River Restoration in European Lowland River Systems

Abstract

In the discussion on river restoration, an interesting change is gradually taking place in the way river ecologists and hydrologists are being consulted. Traditionally, ecologists were engaged mainly in the survey of remaining natural assets and on the prediction of environmental effects. This has greatly enhanced nature conservation. Currently, often the question is posed in a different way. Simple rehabilitation is generally impossible, because of river regulation, land use, changed water quality, water quantity management and even climate change. Therefore, the objective reference for nature rehabilitation is not available, and should be defined by the researchers engaged in river restoration themselves. This is not an easy task, especially since science is supposed to be objective and to present to policy makers the research results on which they can base their decisions. Nevertheless, more and more, ecologists together with river hydrologists accept the challenge and start designing targets for river restoration in a scientific way.