OVER 600 BARRIERS DISMANTLED FOR FIRST TIME  

• 603 removed in 2025 – 11% more than the previous record 
• 3,740 km of rivers were reconnected across the continent 
• 2 countries removed their 1st barriers – Iceland & North Macedonia  

Zeist, Netherlands, May 21 – The dam removal movement has once again broken records in Europe with at least 603 river barriers removed in 2025. This unprecedented effort reconnected over 3,740 km of rivers across the continent – strengthening climate resilience, enhancing water and food  security, boosting biodiversity, and accelerating the recovery of freshwater ecosystems.  

Published today, the Dam Removal Europe 2025 report highlights the continued growth and impact of barrier removals. For the fifth consecutive year, a new record has been set, surpassing the previous high of 542 removals in 2024 by 11%. 

This sustained upward trend reflects a rapidly expanding movement, with removals showing a sixfold increase since the first continental count in 2020 (Figure 1; Table 1). Two additional countries officially removed their first river barriers in 2025 – Iceland and North Macedonia – marking their entry into the dam removal movement and bringing the total number of participating countries to 29.  

For the first time, Sweden was the trailblazer, with at least 173 barrier removals, followed by Finland and Spain, demonstrating how national commitment and coordinated action can rapidly accelerate progress. 

The majority of barriers removed in 2025 were small, obsolete structures such as culverts and weirs. These removals are often highly cost-effective and, when carried out at scale, deliver substantial cumulative benefits. Sweden in particular removed several timber dams, legacy of Sweden’s long history of industrial-scale forestry, which saw many rivers channelised and dammed to enable logs to float downstream.  

Europe’s rivers remain heavily fragmented, with over 1.2 million barriers – including dams, weirs and  culverts – disrupting natural processes. Many of these structures are obsolete, yet they continue to  block the flow of water, sediments and nutrients, and prevent the movement of species. 

This fragmentation contributes significantly to ecosystem degradation and has played a major role in the dramatic decline of freshwater biodiversity, with 42% of Europe’s freshwater fishes being classified as threatened with extinction, according to a recent report by the  European Commission. 

“Europe’s rivers are fragmented by an estimated 1.2 million barriers – and more than 150,000 of them are already considered obsolete. That makes barrier removal one of the biggest ecological ‘easy wins’ available today,” said Baker. “These obsolete barriers no longer provide any benefits, yet they continue to degrade rivers every day they remain standing.” 

North Macedonia, with its first officially recorded barrier removals, executed by Eko-svest, unlocked more than 70 km of habitat in the Pčinja River basin. These removals followed a structured  methodology for prioritizing barriers and were strongly supported by the public, with 91% favoring restoration of free-flowing rivers nationwide. The project reconnected habitats that are critical for more than ten native fish species, improved water quality, and reduced flood and safety risks for communities. This pioneering effort provides a replicable model for river restoration and highlights  the importance of institutional coordination and regulatory frameworks for future barrier removals in  the country, but also on a European level.  

This record-breaking year also reinforces the importance of barrier removal in achieving Europe’s  broader environmental goals. The EU Nature Restoration Regulation, which entered into force in 2024, includes a target to restore at least 25,000 km of rivers to a free-flowing state by 2030. Barrier removal  remains one of the most effective tools to meet this target. At the same time, these efforts contribute  directly to global ambitions under the Freshwater Challenge, which aims to restore 300,000 km of degraded rivers worldwide by 2030.  

With momentum continuing to build, 2025 marks another milestone year for river restoration in  Europe demonstrating that large-scale change is not only possible, but already well underway. 

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Editor’s Notes:  

You can download the full report and the graphs and photos herein here.  

For any queries, please contact:  

Foivos Mouchlianitis, [email protected] [Text Wrapping Break][Text Wrapping Break]About Dam Removal Europe  

Dam Removal Europe (DRE) is a coalition of six organizations: the World Wildlife Fund, The Rivers  Trust, The Nature Conservancy, the European Rivers Network, Rewilding Europe, and Wetlands  International Europe. The overall ambition of DRE is to restore the free-flowing state of rivers and  streams in Europe. In that respect, DRE aims to establish barrier removal as a restoration tool and to  mainstream this practice. Through a bottom-up process DRE has created a continuously growing  European network and it is working towards a holistic approach to remove barriers. More information:  www.damremoval.eu