The Vascão stream is one of 11 European watercourses that should be restored to reduce the impacts of drought and promote biodiversity, the Associação Natureza Portugal/World Wide Fund for Nature (ANP/WWF) argued today.
This stream, also known as the Vascão river, rises in the Caldeirão mountains (between the Alentejo and the Algarve), flows into the Guadiana river and is included in the Rivers2Restore report, published today by ANP/WWF, in association with WWF, which includes 11 river restoration projects in Portugal, Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Spain, the environmental association said.
The intervention proposed for these European rivers makes it possible to “reduce the impact of drought, benefiting people and biodiversity”, through “immediate action” from the source to the mouth, which will eliminate existing barriers, “restore Europe’s rivers” and “help meet the nature recovery objectives recently agreed by the European Union (EU)”, ANP/WWF said in a statement.
“Restoring rivers by removing barriers and allowing the river to continue from source to mouth helps to limit climate disasters such as droughts and floods,” the association said.
Quoted in the statement, the association’s water coordinator, Maria João Costa, said that “the Guadiana basin is one of the most arid and drought-prone in Europe and is home to several endangered species whose habitats need to be restored”.
“Restoring rivers means protecting nature, but also people: healthy rivers play a vital role in preventing droughts, supporting biodiversity and are also essential for guaranteeing quality water in abundance,” she said.
The project planned for the Vascão River includes the “elimination of 17 obsolete river barriers” along its entire length, she said, stressing that the absence of barriers favors “the functioning of the river ecosystem by restoring ecological connectivity and increasing the availability of habitats”.
Removing the obstacles will “improve the migratory routes of fish”, provide “habitats for other species, such as the European otter”, and improve “the quality and availability of water”, factors which, he pointed out, can then encourage the creation of more jobs and more tourism revenue.
The ANP/WWF recalled that the “recently approved EU Nature Restoration Act requires Member States to restore at least 25,000 kilometers of naturally flowing rivers in Europe by 2030” and called on Member State governments to include Rivers2Restore projects in their national restoration plans by 2030.
The environmental group also asked the European Commission to encourage national governments to give “priority to river restoration, notably through the creation of a nature restoration fund”.
“Finally, it is urgent to make climate and water resilience a priority for the next mandate” of the Commission, ANP/WWF added.
The association pointed out that the implementation of the 11 projects proposed for Portugal, Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and Spain will enable the achievement of “2,200 kilometers of restored rivers” and “almost 10% of the objective of the EU Biodiversity Strategy”.
