The environmental sustainability programme conducted by EUROJERSEY in coordination with WWF Italy has entered a new stage and an international awareness campaign has been launched to promote the restoration of water courses. As it moves along from its source to its mouth, a river creates a series of environments that gradually blend into one another in an ecological continuum extending all the way to the sea. This natural ecological flow bolsters a number of functions of vital importance, not only for the species that populate the river, but also for humans.
Today more than ever, rivers are under pressure, threatened by floodplain occupation, canalisation brought about by increasingly onerous hydraulic works, nutrient pollution, pesticides from farming practices, and hazardous substances such as heavy metals and chemical compounds. Other impediments to river continuity include full or partial barriers and dams that have a devastating impact on the aquatic environment: they prevent fish migration and repopulation, reduce the river’s
sand, gravel, silt and clay transport capacity, and, in doing so, contribute to lowering the river bed and cause the coastline to retreat.
In accordance with the recent “European Strategy for Biodiversity”, WWF Italy aims to achieve the recovery and reconnection of at least 25,000 kms of European rivers by 2030. To this end, it is promoting river renaturation and requalification projects with the aim to recover the natural characteristics of the water course and its ecosystem services, while restoring continuity by encouraging the removal of the barriers and obstacles cutting across the river.
EUROJERSEY views the project carried out with WWF Italy as an important opportunity to raise public awareness of the importance of preserving river integrity, thereby ensuring the survival of our natural and cultural heritage. Moreover, participatory management makes people aware of the problems affecting these environments and invites all those who live along a water course to take part in its protection and play a part in ensuring its sustainable management.
