Healthy freshwater systems support healthy life on land
The opening plenary at SER2025 focused on our essential source of life – freshwater. Christine Colvin, Policy Lead for Freshwater at WWF International, painted a picture of the challenges faced by our inland waters. Of all our ecosystems and biomes, freshwater wildlife populations have experienced the greatest decline, down 85% since 1970.
Healthy connections between freshwater systems support healthy life on land. This is increasingly being recognised at the global policy level, with more direct reference to rivers and other freshwater ecosystems with a focus on synergies, bringing together actions that meet the big challenges that we face today – climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. “River and wetland restoration is one of the most synergistic things that countries can invest in,” said Ms. Colvin during the opening plenary session of SER2025. The essential nexus between water, nature, and land is becoming ever more apparent.
Bringing back the river to revive nature and communities
In few cases is this connection more powerfully demonstrated than in the Klamath River project, the world’s largest dam removal project. The project covered a watershed the size of Switzerland. Dave Coffman is the Klamath River Renewal Project Restoration Program Manager, “We all know without a doubt that ecological restoration benefits the environment, the fish, the bugs. We can all agree that a fish needs water, but what about the people who need fish”.
This vast project restored the flow of the river, regenerated landscapes and brought back thriving habitats for fish, reptiles, mammals and invertebrates. The most important impact of the project, however, was the “direct and positive impact” it had on the communities who have lived alongside the river for generations.
For the Hupa and Yurok people, including youth leader and changemaker Danielle Frank, the return of salmon, spawning in areas where they had not been seen for over 100 years, represented a renewal of the abundance and a reconnection with the river that she had only heard about through stories from her ancestors, and that even her grandparents had never witnessed in their own lifetimes.
Policy coherence aligns goals and decisions for effective long-term restoration
The power of water as a connector of landscapes and communities is an apt metaphor for the ways in which policy coherence can be a powerful force to drive effective ecological restoration. This was the subject of a paper launched today at SER2025 by Commonland and Climate Focus, with more than 25 partners, as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Policy coherence involves “…the systematic alignment of goals, decisions and actions across sectors, timescales, and governance levels…It also impacts financing, by unlocking blended, multi-sector investments and reducing inefficiencies…which is essential for long-term restoration.” The full report can be downloaded here.
Restoration Hackathon promotes innovation in Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV)
Policy is an essential enabler for advancing restoration, but innovation is the engine that will help accelerate the pace and scale of restoration to meet our global targets.
SER’s first ecological restoration Hackathon took place over two sessions on 10 to 11 September. 14 teams competed to develop innovative, practical, and affordable approaches to MRV in ecological restoration. Credible MRV strengthens transparency, builds trust, and enables scalable, high-integrity restoration efforts to support the delivery of project certification and drive investment.
Winners for each category will be announced daily at SER2025, beginning with the winning team focused on Inland Waters. Congratulations to the team ‘Making a Difference Across Timezones’ for their design of an Integrated Kit for MRV for Riparian Restoration. The winning video can be viewed here.
We encourage delegates to view short videos from the four finalists and vote for the overall winner by clicking here.
Regional awards highlight deep impact on communities from local restoration efforts
This morning, three exceptional projects were recognised for their social and environmental impact on local communities.
For its impact on local communities right here in Denver, the Starburst Award was presented by the Colorado Lottery to the City and County of Denver for its Denver Parks Green Corps project. The Colorado Lottery is the only lottery in the world that donates 100% of its primary proceeds to protecting and enhancing outdoor activities.
SER’s Regional Award recognized two outstanding projects from the region of the World Conference.
The first of these was presented to the City of Fort Collins staff for the Environmental Learning Center Flow Restoration Project in Fort Collins, Colorado. In partnership with Colorado State University, the project conserved 12 million cubic meters of water annually, safeguarding a 220 million dollar instream water right, while enhancing ecological health, recreation, and water quality.
The second went to the Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a newly established 64-acre ecological sanctuary aimed at revitalizing the northwestern shoreline of an urbanized area of Lake Ontario.