Completed

The project was implemented in 2009 by the Russenski Lom Nature Park Directorate, Club “Friends of Russenski Lom” and WWF, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, and was funded by WWF and the German Federal Ecological Foundation (DBU). Applying the principle “more space for the river – more safety for people”, it aimed to open sections of the dykes, allowing water to re-enter the floodplain, reducing road flooding risk, and restoring river–floodplain connectivity.
Since then, the intervention has been embedded in the park’s long-term management framework. In 2022, an updated 10-year Management Plan for the park was formally adopted, prepared under the Interreg V-A Romania–Bulgaria “GreenManagement” project. This plan integrates the earlier floodplain restoration into a wider strategy for Natura 2000 site conservation, hydromorphological monitoring, sustainable tourism, and cross-border cooperation. WWF has also reported complementary river restoration measures within the park, including barrier removals and the installation of a fish pass to improve longitudinal connectivity and support protected fish species. These actions consolidate the ecological and hydrological benefits initiated in 2009, now supported by structured governance, mapping tools, and systematic monitoring.

LIFE-Nature “Green Borders” (LIFE07 NAT/RO/000681, 2009–2013), coordinated by WWF with Romanian and Bulgarian partners, aimed to secure Pygmy Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) and Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) by restoring nesting/feeding habitats and promoting best fisheries management. It created a cross-border framework for 11 Natura 2000 sites along the Lower Danube.
Key works included improving the hydrological regime of Kaikusha marsh in Persina Nature Park (BG), completed in 2012, and the ecological reconstruction of the Gerai(ului) backwater at the Olt–Danube confluence (RO) in 2011.
The project’s studies supported the 2013 designation of three Transboundary Ramsar complexes (Iezerul Călărași–Srebarna, Suhaia–Belene Islands Complex, and Bistret–Ibisha), strengthening coordinated wetland management across the border.
Follow-up restoration in the Lower Danube Green Corridor continued under the Living Danube Partnership: water control was modernised at Persina/Kalimok and a further project prepared for Kaikusha; in Romania, >400 ha at Gârla Mare–Vrata were reconnected to the Danube in 2022. Note: in Sept 2021, a major fire burned most reedbeds at Kaikusha, temporarily degrading habitat.

Dimitrovgrad Municipality restored, protected and promoted the sustainable development of the “Zlato pole” protected area by securing additional water to maintain its hydrological regime and constructing a hydraulic intake and supply channel. Water is diverted from the Martinka River, via a small intake and settling basin, then conveyed ~580 m in a buried 600-mm pipe and ~520 m in an open canal with control gates; the scheme was completed in 2013. The 84.79-ha site overlaps the Natura 2000 SPA BG0002103 “Zlato pole”, for which the Ministry adopted site-specific conservation objectives in June 2024, including targets for key birds such as Pygmy Cormorant and Ferruginous Duck and for wetland habitats. Management is overseen by RIEW Haskovo, with an information centre in Raynovo supporting education and visitors. Post-project actions have included nest boxes, aquatic plantings (white waterlily) and safeguarding of Leucojum aestivum. Current pressures reported on site are recurrent fires, illegal hunting/fishing and occasional flooding along the Martinka. Overall, the restoration sustains wetland hydrology, enhances habitat mosaics on the Maritsa floodplain and underpins ongoing Natura 2000 commitments, while requiring continued local engagement and enforcement.

A linking canal with a lock, constructed in 1994, restored the hydrological connection between Srebarna Lake and the Danube, enabling an annual inflow of river water and preventing the lake’s isolation that began in 1949. This intervention improved water levels, reduced eutrophication trends and supported the recovery of biodiversity, notably the Dalmatian pelican colony. The site, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is managed by the Ministry of Environment and Water through the Regional Inspectorate (RIEW) in Ruse, and has been part of Natura 2000 since 2008, with a 673-ha buffer zone.

Recent UNESCO reporting (2024) confirmed the site’s official area at 638 ha after correcting a cartographic error from 2007. Management faces new challenges: predation of pelican eggs by invasive raccoon dogs and, more rarely, golden jackals, sometimes facilitated by late ice formation after mild winters. These factors have prompted measures such as protective fencing around nesting sites. The hydrological system and monitoring remain essential to maintain ecological values, while updated management planning and maintenance of hydraulic structures are priorities for sustaining the lake’s ecological health.

The LIFE WETMAN project (2011–2015) restored six Slovenian wetlands (Pohorje bogs, Zelenci, Mura–Petišovci oxbows, Gornji kal, Planik and Vrhe). It improved hydrological conditions (e.g., dams on outflows in the Pohorje bogs and a gravel/sediment trap on the Čošelnov graben feeding Zelenci), removed overgrowth, and eliminated invasive fish in Gornji kal and the Mura oxbows. To reduce habitat damage and disturbance, footpaths/boardwalks were created in Zelenci and on the Pohorje bogs. Site-specific management guidelines were prepared and integrated into sectoral and Natura 2000 planning to ensure long-term conservation.
After LIFE, implementation continued: a Zelenci management plan was prepared in 2013 with the municipality; the national Natura 2000 Management Programme (2015–2020) and the integrated project LIFE-IP NATURA.SI (2018–2026) have supported further measures and monitoring. On Pohorje, follow-up regional projects (SUPORT and POHORKA, 2019–2023) consolidated habitat and visitor-management actions. WETMAN’s results were also recognised with a Best LIFE Nature award at EU Green Week.

