Between 18 and 20 January 2023, the annual meeting of the Living Lakes Network Germany and the Lakes Conference took place in Berlin, which had not been held for several years due to the pandemic.

The Living Rivers Foundation, Global Nature Fund (GNF), the GRÜNE LIGA and Living Lakes Germany were pleased to be able to bring together over 120 participants over three days.

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> 

At a launch event organised by the GRÜNE LIGA Berlin, the Berlin State Working Group for Nature Conservation (BLN), BUND Berlin, GRÜNE LIGA Berlin, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, NABU Berlin and a tip:tap founded the Water Network Berlin today. The civil society network sets unprecedented goals until 2026 to advance the urgent improvement of watercourses, lakes and groundwater in the city.

The water network is the answer to the growing water and biodiversity crisis in Berlin: all the running and still waters studied are blocked, polluted or drying up. Over 50% of them are in an ecologically unsatisfactory to poor condition. "We have joined forces to make water protection a priority in Berlin and to ensure that visible progress is made citywide," says Manfred Schubert, Managing Director of BLN, which is supporting the project.

Water law permit for Jänschwalde opencast mine expired at the turn of the year
Cottbus, 04.01.2023. The permit for the Jänschwalde open-cast mine to pump groundwater expired on 31.12.2022, but the open-cast mine will apparently continue to operate without a new permit. This creates facts in a legal vacuum, criticises the environmental network GRÜNE LIGA.

"Since 1996, all parties involved knew when the permit would expire, but a decision on the time after that has not been made until today. The coal company LEAG has delayed the procedure with late and incomplete applications and is not prevented by the mining authority from creating further facts. It is very difficult to believe in the rule of law here," says René Schuster of the GRÜNE LIGA.