After organizing clean-up actions along the Ina River in Goleniów (PL) and planting trees on its banks in Sowno, the Rewilding Oder Delta (ROD) team participated in another river clean-up combined with a kayaking trip. This event happened in the framework of the European Sustainable Development Week and was initiated by ROD’s partner Łukasz Sikora, who promotes nature-based recreation through his enterprise “Kayaking on the Ina”.

In a world of damming environmental news and the ever-looming threat of climate change, we could all do with a bit of hope. Host of the “Rewild” podcast, James Shooter, teams up with Rewilding Europe to shine a light on the passionate people and inspiring initiatives fighting back for nature. With monthly stories of nature recovery from Rewilding Europe’s pioneering Landscapes and European Rewilding Network, this summer the show covered the story of the Oder Delta.

Rewilding connects multifaceted nature conservation and community engagement through education, events, and supporting entrepreneurship. The activities in the Ina River basin are a perfect example of these principles in action. The summer months saw various restoration measures carried out on the Ina River tributaries, accompanied by the installation of five informational boards. To mark this occasion, the Rewilding Oder Delta team organized a bike tour on July 13, 2024, to showcase recent field activities and share the successes with partners and friends from the region.

In the Oder Delta many rivers have been negatively impacted by human intervention. Recent river restoration work carried out by the local rewilding team and partners on the Polish side is reinvigorating two tributaries of the Ina River, with benefits for nature and people.

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.

Healthy, free-flowing rivers governed by natural processes offer a wide range of benefits for wildlife and people. This autumn, with the help of local partners, we carried out a range of measures to restore the Ina River – an important tributary of the Oder River.

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.

In the light of the upcoming voting for the new Nature Restoration Law, Rewilding Oder Delta hosted a visit of members of the European Parliament Hannah Neumann and Jutta Paulus to present challenges and best practices in the field of ecosystem restoration.

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.