NGOs

As part of the Horizon 2020 Green Deal Call, four flagship nature restoration projects—MERLIN, REST-COAST, SUPERB, and WaterLANDS—are receiving EU funding. On 10 March 2025, these projects convened a high-level workshop at the European Commission in Brussels to present their evidence-based recommendations and scalable solutions aimed at supporting Member States in developing effective National Restoration Plans (NRPs), as required by the Nature Restoration Regulation.

The Wetland-based Solutions Community of Practice is an inclusive network open to individuals, institutions, businesses, and associations committed to the restoration and sustainable management of wetlands. It serves as a collaborative space where members can connect, share experiences, and work together to advance wetland conservation efforts. Within this community, participants will have the opportunity to: 

The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) is platform that aims to support policymaking by providing the Commission Services and the broader soil user community with the soil knowledge and data flows needed to safeguard soils; supporting EU Research & Innovation on soils; raising societal awareness of the value of soils.

High Resolution Layer Water and Wetness provides detailed information about the presence and condition of water and wet surfaces across Europe. This product leverages both Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images to enable effective mapping of land cover characteristics such as permanent water bodies, transitional water bodies, and soil wetness.

Soil and hydrological data under request, including soil hydraulic properties like water retention.

Geological and hydrological data, especially groundwater properties.

A dataset that includes: -Lake Surface Water Temperature, providing real-time and historical data. -Lake Water Quality in various resolutions. -Water Bodies datasets for surface extent. -Lake and River Water Level information. -the River and Lake Ice Extent product for ice presence. Aggregated River and Lake Ice Extent product, showing percent ice coverage.

This map shows the quality element status or potential for the European surface water bodies. The Quality Element status layer contains the ecological status or potential based on the quality element status value (i.e., the lowest of the known quality element status values per waterbody). It also includes nutrient, nitrogen, phosphorus conditions.

This map includes the River Basin Districts (RBDs) and their sub-units, the surface water bodies (water body category, ecological status or potential and chemical status), the groundwater bodies (aquifer type, quantitative status and chemical status) and the monitoring sites.

Location and extent of peatlands worldwide by the Global Peatlands Initiative.

Data on wetlands of international importance, including peatlands, across Europe. Includes ecological character, threats, and management information.

Map of the Natura 2000 network (the sites' borders and the sites' Standard Data Forms) for the year 2022, as provided by the EU Member States. For Denmark, the viewer shows the data from the year 2017, for Germany the data is from the year 2019.

Information on the status and location of Annex I Directive habitats. This content provides a hierarchical classification of habitats based on the Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive, which identifies and protects natural habitat types of community interest. The classification groups habitats into broader categories for organization while allowing users to explore specific sublevel habitat types.

The Habitats Directive requires all Member States to establish a strict protection regime for species listed in Annex IV, both inside and outside Natura 2000 sites.

The Ramsar List was established in response to Article 2.1 of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), which reads: “Each Contracting Party shall designate suitable wetlands within its territory for inclusion in a List of Wetlands of International Importance, hereinafter referred to as ‘the List’ which is maintained by the bureau [secretariat of the Convention] established under Article 8.” Wetlands included in the List acquire a new status at the national level and are recognized by the international community as being of significant value not only for the country, or the countries

The Convention on Wetlands is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. The Convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975. Since then, almost 90% of UN member states, from all the world’s geographic regions, have acceded to become “Contracting Parties”.

Alcanzar un grado de conocimiento adecuado de la ubicación y delimitación de un espacio y de su estado de conservación es la única manera de detectar posibles cambios en el mismo. Los inventarios nacionales de humedales facilitan la información esencial requerida en la que fundamentar la formulación de políticas de conservación, gestión y restauración, y por lo tanto deben ser una prioridad. En este contexto, la legislación española prevé, en dos de sus leyes básicas (Ley del Patrimonio Natural y la Biodiversidad y Ley de Aguas), la elaboración de un inventario nacional de zonas húmedas.

El Informe “Recopilación e identificación de acciones de restauración ecológica en humedales españoles”, cuya elaboración ha sido promovida por este Ministerio, refiere proyectos de restauración, mejora y/o adecuación de humedales efectuados en España durante los últimos 20 años, impulsados tanto por Administraciones públicas como por organizaciones de la sociedad civil. Se han localizado y consultado casi 700 proyectos, de los que en esta primera fase han sido seleccionados 78 para su consideración y descripción detallada en el Informe.

Con motivo del Día Internacional de los Humedales y 50 aniversario del Convenio Ramsar, se ha publicado el informe "Situación actual y perspectivas de conservación y restauración de los humedales españoles hasta 2030".

Texto del Real Decreto 435/2004, de 12 de marzo, por el que se regula el Inventario nacional de zonas húmedas.

El “Plan Estratégico de Humedales a 2030” establece la carta de navegación necesaria para llegar a buen puerto, con todas las acciones que se precisan para detener e invertir en España la pérdida y degradación de más humedales y para mejorar sus servicios ecosistémicos. El auténtico reto es lograr su plena aplicación, y es un desafío que afecta al conjunto de la sociedad.

