Danube Wetlands and flood plains Restoration through systemic, community engaged and sustainable innovative actions
DaWetRest is a project the Horizon Europe programme co-financed within the EU Mission Ocean, seas, and waters. The project is built on the three demonstrator sites where active and passive restoration measures will be demonstrated, located in Croatia-Middle Danube Demo (Draž Municipality in Osijek-Baranja County), Bulgaria-Lower Danube Demo (Kalimok-Brashlen area), and Romania-Danube Delta (Danube Delta Ramsar area).
Additionally, DaWetRest has many pilot and sibling locations, which are situated on the Danube River or within the Danube River Basin, where passive restoration measures will be applied. These sites are indirectly included in the DaWetRest implementation, mostly as best practice examples or critical points that need revitalisation in future actions.
Through active and passive restoration measures, 46 project partners from 12 European countries, coordinated by the Climate, Atmosphere and Water Research Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Science, work together to improve the status of wetlands, coastal wetlands, floodplains and salt marshes in the Danube River Basin.
The common goal of all mentioned activities is to demonstrate restoration measures in small-size geographic areas and to recommend new actions needed for the improvement of wetlands, floodplains, coastal wetlands, and salt marshes in the Danube Region.
All activities imply a holistic and interdisciplinary approach, as well as engagement of local communities and citizens through the following phases of implementation:
- Identification of needs and challenges through the engagement of local communities, data collection, and field observations.
- Preparation phase (assessment of initial status).
- Implementation phase (application of active and passive restoration measures for improving wetlands, floodplains, coastal wetlands and saltmarshes).
The overall budget is EUR 9.1 million.