Athens, April 2-3: An unusually animated crowd shuffled into a sunlit hall, where MedINA’s first National Workshop, “Towards Free Flowing Rivers in Greece,” drew passionate professionals and everyday advocates alike. Picture them: heads bent over maps, thick with river veins, coffee slowly cooling as ideas heated up.
From government ministries and the Agency for Natural Environment and Climate Change, to scientists from Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), international specialists, and locals who know their rivers by heart, the turnout signaled genuine hunger for change—one rarely seen in sleepy river policy circles. Everyone hoped, at least for two days, to wrangle the many puzzles damming Greece’s waterways.
The tone was set right away—river restoration isn’t a luxury to admire from afar. It’s a necessity, a collective responsibility. For Greece, this means more than talk. It means facing a national network of old dams, silent concrete walls, and broken pipes, left to hobble rivers long after their use has faded. If Europe and the US can tear down these relics and let rivers breathe, why not Greece?
Barriers, Biodiversity, and the Fine Print
The numbers crackle with urgency. EU law now asks every country to restore 25,000 km of rivers to free flow. To Greek ears, this sounds epic. Yet, so far, not a single barrier has come down—not even one. Most people have never seen a proper debate, just whispers drowned in paperwork or arguments about energy.
At the workshop, panelists untangled some tough knots. How do you set sensible, measurable goals? How do Greek laws fit inside the starchy jacket of EU Nature Restoration Regulation? Then comes the sound of money changing hands—what do these projects cost, and who foots the bill? (Spoiler: the cost of letting old dams rot in place often dwarfs the price of removal.) Funding models—like the Open Rivers Programme—caught many eyes, offering tools for new projects.
Guests spoke plainly about the true cost of barriers. Hydroelectric plants may get the “green” stamp, but with water growing scarce and streambeds broken, the ecological price is heavy. Barriers choke off habitats, cut up migration, and push already threatened species toward oblivion. Fragmented rivers aren’t technical puzzles. They’re living systems—homes for creatures, spaces for people to breathe, fish, or feel history under their feet.
Firsthand Encounters and a Fresh Sense of Urgency
Nothing brings reality home like dirty boots at the riverbank. The workshop wrapped with a venture to Rafina Stream—one of Attica’s last rivers still living almost as it should. MedINA’s guests walked under wobbly shade along its banks and the constant crush of development, led by HCMR’s Stamatis Zogaris and Emmanuela Terzopoulou of the Movement for the Protection & Restoration of Rafina’s Great River. The group saw how channel straightening and urban sprawl can throttle a river, cutting off natural flow and killing its rhythm.
By the final session, talk had given way to reflection. Notes were traded, and promises were made. The work ahead—beyond Athens, beyond words—will take scientists, activists, politicians, and neighbors pulling together. It’ll mean hard truths, big plans, and boots on muddy banks for years.
Key Workshop Moments:
- Affirmed restoration is urgent and collaborative, not a distant wish;
- Stressed removal of obsolete dams and barriers as essential;
- Highlighted Europe and US examples, showing it can be done;
- Explained how costs stack up—not just in euros, but in lost habitats;
- Shared new funding models and legal requirements;
- Grounded theory with a living example at Rafina Stream.
As the sun set over Athens and the city’s oldest stones cast longer shadows, the simple hope emerged: that with a shared will, Greece’s rivers might soon flow free and wild again. MedINA’s workshop planted that promise, thick as reeds—one to be tended by all who call these rivers home.
