Dam Removal Europe: A Continent Tears Down Its Barriers

Dam Removal Europe is coordinated by Wetlands International Europe together with WWF, The Rivers Trust, The Nature Conservancy, the European Rivers Network, Rewilding Europe and the World Fish Migration Foundation, publishing the only continent-wide dataset tracking the removal of obsolete river barriers. 2025 marked its fifth consecutive record year: at least 603 barriers were removed across 29 countries, reconnecting more than 3,740 km of river for migratory fish such as salmon, sturgeon and eel, with Sweden, Finland and Spain removing the most. The initiative's data collection has shown a sixfold increase in barrier removals since the first continental count in 2020, and directly feeds the EU's goal of restoring 25,000 km of free-flowing rivers by 2030.