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Fund your dam removal

Want to remove a dam but need extra funding? Get in touch!

Do you want to restore free-flowing rivers and streams by removing obsolete dams that no longer fulfil any purpose? We have exciting news for you! Dam Removal Europe and the World Fish Migration Foundation are committed to finding financial support for good initiatives around Europe focusing on dam removal. 

Check out the list of funding opportunities below and, if none suits you, we encourage you to get in contact with us at pao@fishmigration.org to submit your barrier proposal for funding (we will send you a form for you to complete). We always try our best to find sponsors for new dam removal projects.

If you or your organisation are working on a dam removal project, please let us know about it! We love to highlight inspiring stories. Together, we can make a difference in restoring our natural waterways.

© ANP/WWF

Available streams of funding

At the European level:

European Open Rivers Programme

The European Open Rivers Programme offers grants to support projects that lead to the removal of small dams and the restoration of river flow and biodiversity. Specifically, the programme supports the following:

  • The removal of small dams in catchments that offer the highest potential for river restoration and ecosystem recovery.
  • Preparatory work in catchments to prepare dams for removal such as general project development, feasibility studies, provision of technical designs, and securing permissions and permits.
  • Interventions to prepare small dam removal projects with high ecological potential for removal by a third party.
  • Interventions to enable the European dam removal movement to help ensure that dam removal becomes more widely accepted and implemented.

For countries belonging to the EU:

For France, specifically:

Water Agencies in France help finance up to 80% of dam removal projects. This funding is approved annually and it can come from FEDER Fund, Interreg Projects, National government, and others. Here’s a list of water agencies in France:

  • Adour-Garonne Water Agency
  • Artois-Picardie Water Agency
  • Loire-Brittany Water Agency
  • Rhine-Meuse Water Agency
  • Rhône-Mediterranean-Corsica Water Agency
  • Seine-Normandy Water Agency

For Scotland, specifically:

For Sweden, specifically::

For projects in the USA:

Other funding opportunities:

Planet Wild is a new community of people who care deeply about nature and want to help our planet bounce back – one mission at a time. “Every month, we finance the work of ecological restoration pioneers worldwide to bring back endangered species, clean up oceans and restore rivers and forests. Each mission gets documented in a well-produced video to share the story of our partners and draw attention to the impact they create. We are currently scouting for dam removal projects in Europe that we can support with a 10.000 EUR community sponsorship as a sole funder or co-funder. We are looking for projects that fit the following criteria:

  • demonstrable biodiversity benefits
  • river site must be completely returned to natural environment
  • clearly visible barrier in the water, blocking water flow
  • removal preferably includes the use of explosives

If your project fits these criteria, we’d love to talk! Contact markus@planetwild.com with a brief project description and availability for a call.”

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