The maintained reserve “Dolna Topchiya” (Natura 2000 BG0000195 “Reka Tundzha 2”) was restored by RIEW–Stara Zagora through a diversion weir and a ~900 m channel linking the River Tundzha to the Malka Tundzha, to rewet riparian floodplain forest (habitat 91F0). In 2018–2024 the scope expanded under OP Environment project BG16M1OP002-3.007-0010 to also restore the inundation regime of the adjacent maintained reserve “Balabana” (Elhovo Municipality). Main works delivered in 2023: at Balabana, a water intake on the Tundzha and reconstruction of irrigation canals “Iztochen” (1,897 m), “Popovska 1” (879 m) and “Popovska 2” (863 m); at Dolna Topchiya, three gabion weirs (“Dipsiza 1–3”) with crest lengths 14/10/12 m to raise soil moisture. Contractor: Technostroy-Engineering 99 AD; supervision: IVPI Consult OOD. Total budget BGN 1,489,422.96 (ERDF + national co-financing). Closing press event: 21 Nov 2023; administrative end: 26 Apr 2024. The objective is to sustain riparian forests (habitats 91F0, 92A0) by re-establishing periodic flooding and groundwater recharge.

Executive Forest Agency (EFA) is the coordinating beneficiary and, with WWF, implements a project to protect and restore 11 riparian and wetland habitat types across ~21,000 ha in ten Bulgarian nature parks (Bulgarka, Vitosha, Vratsa Balkan, Golden Sands, Rila Monastery, Ruse Lom, Blue Rocks, Strandja, Shumen Plateau). Building on this, LIFE13 NAT/BG/000801 (Sept 2014–Feb 2019) targeted habitat 91E0* in two Natura 2000 sites—Maritza River (BG0000578) and Marten-Ryahovo (BG0000529)-with actions at Merich Orman and Gushterova Odaya (Maritsa) and on Aleko Island (Danube). In total, 48.1 ha of riparian forests were restored: 24.0 ha through afforestation with native species (e.g., Quercus robur, Ulmus spp., Fraxinus angustifolia, Alnus glutinosa, Populus nigra, Salix alba) and 24.1 ha enhanced using an adapted “Saarland method” to remove invasives and improve stand structure. Monitoring showed variable survival (c. 80% at Marten-Ryahovo; lower on Maritsa after the 2016 drought and riverbed lowering from aggregate extraction), prompting a shift to autumn replanting and adjusted species mixes. Long-term management is secured via 30-year agreements with site managers; national technical guidelines on riparian forest restoration were published in 2018, and follow-up maintenance continues with EFA and the Regional Forest Directorates.

Installed in 2006 by Limnos Ltd., the innovative ecoremediation (ERM) system on a polluted tributary of the Glinščica combines a sedimentation pond (to settle coarse particles and reduce flow velocity), a vegetated sand-filled drainage ditch with reeds, and a short meandered channel. Early monitoring (2008–2009) reported strong reductions in nutrients and suspended matter, with effectiveness sustained by routine maintenance (including sediment removal in 2008). The facility remains in place and in use, is maintained by the City of Ljubljana, and is incorporated into local educational activities; project managers confirm it has not been amended. Since installation, additional nature-based solutions for flood retention and stormwater management have been implemented elsewhere in the Glinščica catchment - most notably the Brdnikova dry retention reservoir and works at Podutik - which have helped mitigate recent heavy-rain events. In the technical literature the site is also referenced within a broader “Multifunctional Water Reservoir (MWR) Ljubljana,” where upgrades commissioned in 2014 enhanced ecological and educational functions without changing the ERM’s treatment role.

The project’s objective was to improve the conservation status of aquatic bird species in Lower Prut Floodplain Natural Park (Galați County, RO) through scientific inventory, monitoring, site restoration, awareness-raising, implementation of the park management plan, and the designation of Natura 2000 SPAs. Partners were the University of Bucharest, the Romanian Ornithological Society and Romsilva – Galați Forestry.

At Mața-Rădeanu, dykes were rebuilt to restore hydraulic control: a 1,800 m dyke separating Mața (Galați) from Cârja (Vaslui) and a 3,600 m dyke subdividing Mața; a birdwatching tower serves the complex. The area falls in SPA ROSPA0130 Mața-Cârja-Rădeanu and functions today as a large fish-farming/recreational fishing complex managed locally by AJVPS Galați; recent county risk documentation lists “Amenajarea Piscicolă Mața-Rădeanu.” In 2024, local press reported drought-related low water affecting this complex.

Removing barriers to fish migration, enhancing and restoring habitats, improving water-management infrastructure, and establishing a monitoring system. Funded by LIFE+ and implemented by Purgator Engineering Ltd. under the responsibility of the University of Ljubljana (UL FGG), the 2012–2016 “Ljubljanica connects” project rebuilt two dysfunctional fish passes (Fužine weir and Ambrožev trg), modernised the lifting gates at Ambrožev trg, and raised the Zalog sill by 20 cm to improve levels and oxygenation in upstream oxbows. A low-cost IR “fishcam” system was installed in both passes, providing continuous, online monitoring and confirming passage of 12 fish species, including the target Hucho hucho, Rutilus pigus and Leuciscus souffia. An After-LIFE plan maintains monitoring and knowledge transfer. While urban-section connectivity improved, full longitudinal continuity to the Sava remains constrained: the paper-mill weir at Vevče is the first impassable barrier upstream from the confluence, and the Gruber Canal sluice lacks a fish pass; national planning documents list measures to establish passability at Gruber. Coordinator: University of Ljubljana; partners: Purgator and Geateh.