Many obsolete barriers harm Europe's rivers

The EUs biodiversity strategy for 2030 aims to restore at least 25000km of free-flowing rivers by 2030, by removing barriers and restoring floodplains and wetlands.

Metadata
Provider: 
ECEC
URL: 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/many-obsolete-barriers-harm-europes-rivers?utm_source=EEASubscriptions&amp%3Butm_medium=RSSFeeds&amp%3Butm_campaign=Generichttps://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/many-obsolete-barriers-harm-europes-rivers?utm_source=EEASubscriptions&%3Butm_medium=RSSFeeds&%3Butm_campaign=Generic
Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Information
Tags: 
Physical geography, Branches of biology, Biology, Aquatic ecology, Ecosystems, Wetlands, Habitat, Riparian zone, Biodiversity, River ecosystem, Floodplain
Summary
Key Points: 
  • The EUs biodiversity strategy for 2030 aims to restore at least 25000km of free-flowing rivers by 2030, by removing barriers and restoring floodplains and wetlands.
  • The EEA briefing Tracking barriers and their impacts on European river ecosystems provides an overview of the density of barriers in Europes rivers, their impacts, and how to strengthen monitoring and information about river fragmentation.
  • Single large barriers, such as dams, or a series of small structures alter a rivers natural flow and cause pressures on fish and other species as well as their habitats.
  • Based on recent studies, it can be estimated that there are more than one million barriers in European rivers and that about 10 % of them are obsolete.
Copyright: 
2021 EC. All Rights Reserved.