Kick-off event of the Danube Life Lines project

Two weeks ago, the Free Flow Lab had the opportunity to assist to the kick-off event of the Danube Life Lines project as one of its many collaborators.

With an ambitious vision to restore ecological connectivity and revive endangered migratory fish populations, the DANUBElifelines (DLL) project has officially begun its journey. The project was launched last week at a kick-off meeting in Vienna, bringing together 24 funded partners and 17 associated partners from 11 countries across the Danube River Basin.

The two-day meeting, hosted by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), brought together leading universities, research institutes, NGOs, and regional authorities to collectively address one of the Danube region’s most urgent ecological challenges: the degradation and fragmentation of river corridors for migratory fish species.

With funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under the Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters,” the project will combine cutting-edge science with hands-on actions in eight pilot areas across the basin. “Rivers don’t stop at borders—and neither should our efforts to protect them. Our project shows how transnational and transsectoral cooperation can unlock real ecological change across the Danube River Basin,” noted Florian Borgwardt, lead partner representative and project coordinator from BOKU University.