Open letter: Counting on new hydropower to accelerate Renewable Energy deployment in Europe is irresponsible. 

The EEB (European Environmental Bureau), Bird Life International, the EEA (the European Anglers Alliance), Wetlands International and WWF have published an open letter, this Monday 6 February 2023, asking for more regulations of hydropower development. The open letter is signed by more than 100 NGOs across Europe.

Among others, we ask for:

• At least retain the new article 29b on sustainability criteria for hydropower proposed by the European Parliament (RED III), as it recognises that hydropower has direct impacts on freshwater ecosystems which must be mitigated. 
• Ask Member States to exclude new hydropower plants from go-to areas (RED IV), as the Council’s general approach from 21 December on REPowerEU, which only gives Member States the option to exclude new hydropower plants from go-to areas, does not go far enough. 

Discover the entire open letter of the European NGOs here (in English): Open letter: Counting on new hydropower to accelerate Renewable Energy deployment in Europe is irresponsible. 

In 2023, a river film festival is to take place on the Main for the very first time. And not just in one city, but in several cinemas along the course of the river from its source to its mouth. In this way, it will become clear that the Main River connects people over 500 km and is our common responsibility.

The 1st Main FlussFilmFest will be organised in March 2023 by Flussparadies Franken e.V. and Netzwerk Main in cooperation with the Living Rivers Foundation and other partners. It is sponsored by the Bavarian State Ministry of Finance and Home Affairs. The opening will take place on 14 March, the International Day of Action against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life (World Dam Day) in Bayreuth. The final event will be a matinee in Frankfurt am Main on 26 March. An international selection of environmental and outdoor short films will be shown.

The trailer of the Main Flussfilmfest 2023 is available here: www.living-rivers.eu/en/events-1/1st-main-riverfilmfest

The events will take place on:

• Tuesday, 14 March at franz & gloria– Bayreuth
• Wednesday, 15 March at Neuen Filmbühne– Lichtenfels
• Friday, 17 March at Odeon/Lichtspiel– Bamberg
• Friday, 17 March at Roxy– Kitzingen
• Saturday, 18 March at Central im Bürgerbräu– Würzburg
• Saturday, 18 March at Film-Photo-Ton Museum Huttenschloss - Gemünden a.Main
• Sunday, 19 March at Capitol Kino– Zeil a. Main
• Sunday, 19 March at KuK – Kino & Kneipe– Schweinfurt
• Sunday, 19 March at Burg-Lichtspiele - Karlstadt
• Monday, 20 March at Capitol Kino– Zeil a. Main
• Thursday, 23 March at Movie im Luitpoldhaus– Marktheidenfeld
• Thursday, 23 March at Filmklubb– Offenbach
• Thursday, 23 March at Schloß-Theater - Miltenberg
• Saturday, 25 March at Casino Filmtheater– Aschaffenburg
• Sunday, 26 March at Harmonie– Frankfurt a. Main 

Let's celebrate free rivers, clean water and freshwater life! More about the programmes and venues coming soon on : https://www.riverfilmfest.eu and www.mainflussfilmfest.de
and: https://www.facebook.com/Maininitiative/
and: https://www.instagram.com/netzwerk.main/?hl=de> 

Embellished groundwater model may jeopardise stability of planned opencast mining lakes

Cottbus, 30.01.2023. In a comprehensive statement, the environmental network GRÜNE LIGA has criticised the plans of the opencast mine operator LEAG to continue pumping out groundwater in the Jänschwalde opencast mine until 2044. The GRÜNE LIGA sees the stability of the planned opencast mining lakes at risk because LEAG's application ignores the increasing water shortage in Lusatia.
"The consequences of open-cast mining are being made up with fictitious amounts of water. LEAG's plan only works if there are no droughts and no increasing evaporation until 2100. Relying on this could cost the region dearly: If the planned water levels of the opencast lakes are not reached, the stability of the banks at Heinersbrück, Jänschwalde and Taubendorf will be in danger," explains René Schuster from the Green League's Federal Lignite Contact Point, who prepared the statement.
The GRÜNE LIGA also sees LEAG's request for permission under water law as contradictory to the official justification for groundwater extraction. Schuster comments:
"LEAG wants to pump out significantly more than is necessary for the safety of the mine, apparently in order to evaporate more water in the cooling towers of the Jänschwalde power plant. The aim is to burn as much coal as possible from the Welzow, Nochten and Reichwalde opencast mines at the expense of groundwater resources."

For a long time, the GRÜNE LIGA Osterzgebirge and the Ranoala Rainforest Association have been supporting reforestation projects in the (former) East Madagascar rainforest area. About ten years ago, the focus gradually began to expand from pure forest work to environmental education projects. This has developed into a school partnership between the Glückauf-Gymnasium Altenberg and the Lycée of the Malagasy village of Anjahambe, but above all into a wonderful partnership between committed young people in both, far-away countries. In Anjahambe, the "Analasoa-Club" (analasoa = the good forest) is active, in Altenberg the "Madagascar-AG".

The activities on both sides are based on the same principle: first working together practically for nature, then going on trips together to learn more about nature. Several times a year, the Analasoa Club organises student planting missions around the remaining rainforest called Analasoa. This involves multi-day excursions in rented "bush taxis" to well-known Malagasy national parks and other protected areas - financed by donations from Dresden and the Eastern Erz Mountains.

The up to 25 pupils plant rowan trees on the Kahleberg, tend wild hedges and take part in practical species protection measures around Altenberg. In return, once a year there is a larger trip to "rainforest experience places in Central Europe": to Gondwanaland Leipzig and the rainforest museum Phyllodrom, to the "Biosphäre" Potsdam, and even to the Masoala Hall of the Zurich Zoo. In 2019, the Madagascar-AG visited the Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation in Bonn and the Madagascar House of the Cologne Zoo.

60 organisations from agriculture and society are calling for the "We're fed up!" demonstration on 21 January. The GRÜNE LIGA is taking part. The slogan of the 2023 agricultural turnaround demonstration is "Good food for all - instead of profits for a few". Thousands of people are expected to march through Berlin's government quarter to kick off the world's largest agricultural trade fair, the Green Week, in support of consistent climate protection, species-appropriate animal husbandry, the preservation of biodiversity and global solidarity.

Climate crisis, food poverty, dying farms - the list of failures in agricultural, social and environmental policy is long. The balance sheet after one year of traffic light government is sobering and can be summarised as "too slow and too little". The "We're fed up!" alliance demands more speed in the socially just agricultural and food transition. In concrete terms, this means: fair producer prices for farms and the food trade, as well as much more support for those affected by poverty, so that they can afford fairly and sustainably produced, healthy food.