Restoring the Morava Floodplain – Austria

This photo series showcases some of Europe’s most cherished natural sites and how local communities, conservationists, scientists and businesses are working at the heart of efforts to bring them back to health.

Their work spans habitats across different parts of Europe – from Austria’s floodplain forests grazed by horses, to freshwater stewardship in Ireland’s Lough Guitane, to children rebuilding lost relationships with vultures in Bulgarian borderlands, to fishers, divers and scientists working with other community members to restore habitats for seahorses on the Portuguese coastline.

And it talks, too, about how people work together to give nature the space to rebloom. Together, they show that nature recovery is driven by collaboration and the people working every day to help nature thrive again.

These stories come at a pivotal moment. Following the adoption of the hard-won EU Nature Restoration Law in 2024, countries across the EU are now preparing National Nature Restoration Plans that will guide how ecosystems are restored in the years ahead.

Many of the projects featured here began years before the new law was adopted. They now offer valuable lessons for putting it into practice.