El Convenio de Ramsar viene alentando desde hace años a los Estados miembros para que establezcan Comités Nacionales de Humedales, que proporcionen un marco nacional y los mecanismos necesarios para aplicar y difundir la filosofía de protección y uso racional de los humedales, así como la elaboración de políticas nacionales de humedales. España fue uno de los primeros países en cumplir esta directriz Ramsar, datando la creación de nuestro Comité de Humedales de 1994.

Texto español del Convenio Ramsar de 1971. 

Portal del Ministerio de España para La Transición Ecológica y Reto Demográfico, área de Humedales. Presenta información sobre las políticas públicas de España en la protección de humedales. 

This review article critically examines how contemporary practitioners approach river restoration and challenges for implementing restoration, which include clearly identified objectives, holistic understanding of rivers as ecosystems, and the role of restoration as a social process.

This article aims to introduce new arguments for bioengineering along riverbanks by applying the ecosystem service approach. We focus on major regulating services usually provided by floodplains. Denitrification and phosphorous retention were estimated by applying proxy-based models. Carbon sequestration within vegetation was calculated using biomass equations. The study clearly indicates an increase of ecosystem services by bioengineering measures compared to conventionally fixed riverbanks.

The Lobau, the "water world", lies to the east of Vienna, has an area of 2,300 hectares, and makes up almost a quarter of the entire area of the Donau-Auen National Park. It is one of six Austrian national parks and protects one of the last major floodplain landscapes in Central Europe.

WWF works to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife, collaborating with partners from local to global levels in nearly 100 countries. WWF seeks to change how water is managed around the world. They encourage states relying on the same river to better coordinate their shared freshwater resources, and they advocate for water security in sustainable development. They also help strengthen the effectiveness of river basin management organizations so they are empowered to protect the natural capital of river basins and ensure climate-smart governance.

Via Donau is a subsidiary of the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation, and Technology (BMVIT) tasked with the preservation and development of the Danube waterway. It was established in 2005. Via Donau executes federal tasks in waterway and shipping. It has about 270 employees based at five locations, one main office, two field offices, and nine locks on the Danube.

Water News Europe is an independent online news medium for the European water sector. Freelance journalists report on water issues in different Member States and they provide reports on topics related to European water legislation, like the Water Framework Directive or the Drinking Water Directive.

EBU, the European Bioeconomy University, is a collaboration of leading universities across Europe, founded with the mission to address the environmental, economic, and societal challenges of the 21st century. This alliance, established in July 2019, connects eight institutions, all leaders in the field of bioeconomy, to foster a knowledge-based transformation towards sustainability.

Finnish Water Forum (FWF) represents through its members the whole variety of expertise in the Finnish water sector. FWF is a platform for cooperation of commercial enterprises, governmental and non-governmental organizations, scientific institutes and water-related associations. FWF was established in 2009 by 39 different organizations with a common goal – creating an umbrella organization for Finnish water knowhow. Today, FWF has over 130 member organizations in Finland and local partners around the world.

The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is a global, non-profit, and non-governmental network dedicated to advancing forest research and fostering collaboration among scientists, institutions, and stakeholders. Open to individuals and organizations worldwide, IUFRO promotes the exchange of scientific knowledge, best practices, and innovative solutions for sustainable forest management.

PeatSense is a collaborative platform aimed at contributing to the monitoring, restoration and conservations at peatlands at scale. It is developed by the AI2Peat project, a project funded by Science Foundation Ireland under its Future Digital Challenge call. The AI2Peat consortium is composed of CeADAR - Ireland's centre for applied AI -, iCRAG - the SFI centre for applied geosciences - and NPWS - Ireland's National Parks and Wildlife Services.

The RRR conference on Renewable Resources from Wet and Rewetted Peatlands in Greifswald offers a platform to explore these questions and many others, fostering dialogue between science and practice. By bringing together diverse stakeholders, the event aims to encourage knowledge exchange, build networks, and develop and strengthen practical, forward-looking solutions.

Linkedin Group with experts on wetlands restoration managed by sister projects REWET, Restore4Cs, WET HORIZONS, ALFAWetlands

This report presents the state of Europe's water. It outlines three overarching challenges facing future European water management: 1. protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems; 2. achieving the zero pollution ambition; 3. adapting to water scarcity, drought and flood risks. Europe's citizens, environment and economy are intrinsically dependent on water, yet the continuing availability of sufficient, good quality water cannot presently be assured.

Wetlands International is an independent, not-for-profit organization with 11 members from 7 European countries. They work to raise awareness about wetland ecosystems and to advocate for the sustainable use of wetlands for people and nature, in particular by linking science, policy and practice.

The European Wetland Map (EWM) improves the current state of knowledge on wetlands across Europe by locating, assessing and merging the latest geospatial data, e.g., on the distribution and types of floodplains and wetlands – coastal, mineral and peatlands in a bottom-up approach. It brings together existing data into a comprehensive, easily accessible resource to make wide spread European wetlands visible and enhance their analysis, understanding and management. The approach is described in the attached report. The EWM is made up of individual datasets for each of the countries included.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1991, known as Nature Restoration Law, adopted on 24 June 2024 by the European Parliament and the Council, establishes measures for nature restoration across the European Union, amending Regulation (EU) 2022/869. Grounded in Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it aims to restore degraded ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, and address environmental challenges, with relevance for the European Economic Area.