MERLIN Podcast: Bringing Europe’s freshwaters back to life7 Apr

How do you mainstream freshwater restoration across an entire continent?

The Nature Restoration Regulation is now European law. National Restoration Plans are being written. The targets are set. So why does transformative, large-scale ecological restoration remain so stubbornly difficult to achieve, and what would it actually take to make it happen everywhere, not just in flagship protected areas?

That question sat at the heart of a panel discussion held in Brussels in March 2026, at a joint event bringing together the EU Horizon projects MERLIN, WaterLANDS, SpongeScapes and SpongeWorks. Moderated by Ellis Penning of SpongeScapes, the panel brought together Anders Iversen and Willem Jan Goossen from the European Commission, Craig Bullock of WaterLANDS, and Sebastian Birk, coordinator of MERLIN, fresh from four years overseeing freshwater restoration work across 18 sites in very different corners of Europe.

In this episode we tune into that conversation, ranging across governance, finance, agricultural and environmental policy, and the challenge of building the kind of shared ecological literacy that makes transformative change possible. It is a candid, reflective and ultimately hopeful discussion, held at a moment when the tools and evidence for restoration have never been better, and the pressure to act has never been greater.

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Episoder(16)

Four years, 18 sites, one mission: bringing Europe's freshwaters back to life

In March 2026, MERLIN scientific coordinator Daniel Hering stood before a Brussels room full of European policymakers and set out what four years of freshwater restoration had found. The evidence is c...

21 Apr 34min

How can water-friendly farming be mainstreamed in Europe?

Freshwater restoration should be at the heart of how farming is managed in Europe, according to new recommendations.Reshaping the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support freshwater ecosystems by e...

15 Jan 20min

Sharing cutting-edge information on freshwater restoration in the MERLIN Academy

In this podcast we take a tour of the MERLIN Academy, an online platform which offers free resources and training to support researchers, practitioners and policy makers in applying cutting-edge fresh...

19 Nov 202530min

How nature-based solutions can support people and nature in freshwater restoration

Harnessing the potential of natural processes in freshwater restoration can create significant ecological, social and economic benefits, according to a major new report. Researchers from the MERLIN pr...

21 Aug 202523min

Communicating why freshwater restoration is vital

Restoring our natural ecosystems is a task that is never really finished: science progresses; governments change; technology advances; society shifts; funding pots appear and disappear. And all the ti...

26 Mai 202530min

Restoring Europe's landscapes through the Green Deal and Nature Restoration Law

In this podcast we take a behind the scenes look at environmental restoration in Europe on the cusp of what will likely prove to be a transformative year. First, we find out about the EU’s big environ...

23 Jan 202544min

Why community matters to freshwater restoration

It's increasingly recognised that restoring damaged ecosystems is not only about improving habitats for wildlife, it is also vital to consider the needs of the people who live and work in a restoratio...

28 Okt 202458min