On the state of freshwater biodiversity in Europe, the situation is clear: freshwater ecosystems are experiencing the sharpest decline in biodiversity of all ecosystems on our planet.

Restoring river connectivity is a proven approach to mitigating and solving this issue. As such, we will dive into the costs of river restoration, focusing on barrier removal as a measure in order to reach the 25,000 km of river connectivity which needs to be restored in the EU by 2030.

This includes tackling the question of sources of financing, and how to effectively fund small and large scale projects, through various means. TNC's aim is to help start consolidating best practices, to provide an overview and look into options for blending of financial instruments or funds to scale up barrier removal in Europe.

This workshop aims to discuss best practice regarding the financing of river restoration projects zooming in on barrier removal.