Dams and River restoration policy in Europe

With the review of the EU countries’River Basin Management Plans coming up, the member states should include dam removal as one of the main tools to contribute to the objectives of the Water Framework Directive, which expects all water bodies across Europe to achieve ‘good’ ecological status latest by 2027. Dam removal is also a key measure to implement EU's 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to restore 25,000 km of rivers in Europe to a free flowing state. The effort will help achieve the ambitious Green Deal goals, and lead Europe through a green economy and biodiversity recovery path.

Collecting info on barriers

There's an urgent need to map small barriers at country level. Although it's the large dams that draw most of the attention, the minor obstacles are far from trivial and their collective consequences can some times be greater. Local databases should concentrate not only on their location, type and size, but also on their use, as well as their physical and legal status.

WWF and dam removal

WWF takes the mission of restoring rivers very seriously and is working intensely together with its European network of country offices, and other partners through the Dam Removal Europe coalition. The goal is to remove all dams that no longer have a purpose, and are still harming the river. At WWF we are committed to raising the voice to alert national governments and EU Commission of the importance of getting rid of all this river rubbish to restore freshwater connectivity and nature’s functions all across the continent.