About

Create The first assessment of stream connectivity across Europe to highlight where restoration is most needed.
Develop a holistic framework and associated tools for guiding the restoration of local river ecosystems.
Provide opportunities for real time monitoring using citizen science.
Make the first application of eDNA for river restoration to help prioritize areas for conservation and barrier management.

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Barriers

Many dams continue to perform essential functions for society. They support water abstraction for domestic and industrial use, facilitate navigation for commerce and trade, provide fishing and leisure opportunities, and may also help to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. Critically, increasing demands for hydropower and water abstraction, will likely lead to the construction of new dams, as well as the rehabilitation of old, abandoned weirs.

Slide 1
Fragmentation

However, river fragmentation is mainly caused by these barriers, particularly, those which are old and no longer in use. Reducing fragmentation is one of the priorities for more efficient stream restoration and achieving 'good ecological status' under the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Slide 3
Adaptive Management

AMBER proposes to address the challenge of river fragmentation through an adaptive management process. This involves finding an optimal balance of the benefits and impacts of barriers on river habitat to improve future river ecosystem restoration, and achieving the most cost-effective management in the short term.

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Transnational Cooperation

The AMBER team.

Partners