Rivers have been my passion since childhood. So, nothing was more logical than to turn my passion into a professional activity. For decades, I have initiated and coordinated long-term river basin-related campaigns to save the Danube, Ebro, Guadalquivir, Loire, Elbe, and Rhine in partnership with international NGOs, in particular, the WWF international.

I mainly use my experience and expertise as a river expert and communicator to create an efficient interface between politics, science and civil society.

As a result of a 10-year campaign, "Living Loire" for the preservation of the wild River Loire, I was able to play a key role in the realization of the first Europe-wide removals of large dams.

To promote international cooperation among NGOs, I founded the European Rivers Network (ERN), which today is linked to many stakeholders in the 50 most important river basins on the European continent.

I am Wetland International Europe’s focal point seeking to accelerate the implementation of EU freshwater-related laws, restore and protect free-flowing rivers and upscale nature-based solutions for inland waters, in collaboration with our members, networks and partnerships in Europe.

I have spent the past two decades at the intersection of conservation science, policy and communications in the US, EU and globally. Rivers run through my experiences – including the Hudson, Niger and Rhine. Before working at the global and European levels for Wetlands International, I spent more than a decade in Washington, DC as the Legislative Director for environmental champion and member of the US House of Representatives Maurice Hinchey and the Research Director at the League of Conservation Voters. I also have significant field experiences researching wetland-dependent species, from the Everglades in the US to the Bolivian Amazon, and for more than 15 years as a volunteer for the Delaware Bay Shorebird Monitoring Program in the US.

Irene Duque is the Freshwater Policy Officer at Wetlands International Europe. A Spanish lawyer with three LLM degrees, she specializes in European environmental law and has a deep passion for the conservation of habitats and species. Irene began her career as a strategic litigator, focusing on the protection of large carnivores and their natural habitats. Over the years, she has worked and volunteered with various environmental law organizations, using her expertise in EU law to advocate for the protection and restoration of nature.
Recognizing that much of her legal work addressed environmental damage long after it had occurred, Irene moved to Brussels — the heart of EU policymaking — to help shape better environmental laws that prevent harm before it happens.
She is particularly committed to protecting free-flowing rivers, which are vital for maintaining healthy ecosystems. These dynamic waterways support life above and below the surface, facilitate the transport of nutrients and sediments, and play a key role in regulating water quality. Despite their ecological importance — long acknowledged by human communities who settled alongside them — rivers have been increasingly polluted, fragmented, and depleted over the past century.
At Dam Removal Europe, Irene supports the survival of these vital habitat networks through policy advocacy and restoration efforts, working to ensure they have the space and time they need to recover and thrive for future generations.

Julia Boverhoff is the Freshwater Policy Advisor at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Europe. In her role, she supports TNC's freshwater policy work and helps connect policy development with the organisation's conservation efforts on the ground. She focuses on key EU policy initiatives, including the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the Nature Restoration Regulation, and the European Water Resilience Strategy, while also addressing broader freshwater-related issues such as energy, climate adaptation, and resilience in both European and global contexts. Within the Dam Removal Europe coalition, Julia helps keep partners informed about the latest EU policy developments and engagement opportunities, enabling the network to advocate at key moments for the protection and restoration of rivers and freshwater habitats.

Julia is passionate about advancing and implementing ambitious freshwater policies that restore and protect rivers, wetlands, and other freshwater ecosystems. A particular focus of her work is helping ensure that the Nature Restoration Regulation delivers on its commitment to restore at least 25,000 km of free-flowing rivers across Europe.

Before joining TNC in 2022, Julia completed a traineeship at the European Commission in the Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans. She holds a double master's degree in Environmental Law from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Civil Law from Leiden University.

My name is Barry Bendall and my professional background is as a fisheries scientist studying the migratory behaviour of fish with a particular focus on the impacts of barriers. For me, it has always been very apparent that physical barriers are one of the major factors impacting fish populations but also the functioning and resilience of wider river ecosystems.

Understanding the problems is one thing, but it is vital that we use this knowledge to deliver action. I joined The Rivers Trust more than a decade ago to support the work of grass roots organisations restoring river catchments throughout the UK & Ireland. Since then, local Rivers Trusts and partners have delivered hundreds of dam removal projects, opening up thousands of kilometres of habitat, restoring natural processes and improving biodiversity.

However, despite all this work and the benefits provided, mainstreaming dam removal projects is still a major challenge with many legislative, financial, institutional, and social barriers preventing the scaling up of action. There are many thousands of barriers across the UK and Ireland and the problem is the same across most of Europe and the world.

Scaling up dam removal activity to the levels required to reverse decades of decline requires collaboration and coordination at local, national, and international scales. It is this that motivates me and my involvement with the Dam Removal Europe coalition.

Removing dams is one of the most effective ways to restore rivers to their natural functioning for the benefit of nature and people. Following the announcement of the EU Biodiversity Strategy and impending Nature Restoration Regulation to connect 25,000km of rivers, there is a growing need to coordinate, advise and drive dam removal projects across Europe. Under the Living European Rivers initiative, I coordinate and engage with WWF offices and partners across Europe on dam removal topics. Currently my focus is on scaling dam removal, building up on the successes we achieved in South Eastern Europe thanks to a 1.27 million euros DRE project, funded by Open Rivers Programme.