The 3rd Exchange of Experience Workshop of the INTERREG Europe RIWET project, took place in Valencia in March 2025 and our Valencian partners, the Diputacio de Valencia, LIMNE Foundation and fellow researchers presented to us good practices and lessons on good cooperation and flexible governance schemes that promote the active conservation and restoration of rivers and wetlands.

Cooperation among public services, environmental organizations and land users are key to holistic and continuous restoration efforts

In Valencia, land stewardship projects are widely applied for the Turia River in order to sustainably manage or restore parts of it. Under a land stewardship agreement, public entities like the Diputacio de Valencia and NGO like the LIMNE Foundation or private landowners or farmers, collaborate in order to perform sustainable management or restoration of natural resources with the active participation of local communities. A key example is the “Canya a Canya” project, a public-social partnership for river restoration taking place between LIMNE and the Consorci de La Ribera (Consortium of the River) for the joint management of the Júcar River through nature-based actions, with the participation of an impressive number of 13 municipalities aiming to create a green corridor along the Júcar River. Actions involve conservation and improvement through invasive species management, native vegetation recovery, removal of barriers, transformation of abandoned cultivation area to riverbanks, and margin stabilization. This initiative represents a good example of the necessity of multi-municipality participation in flood risk management and river restoration and cooperation with experienced environmental organizations in order to maximize ecological and societal benefits.

Local partnerships under flexible governance schemes appear also in Greece, with the Operational Groups formed in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy, which facilitate the cooperation among research, practice and the agricultural production for the development of solutions to agricultural challenges in rural areas. These two approaches, land stewardship projects in Valencia and collaborations under the SP CAP in Greece, have a lot to exchange!

Municipality Riba-roja de Túria supports funding for river restoration

Riba-roja de Túria’s Carbon Footprint Compensation Regulation funds environmental restoration by allocating a portion of public contracts to restoration projects. These projects support riverbank restoration and farmland recovery, ensuring continuous ecosystem management. This innovative approach integrates sustainability into municipal procurement, and presents an interesting case of a municipality initiative for funding environmental restoration.

Citizens taking care of river monitoring

“Rivers project” ran by LIMNE Foundation engages citizens in river monitoring using simplified tools and methods, enhancing environmental awareness and participation and supporting communities connect with freshwater ecosystems. This is a great initiative showing how environmental organizations could promote education and citizen engagement for river and wetland protection.

From rice paddies to wetland

The Municipality of Algemesí initiated the restoration of a wetland within rice paddies near the Albufera lagoon, creating the Samaruc lagoon to support the endemic Samaruc fish. Initially met with scepticism, local farmers gradually embraced the project and saw its benefits, as the wetland became a “biodiversity island” enhancing the regional ecosystem.

Wetlands offer agricultural benefits, such as supporting biodiversity and sequestering carbon, services for which they are to be preserved according to commitments of the Strategic Plan of CAP policy in Greece. The successful example of the Samaruc lagoon demonstrates the importance of bold actions for restoration, especially under the new Nature Restoration Law.