Advances

Adaptation and Adaptation and Mitigation / Nature and Biodiversity

Zone 1 SECTION OF COMBINED ACTIONS (Alfaro, La Rioja – Castejón, Navarra)

Demonstration section of the Project. A succession of natural water retention measures, nature-based solutions for river restoration that generate flood risk reduction benefits along the entire reach. Objective: improvement of 500 hectares of agricultural land and recovery of 45 hectares of river space.

1. Meander of La Roza, Alfaro, La Rioja

Morphological adaptation: completed in November 2023. It has meant the recovery of 22 hectares as a fluvial space, also included as a protected area in the Natura 2000 Network “Sotos y Riberas del Ebro”. Executed by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro.

Meander of La Roza

Environmental restoration of the meander of La Roza: plantations completed. In follow-up phase.

The Government of La Rioja introduces 4,650 specimens of species typical of the banks of the Ebro and its groves, imitating the natural growth of riparian vegetation and occupying about12 hectares of intervention area. In addition, the first cuttings were planted by the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation at the limits of the new relief channel as part of the morphological adaptation.

Plantation carried out during the environmental restoration in the meander of La Roza, in Alfaro, La Rioja.
Plantations carried out during the environmental restoration of the meander of La Roza, Alfaro, La Rioja.

Soto de Alfaro

Nature-based solutions. Concluded by the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation. Intervention also included in the Combined Actions Tranche.

The project consists of the recovery of river branches in an area of 60 hectares to promote the role of the meander as a fluvial space. The reopening of water paths allows the irrigation of the undergrowth and the recovery of the fluvial dynamics.

An example of participatory actions: getting to know on the ground the actions for the recovery of river branches in Alfaro.

Get to know him at
Visit to the work of recovery of old river branches in the Soto de Alfaro by the members of the participation areas of the LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 project.

3. Meander of El Señorío, Castejón, Navarre

The public information file for the project has been approved and the land for the morphological pending availability of the land for the morphological adaptation.

PHASE 1 of the environmental restoration is being executed.Phase 1: interventions on the left bank of the Ebro river in front of the meander of El Señorío. More information.

23 hectares of river space in the meander were recovered with the removal of 1.3 km of perimeter dike in an action by the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation. In addition, the Government of Navarre, through GAN-NIK, is restoring the meander with plantations that promote and accelerate natural revegetation.

Recovery of the river area with the removal of 1.3 km of the existing perimeter dike in the meander.

Creation of a relief channel, recovering an arm of the Ebro River that will allow for water levels in flood situations.

Restoration of the meander with plantations that promote and accelerate natural revegetation.

Connection of the natural enclaves preserved on the left bank, constituting three ecological corridors

Meander of El Señorío, Castejón, Navarre after the floods of February 2024

Zone 2 PILOT PROJECT (Osera de Ebro – Fuentes de Ebro, Zaragoza)

Proposal to make an intensively cultivated agricultural area compatible with the passage of floods, through the creation of lateral flow buffer zones. These buffer zones will compartmentalize agricultural farms in areas that will be pre-flooded just before the levees overflow, generating water buffers that will minimize damage to farms and infrastructures. Objective: improvement of 350 hectares of agricultural land and recovery of 20 hectares of river space.

1. Adaptation of the irrigation system of the Comunidad de Regantes de la Huerta del Ebro (Fuentes de Ebro).

Completed by the Government of Aragon: installation of a new underground pipeline further away from the riverbed. The number of injuries and cuts caused by the breakage of the fenders is reduced.

Aerial view of the installation of the pipeline in Fuentes de Ebro (Zaragoza, Spain)

Recovery of the fluvial space. Improvement of resilience to flooding in the Ebro River, as it passes through Osera de Ebro and Fuentes de Ebro, in Zaragoza. Phase 1.

Concluded by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro.

Subsequent environmental restoration of the recovered area by the Government of Aragón is planned.

Narrowing of the river channel has been eliminated, recovering the river’s drainage capacity during floods. 23 hectares have been recovered as river space.

Retranche of defense in the Mejana del Conde, section Osera de Ebro - Fuentes de Ebro, Zaragoza.

3. Lateral flow buffer zones. Improvement of flood resilience in the Ebro River, as it passes through Osera de Ebro and Fuentes de Ebro. Phase 2. In execution.

Public information sessions and field visits have been held with interested parties to explain the intervention in detail.

Links to information of interest:

Plan of Lateral Flow Buffer Zones with stakeholders on the visit.

Participation and Social Capacity Building Actions

Social Participation: public participation, as an inseparable part of flood risk management, is one of the main lines of the LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 project. Under implementation.

The project maintains active since the end of 2022 stable participation groups:

Co-creation groups

Small groups for deliberation and joint creation of actions of the project partners with the stakeholders of the territory.

We talked about co-creation groups
Conflict Transformation Group

Specific forum for conflict transformation in flood risk management. This group brings together those affected and representatives of the sectors at stake in the intervention areas and the entire middle stretch of the Ebro.

Meet this group

It is also in the preparatory phase a citizen science experience, the project’s monitoring platform that you can learn more about here. here .

In execution and active various informative actions are also underway and active:

Visit of farmers from the Navarre riverside to the flood adaptation project in the Mejana de la Cruz, in Alagón (Zaragoza).

Social Capacity Building: the LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 project has developed a Social Capacity Building Plan. The strengthening of social capacities is a central element to improve social resilience to floods and the self-protection of the riparian population. Vulnerability is part of risk, and capacities are part of vulnerability. If we strengthen capacities, we reduce risk.

In execution. The project is implementing 16 campaigns for different sectors and, in some cases, they are already available, informative materials and is preparing the future forum of local entities .

Conference for journalism students on "Information on extreme hydrological phenomena" held at the Press Center of the Professional Association of Journalists.
Group photo of the participants in the route meander of El Señorío - meander of La Roza integrated in the Walking Rivers initiative.
Descent from Ortigoso to El Señorío with students from IES Gonzalo de Berceo, in Alfaro (Castejón).

Dissemination and Communication Actions

How to stay informed about the LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 Project? There is a Communication Plan that explores all the tools that allow a wider dissemination of the actions and progress of the project with two objectives ( in execution ):

  • To be a dissemination channel for proposals to support and enhance public participation and social capacity building campaigns.

  • Disseminate tools for flood risk adaptation.

In addition, work is being done to promote networking and exchange of experiences with professional sectors, other projects, various proposals from the LIFE Program, etc… In execution So far we have participated in 11 national, European and international networking actions, exceeding the forecasts set out in the initial proposal of the LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 Project.

Finally, the action of transfer and replication of project results is included, in the development phase . Its objective is that territories with similar problems similar to those to those of Life Ebro Resilience P1 can replicate the replicate the successful successful actions of the Project.

The LIFE Ebro Resilience P1 team at the Green Week stand in Brussels

With the contribution of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Union. LIFE20 ENV/EN/000327