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> 

Lakes, Wetlands and Natural Climate Protection in the UN Decade of Habitat Restoration

Thursday, 19 January 2023 from 10.00 to 17.00

Friday, 20 January 2023 from 9.30 to 13.00

in bUm - Betterplace Umspannwerk , Paul-Linke-Ufer 21, Berlin

We cordially invite you to the Lakes Conference 2023. Too little attention is still paid to lakes, wetlands and their catchments as carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots. Lakes continue to be overexploited, peatlands drained and wetlands not rewetted as required. With the Lakes Conference 2023, we want to strengthen the focus on these valuable habitats and at the same time broaden the perspective for contributions to natural climate protection in Germany and beyond.

Biodiversity goals in danger? 

Positioning of the AG-Wasser on hydropower development and river restoration against the background of the biodiversity goals and the climate crisis 

on 08.12.2022 14:00 - 17:00 CET

According to the WWF's Living Planet Report, the global population of wild species has declined by 69% since 1970. At 83%, the loss of species in lakes, rivers and wetlands is even more dramatic. Environmental associations, anglers and other organisations have joined forces at the European level to form the Living Rivers Coalition in order to halt this trend and reverse it. With the Green Deal, the Water Framework Directive, the Biodiversity Strategy and the recently proposed Nature Restoration Law, good instruments have been and are being developed at EU level to achieve this goal. At the same time, the expansion of renewable energies is being pushed forward on a large scale. In the course of this, there are increased efforts to streamline the planning requirements for infrastructure projects, in particular also by directly undermining nature and water protection regulations. This, with the intention of counteracting the climate crisis, further exacerbates the European and global biodiversity crisis.

The sustainable use and equitable distribution of water is one of the most pressing problems of our time. At the same time, scarce freshwater resources and their associated ecosystems are being overexploited, polluted and damaged all over the world. Whether water will still be sufficiently available and drinkable in the future, and who will have access to it, depends more than ever on political decisions around water use. To discuss these challenges, we cordially invite you and your colleagues to an online seminar. Details on the programme and registration can be found below.

Programme

14:00: Welcome

Jürgen Maier, Forum Environment and Development

14:10: Presentation of the FUE position on hydropower

Thilo Papacek, CounterCurrents 

14:40: "Break Free" - Restoring river ecosystems by dismantling transverse structures 

Michael Bender, Living Rivers Foundation 

15:10: Commentary on the Renewable Energy Directive by WWF 

Tobias Schäfer, WWF

15:40: Hydropower in development cooperation 

Jutta Himmelsbach, Misereor

16:15 h: Break 

16:30: Hydropower to hydrogen? The Inga III Project

Salomé Elolo, Femmes Solidaires

Registration: roth (at) forumue.de

The event will be held in German with English translation. 

You can find the invitation here: www.grueneliga.de/images/Wasser/FORUMUE-AGWASSER-81222.pdf 

Unsealing at the Fennpfuhl - NABU - Aktionsnetz Kleingewässer

23 November 2022

Meeting place: On the south-eastern side of the Fennpfuhl in Lichtenberg

Start: 9 am | Coordinates: 52°31'42.1 "N 13°28'30.0 "E

Soil absorbs rainwater, stores moisture, supplies plants with water, cools the environment through evaporation, provides a habitat for soil organisms, plants and animals, and contributes to a good climate with vegetation - if it is not sealed. In the Fennpfuhlpark we will reactivate these numerous soil functions. To do this, we will unseal an area of about 20 m2 and then plant it with insect-friendly wild shrubs. We will provide the necessary tools and gloves.

We look forward to your active support!

Registration at jschlaberg (at) nabu-berlin.de or by phone 030/986083735

Thursday, November 03

7:30pm CET

Paneltalk & Movie Screening

In Albania and all around Europe citizens have raised their voices to protect Europe’s largest wild river—the Vjosa. This year Albania's government listened, and promised to establish a national park to protect the Vjosa forever.

We talk with Besjana Guri from EcoAlbania about the campaign success and the progress towards establishing the Vjosa National Park. Being a member of the national park working group in Albania we are excited to hear directly from her here in Berlin.

For additional impressions Matthias Leupold & Eric Berg present their short movie "In the Name of Vjosa". And Living Rivers Foundation shares insights on river conservation in Germany.