements, hydrological restoration, and vegetation recovery to deliver wider ecosystem service gains.”
Provisioning services benefit the least from ecosystem restoration across both rivers and peatlands, the researchers state. In particular, the effects of restoration on agricultural output were mixed, with some large-scale measures reducing productising in intensively farmed areas.
This finding highlights the difficulties of balancing ecological, social and economic priorities in mainstreaming restoration into daily life, both across Europe and globally.
“We’ve all known it’s a black box – how exactly freshwater restoration measures translate into ecosystem service gains,” explains lead author Sebastian Birk. “With this paper, we finally cracked it open a bit. By carefully listing what’s done on the ground and tying it to semi-quantified effects, we’re one step closer to making that connection visible. There’s still a long way to go – and the need for solid fieldwork – but the door’s open now.”
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This article is supported by the MERLIN project.
Harnessing the potential of natural processes in freshwater restoration can create significant ecological, social and economic benefits, according to a major new report.
Researchers from the EU MERLIN project analysed restoration monitoring data from eighteen rivers, streams and wetlands across Europe to assess the impacts of so-called ‘nature-based solutions’ on the environment and society.
Such approaches aim to help amplify natural processes to benefit both people and nature. For example, a healthy wetland can help filter water pollution and buffer floodwaters, whilst planting so-called ‘riparian zones’ of trees and other vegetation along river banks can help provide valuable biodiversity habitat, keep water bodies cool, and lock up carbon to help mitigate climate change.
The new report explores the impacts of a diverse range of European freshwater restoration strategies using nature-based solutions. These include peatland rewetting, beaver reintroduction, floodplain restoration and reconnection across a variety of landscapes.
The results show that such restoration approaches can generate significant benefits for nature and society. In particular, many of the impacts support the goals of the European Green Deal, which aims to support climate neutrality, sustainable economies and healthy, diverse ecosystems across the continent.
In this context, MERLIN researchers found that using nature-based solutions in freshwater restoration can help boost climate resilience and biodiversity gains, whilst also delivering social and economic benefits such as sustainable job creation and improved social wellbeing.
Rewetting the Tisza floodplains
Floodplain restoration around the Tisza River in Hungary offers a fascinating window into these dynamics. Restoration of the floodplains around the village of Nagykörű in middle of the river’s catchment began in 2001. Prior to this the Tisza had been highly modified by concrete flood walls which cut the river off from its floodplains.
Biodiversity has flourished since the river has been encouraged to return to its natural rhythms by spilling over the reconnected floodplains in times of high water flows. Insects and spiders populations have boomed, whilst rare fish species such as the spined loach and European weatherfish use the flooded meadow habitat as spawning grounds.
Breeding populations of frogs and toads have also grown alongside those of water birds such as mute swans. This lively landscape has become the focus of new nature walks for people around the area.
The reconnected floodplains have also become a carbon sink, with the flourishing vegetation locking up greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Similarly, the flood and drought resilience of the floodplains has increased, in part due to the installation of a sluice which allows environmental managers to control the flows of water across them.
The Tisza River restoration also shows the trade-offs with other land uses inherent in nature-based solutions approaches. Floodplain rewetting here required a 66% reduction in agricultural land area around the river.
Despite this significant loss in agricultural land, the MERLIN report suggests that local communities are in favour of restoration due to its support for more sustainable agricultural practices, and the broader biodiversity benefits it generates.
Lessons for freshwater restoration and policy
The study has two key lessons for freshwater restoration in Europe. First, it provides clear evidence that nature-based solutions approaches can provide significant environmental and social benefits, whilst supporting sustainable economic development and contributing to the goals of the European Green Deal.
Second, it highlights the importance of detailed monitoring programmes that capture the nuanced impacts of nature-based solutions in freshwater restoration. The study shows that whilst nature-based solutions can provide many co-benefits for nature and people, it also highlights the trade-offs and tensions over land use that may arise.
Monitoring these dynamics is crucial to be able to make positive and adaptive decisions about freshwater restoration projects as we move into an increasingly pressurised and uncertain climate emergency future.
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This article is supported by the MERLIN project.
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