Outcome Action Plan: Reduce the impact of water abstraction and unsustainable water infrastructure on river basins biodiversity and functioning - Douro

The Outcome Action Plan (OAP) is funded by MAVA - Foundation pour la Nature

The main goals of this project are:

1) halt the construction of new hydropower plants, namely the PLDP or other proposed dams, whenever socioeconomic benefits do not outweigh the impacts on ecosystems and livelihoods

2) Promote the correct identification of existing barriers and adaptation measures (i.e. e-flows, fish ladders) or removal of classified obsolete infrastructures (RC: b, c, e); and 3) develop and propose the creation of a conservation status for still flowing free rivers (or stretches), based on the biodiversity hotspots identification, protecting them from hydro morphological alterations.

The main intermediary goals include improving knowledge and understanding of the area in terms of impacts from hydropower and importance of basin ecology, as well as studying and promoting energy alternatives in a context of climate change adaptation; training key judicial actors to understand and take the best decisions concerning hydropower plants construction and management; making the Douro river basin a case study during WFD revision; raising awareness on the impacts of unnecessary waterflow obstacles; mobilizing citizens and other actors for diffuse monitoring tasks (“citizen science”); creating governance strategies to facilitate the dialogue between stakeholders; and adapting the existing legal framework to respond to the claims regarding water status and good water management.