This presentation highlights legal challenges in wetland restoration based on Danish experiences. Wetland restoration has for several years been promoted as an important instrument to reduce agricultural pollution and meet the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. In 2024 the “Green Tripartite Agreement” between Danish government and agricultural and environmental organizations laid down further objectives to set aside, and potentially rewet, 140.000 ha of peatlands to reduce CO2 emissions, as well as continued restoration of wetlands to meet the demands for good surface water quality. Drawing lessons from previous experiences will be crucial to support such land transformation efforts.

The presentation is based on an analysis of previous experiences of wetland restoration, in particular projects carried out by the Danish Nature Agency. Experience shows that wetland restoration on private, agricultural land is a cumbersome process. Key issues relate to project preparation and planning, including the involvement and agreement with a potentially large number of private landowners; as well as environmental assessment and permit requirements, including potential conflicting nature protection interests. The project focuses on the role and interlinkages of different legal instruments relevant to wetland restoration projects, aiming to identify the most important legal challenges and barriers.

The project synthesizes practical experiences with national and EU water and nature protection law and the relevant legal mechanisms through the lens of wetland restoration. It addresses tensions between agriculture, climate, nature, and environment interests in a legal context. The conclusions will contribute to addressing potential synergies between the EU Water Framework Directive and the Nature Restoration Regulation.

The presentation is closely linked to both Congress Theme 1. Water Law and Governance for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation and Theme 3: Balancing Changing Hydrologic Conditions, Water Usage, and Biodiversity Conservation, in particular the topic Legal frameworks for water-related ecosystem protection and restoration.

The "Danube Lifelines" (DLL) project, funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe program, is dedicated to establishing a comprehensive blueprint for the restoration and conservation of migratory fish populations in the Danube River Basin (DRB), pivotal for maintaining ecological health across Europe. The Institute for Landscape Planning and Nature Conservation at Hochschule Geisenheim University together with the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development contributes essential expertise in environmental and spatial planning law, formulating actionable recommendations for the utilization of planning and legal instruments.

The project addresses key issues such as the cohernce of national legal and planning systems with EU directives, ecological fragmentation, and the enhancement of transnational cooperation. Central to this research is the analysis of existing legal frameworks, focusing on harmonizing national systems of Danube countries with EU directives such as the Water Framework Directive (WFD), Habitats Directive, Birds Directive, and the Nature Restoration Law. Critical to this effort are country profiles, developed through a structured template that evaluates legal foundations, institutional responsibilities, and implementation challenges across Danube countries. These profiles form the basis of a comparative legal analysis, designed to uncover best practices and common challenges in legal frameworks, which will be documented in an upcoming report.

The report will also include thematic case studies that explore cross-border cooperation initiatives and national restoration strategies. These studies provide detailed insights into the legal and institutional frameworks governing environmental policies, offering practical guidance and identifying solutions to obstacles faced in cross-border collaboration.

The outcomes of this research are directly relevant to the AIDA Water Law Congress thematic framework, demonstrating how legal expertise contributes to sustainable water management and biodiversity conservation. By presenting these findings, the project aims to influence policy coherence, enhance cooperation, and ultimately foster the sustainable management and restoration of the Danube’s ecosystems.

Wetlands are increasingly being considered as nature-based solutions to the global, cross-cutting puzzles of climate change, food security, and sustainable development. Transboundary wetlands – here defined as wetlands within international transboundary river basins – remain an underexplored area for aligning transboundary water management with international objectives on sustainability, water, climate, and biodiversity. Through analyses of the 1971 Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention), 1992 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, 1997 Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses, and 2008 Draft articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, we make a case for institutionalizing cross-border cooperation on wetlands, particularly through the principles of equitable and reasonable use, no significant harm, duty to cooperate, and ecosystem protection. Overall, our research integrates geospatial and policy analyses to identify synergies and tensions between laws and policies on climate, biodiversity, and water. The result is a fresh interpretation of Article 5 of the Ramsar Convention, which mandates consultation between riparian states about planned actions on transboundary wetlands, which we extend to non-contracting parties. Revisiting Article 5 is increasingly important with the rise in nationalism and the decline of multilateralism, evidenced in part by Russia leaving the Ramsar Convention in 2025. We exemplify our findings through three stories of cross-border wetland management from transboundary river basins on the African continent: the Juba-Shabelle, the Niger, and the Okavango.

The phrase “drain the swamp” encapsulates a long-standing mindset that has driven wetland destruction through agricultural drainage, pollution, peat extraction, and, more recently, climate change. Wetlands cover about 6% of the Earth’s land surface (around 12 million km²) and include lakes, bogs, fens, swamps, and other habitats essential to ecological balance. In Europe, they occupy roughly 350,000 km², or about 6% of the continent’s territory, yet over 60% have been lost or degraded during the past century. Despite their vital ecosystem service, such as flood protection, carbon storage, and biodiversity conservation, existing legal and policy frameworks have largely failed to halt their decline.

This raises the question of whether a rights-based approach could offer a way out of this impasse. At first glance, European human rights jurisprudence appears unpromising: in Kyrtatos v. Greece (2003), the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the protection of swamps fell outside the scope of Article 8 ECHR (the right to respect for private and family life). However, recent developments challenge this view. In Spain, the Mar Menor lagoon was granted legal personality and specific rights in 2022—a decision upheld by the Spanish Constitutional Court in 2024 as consistent with a contemporary interpretation of the right to a healthy environment.

Building on these innovations, recent climate litigation (e.g. Verein KlimaSeniorinnen) and evolving EU environmental law (e.g. the EU Nature Restoration Law), this contribution explores how a rights-based approach could strengthen wetland protection in Europe. It argues that safeguarding wetlands is an integral element of the right to a healthy environment, implicitly recognizing their own right to exist. Such rights could be enforced by NGOs through judicial action, even beyond designated protected areas. The importance of wetland conservation for climate mitigation and adaptation will be a key consideration in future litigation.

The legal framework governing restoration of international river basin ecosystems in EU Member States consists of the Nature Restoration Law (NRL), the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Habitats Directive, and the Birds Directive.

Existing research focuses either on a specific element of the restoration of water-related ecosystems, or on legal issues concerning river-basin restoration at the domestic level. Little attention has been paid to the interaction between different EU legislative instruments for the transboundary river basin ecosystems, which is the main focus of this research.

Through a review of the natural science literature, this paper distills elements that must be considered by restoration law. These are (i) a concrete restoration plan, (ii) ensuring connectivity, (iii) maintaining environmental flow, (iv) monitoring and assessment mechanisms, and (v) robust international cooperation at the level of the river basin. On this basis, this research examines to what extent these elements have been incorporated into EU legislation governing international river basin ecosystems. This is approached by analyzing EU legislation and policy documents.

Several preliminary findings of this research are worth highlighting. First, the EU-level principle governing the definition of the ‘favourable reference area’ established by the NRL can result in unfair allocation of obligations or burdens of river basin states, hindering the restoration of the river basin as a whole. Second, under the NRL and the WFD, specific approaches to coordinating transboundary restoration actions remain absent, leading to misalignment between specific restoration means and the concept of integrated water resources management. Third, there exists legal uncertainty about the obligation to maintain ecological flows, contributing to weak actions in this regard. Lastly, monitoring and reporting obligations developed by the associated EU legal acts should be refined, to ensure that restoration measures adapt to changes in ecological systems and are informed by periodic assessments of restoration outcomes.