The start of spring is a good opportunity for deep cleaning. As the first warm days encourage people to experience the returning greenery outdoors, the Rewilding Oder Delta team organized a collective cleanup along the Ina, to make sure that some of the most inviting places by the river in Goleniów are free of litter. Last Saturday, 20 April 2024, dozens of garbage bags were collected during this “spring cleaning”. The event highlights the power of collective actions and shows that there are many committed people who want to help keeping their environment clean.

On April 20 this year, the Rewilding Oder Delta team will once again support a waste collection action on the Ina River, which has been initiated for years by the Society of Friends of the Rivers Ina and Gowienica (TPRIiG). Together with the local community and partners from the region, we invite you to a joint event for the river health improvement.

“Natural treasures between Szczecin and Pasewalk” is the title of a photo contest organized in May 2023 by Rewilding Oder Delta in cooperation with the Nature Park “Am Stettiner Haff” and the Heritage and Castle Association Löcknitz (Heimat- und Burgverein Löcknitz). Participants from Poland and Germany submitted more than 80 entries depicting wild species of local flora and fauna, landscapes and endangered treasures of the region’s natural heritage.

The first meeting of the Oder Delta Network partners took place on September 27, during the European Week of Sustainable Development. The meeting embodied the idea of cross-border cooperation between entities sharing the rewilding vision. The element that united all the partners was the development of nature-positive tourism.

European Young Rewilders could not have chosen a more symbolic landscape for the first in-person meetup that took place between 7 and 9 of September than the Oder Delta at the German and Polish border, seeking to strengthen an emerging movement with a bold vision: to make Europe a wilder, more biodiverse place.

“Over several days, we explored firsthand the significance of freshwater ecosystems for nature-based water management, sustainable forestry, waterway management, environmental accident mitigation, the practical challenges of rewilding, and so much more. It was a truly immersive experience that highlighted the beauty and fragility of rivers and reinforced the need to protect these ecosystems” commented Valerie Kendall, from MKO Ireland and one of the lecturers of the 4th edition of River University, which took place in the unique Oder Delta landscape, on the Polish-German border, on 31 July-4 August 2023.

On 2 July 2023, the city of Goleniów (Poland) organised a protest against the poisoning of the Ina River that took the form of a ‘black’ kayak trip. Participants – residents of Goleniów and friends of the river, as well as municipal authorities, local politicians and entrepreneurs – met on the stream’s banks to express their indignation at the ecological disasters repeated over the years in the catchment area of this beautiful river.

The River University is an international and interdisciplinary course for participants from the Baltic Sea Region and Europe. Its objective is to disseminate knowledge about river ecosystems through an open-access platform, presenting information in comprehensible scientific format. The upcoming 4th edition of the event is scheduled to take place in Germany from July 31 to August 4, 2023, with a primary focus on water pollution and risk management.

Under the motto “Natural treasures between Pasewalk and Szczecin,” we are looking for the most beautiful photos of the Oder Delta from May 1st to May 31st.

On April 22, 2023, the Polish NGO “Friends of the Ina and Gowienica Rivers” initiated a successful action to collect trash on the banks of the Ina River. This was the second time that a trash collection action was held on the riverbanks, which was coordinated and carried out by the Rewilding Oder Delta team. Notably, this year’s riverbank cleaning was scheduled to coincide with a significant event: Earth Day 2023. On this date, public actions are held worldwide to draw attention to the state of the environment and our landscapes.