#ProtectWater – Thanks for over 1000 signatures!

With our project WATER BODIES we, Franziska, Magdalena and Leo mobilized until the last minute for the #ProtectWater campaign, because we think that our waters need not only excellent protection, but also much more attention!

Only 40% of Europe’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands are in good ecological condition. In Austria, too, 60% of water bodies would have to be rehabilitated because they are in not in a good state. The rest is under acute threat: heavy construction, regulations, hydroelectric power stations, overfertilisation, industrial use, pollution and water abstraction by agriculture and artificial snow are exerting increasing pressure. And now the legal basis to prevent this and the quality and functions of ecosystems is about to be weakened: At EU level, the Water Framework Directive, which is currently responsible for protecting and restoring good ecological and chemical status, is to be “fitness checked”, which could mean that some member states and various lobbies will succeed and the law will be significantly worsened.

Over 120 NGOs across the EU became active

.. and mobilized over 375,000 consultation participants over months, clearly targeting the EU Commission: We do not want the legal protection to be weakened and the state of our waters to deteriorate even further!

We took the matter up as well. In order to also reach a younger generation with the supposedly dry topic, they considered different approaches: With a performance Flashmob, in which about 100 young artists* and activists* participated, we involved the young dance scene of Vienna and at the same time drew the attention of politicians* and decision-makers* to us.

Through an Advent-Challenge further GE members were involved, mobilized through videos, articles, radio broadcasts and interviews on various channels and lobbied directly at the Council of Environment Ministers in Graz and the EU Water Conference in Vienna.

Until the last second of the consultation phase, work was still in full swing to look back on a successful project. The team can now look back on a fun, motivating, tiring, funny, enriching, challenging, remarkable, successful, instructive and, above all, exciting project time, which is now over after more than a year – but the next challenge will certainly come!