Biodiversity goals in danger? 

Positioning of the AG-Wasser on hydropower development and river restoration against the background of the biodiversity goals and the climate crisis 

on 08.12.2022 14:00 - 17:00 CET

According to the WWF's Living Planet Report, the global population of wild species has declined by 69% since 1970. At 83%, the loss of species in lakes, rivers and wetlands is even more dramatic. Environmental associations, anglers and other organisations have joined forces at the European level to form the Living Rivers Coalition in order to halt this trend and reverse it. With the Green Deal, the Water Framework Directive, the Biodiversity Strategy and the recently proposed Nature Restoration Law, good instruments have been and are being developed at EU level to achieve this goal. At the same time, the expansion of renewable energies is being pushed forward on a large scale. In the course of this, there are increased efforts to streamline the planning requirements for infrastructure projects, in particular also by directly undermining nature and water protection regulations. This, with the intention of counteracting the climate crisis, further exacerbates the European and global biodiversity crisis.

The sustainable use and equitable distribution of water is one of the most pressing problems of our time. At the same time, scarce freshwater resources and their associated ecosystems are being overexploited, polluted and damaged all over the world. Whether water will still be sufficiently available and drinkable in the future, and who will have access to it, depends more than ever on political decisions around water use. To discuss these challenges, we cordially invite you and your colleagues to an online seminar. Details on the programme and registration can be found below.

Programme

14:00: Welcome

Jürgen Maier, Forum Environment and Development

14:10: Presentation of the FUE position on hydropower

Thilo Papacek, CounterCurrents 

14:40: "Break Free" - Restoring river ecosystems by dismantling transverse structures 

Michael Bender, Living Rivers Foundation 

15:10: Commentary on the Renewable Energy Directive by WWF 

Tobias Schäfer, WWF

15:40: Hydropower in development cooperation 

Jutta Himmelsbach, Misereor

16:15 h: Break 

16:30: Hydropower to hydrogen? The Inga III Project

Salomé Elolo, Femmes Solidaires

Registration: roth (at) forumue.de

The event will be held in German with English translation. 

You can find the invitation here: Invitation