<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/20/dutch-rewilding-project-turns-back-the-clock-500-years-aoe>
"“On the way to being one of the most beautiful nature areas in Europe,” reads
a sign overlooking a construction site near the village of Grevenbicht on the
Meuse River in the southern Netherlands. Looking at the diggers, other bits of
large machinery and bare soil, this is a stretch of the imagination. “You have
to sell your story,” says Frans Schepers, managing director of Rewilding
Europe, who was leading the largest river-restoration project in Europe.
Construction work has already been completed along 50km of the Meuse River
floodplain as part of the Border Meuse project to undo 500 years of
world-renowned Dutch water engineering. Big infrastructure is at the heart of
the Dutch “offensive” – as opposed to “defensive” – approach to sorting out
rivers, which involves relandscaping entire catchments, rather than rewetting
specific at-risk areas. This approach is particularly revolutionary given that
the seed for this project was planted decades ago. By contrast, the UK has only
started thinking about implementing natural solutions at scale in the past few
years.
Driving the length of the restored river – which runs from Maastricht to
Roosteren – is like being in a time capsule. Some of the older sections of the
project, further upstream, are already thronging with life. Borgharen, an area
which has been farmed since at least Roman times, was one of the first sites to
be let go. Dozens of sand martens are speeding into the cliff by the river to
feed their chicks; there are blackcaps, stonechats, skylarks and swallows in
the sky.
The river shape-shifts as it winds through the landscape. It is home to otters
and beavers, and wolves – which are successfully spreading through the
Netherlands – are believed to be watching the valley and could move in.
Free-roaming animals such as galloway cows and konik horses (whose carcasses
are sold as wild meat) graze along the banks. It is a reminder that nature
isn’t picky – it will move into an old construction site and quickly transform
it into something beautiful. People are free to walk the length of the river
along a tangle of footpaths."
Via
Future Crunch Sep 23, 2022:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-aids-ocean-indonesia-clean-air-spain/>
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
