Almost 400 barriers are being removed along the Torne River, which forms the border between Sweden and Finland for much of its length. Photo Credit: Rolf_52/Alamy
Environment EuropeRecord Drop of Water Dams in Favor of Nature
In 2024, 23 European countries dismantled a total of 542 dams, weirs, culverts, and sluices, representing an 11% increase from the previous year, signalling that communities and governments alike recognise the benefits of reconnecting and restoring rivers.
“Healthy, free-flowing rivers are central to adapting to the climate crisis and boosting biodiversity, but Europe’s rivers are the most fragmented in the world,” explains Jelle de Jong, chief executive of WWF Netherlands. “We need to keep scaling up the removal of small obsolete dams that are blocking our rivers and set new records every year.”
Twenty-three countries removed a barrier last year, with four – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Turkey – doing so for the first time. Finland has removed the most barriers, with 138. France, Spain, Sweden, and the UK follow with 128, 96, 45, and 28, respectively. Culverts and weirs account for 90% of all removals. According to the report, 65% of barriers were less than 2 meters tall, making them cheaper and easier to remove. The European Union’s goal is to restore 25,000 km of river to their free-flowing state by 2030.
