MedINA participated in an international workshop on restoring free-flowing rivers, held on the Tara River in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 29 June to 2 July 2026. Bringing together representatives of organizations from 22 countries, the workshop provided a platform to exchange knowledge, share experiences, and explore best practices in obsolete barrier removal and river restoration.
The Tara River, one of Europe’s last wild rivers, provided an ideal setting for the workshop. Its outstanding ecosystems support remarkable biodiversity, while the river is also a renowned destination for activities such as rafting and fly fishing, demonstrating in practice that healthy rivers can sustain both nature and local communities and economies.
Throughout the four-day programme, participants had the opportunity to explore the many dimensions of barrier removal, from technical approaches to the social, institutional, and environmental aspects of river restoration projects. Through presentations, workshops, and field visits, they exchanged experiences and jointly developed a framework of priorities and next steps to advance the movement in their respective countries.
MedINA’s participation in the workshop reflects its steady and growing engagement in restoring free-flowing rivers in Greece. During the event, MedINA presented the progress of its work from 2023 to the present, highlighting key milestones, including the first National Workshop on Free-Flowing River Restoration, the website damremoval.gr, the report on the legislative framework for barrier removal in Greece, and the mapping of all artificial barriers within the Sarantaporos River basin. In addition, progress on ongoing initiatives was also presented, including the large-scale hydrological study of the Sarantaporos River basin, as well as the pre-demolition studies for the removal of an obsolete small irrigation dam in Laconia.
MedINA’s contribution played an important role in the discussions among participants, as it shared the experience it has gained over recent years with organizations from countries that are still at an early stage of developing similar restoration initiatives. At the same time, through knowledge exchange with six leading experts from the Netherlands, Wales, Finland and the USA, MedINA gained valuable insights to support the next steps of its work in Greece, while contributing alongside the other participants to the development of a roadmap for advancing free-flowing river restoration across Europe.
The workshop was an initiative of the Dam Removal Europe movement and was implemented in cooperation with WWF Netherlands, WWF Finland, WWF International, Interfluv, University of Eastern Finland and the Open Rivers Programme.