Near-natural river landscape in the heart of Europe

Save the Oder!

For ecological flood protection and sustainable economy

The Oder, one of the last near-natural large river landscapes in Central Europe, is threatened with ecological destruction

The German Ministry of Transport wants an expansion of the German-Polish Border Odra, ostensibly, for icebreakers and the expansion of the Klucz-Ustowo ditch to connect Schwedt to the Baltic Sea for coasters. The governments of Poland and the Czech Republic also want to build a huge inland waterway through the middle of Europe. The waterway known as the “E30” would extend from Świnoujście on the Baltic Sea via the planned Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal to Přerov in the Czech Republic. From there, the North Sea via the Elbe and the Black Sea via the March and Danube will be accessible to large inland vessels. That is why these rivers should also be expanded. The construction of the “E30” waterway would require the dredging, damming, straightening and deepening of the near-natural Oder. This would destroy large floodplains and wetlands that are home to rare animals and plants, including sturgeon, aquatic warbler, eagles and wolves.
Everyone must make an effort to ensure that the same mistakes of the past are not made again as with the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. Help us and stop the expansion of the Oder and the construction of the Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal.

Save the Oder – the natural river landscape in the heart of Europe.

22 Sep 2023

An international coalition has presented a vision for the future of the Oder River

10 Feb 2023

Let’s stop a new disaster in the Oder River!

27 Aug 2022

Note on SAVE ODER DIE: This is a call to action!

23 Aug 2022

Time for change!

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In short

A coalition of business organizations, companies and ministries from the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland wants to expand the river Oder. The German Ministry of Transport wants an expansion of the German-Polish Border Oder river, ostensibly, for icebreakers and the expansion of the Klucz-Ustowo ditch to connect Schwedt to the Baltic Sea for coasters. Poland and the Czech Republic also want to build a huge inland waterway through the middle of Europe. The waterway known as E30 would extend from Świnoujście on the Baltic Sea via the planned Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal to Přerov in the Czech Republic. From there, large inland vessels should be able to reach the North Sea via the Elbe (as the E20 waterway) and the Black Sea via the March and Danube rivers (as the E80 waterway). Therefore, these rivers should also be expanded. This gigantic waterway project would also cut through the near-natural Oder river landscape in the heart of Central Europe.

The expansion of the Oder to the E30 waterway would …

Destroy habitats for globally threatened species

and important resting places for millions of migratory birds.

severely impair protected areas of the EU-wide Natura 2000 network

and destroy the integrity of the protected area network

Rivers dry up and lead to more droughts

reducing the availability of water for local agriculture and increasing threats from climate change.

Convert peatlands from carbon sinks into carbon sources

and worsen the global carbon balance.

have no economic viability

are unlikely to be competitive with the railways and destroy the potential for nature-based tourism.

very likely lead to a violation

of national and European environmental laws.

“The measures to increase the navigation depth in the river without sufficient water supply only serve as a prerequisite for the construction of weirs and dams! These will be the death sentence for one of the last nature-like rivers in Central Europe and for its native inhabitants such as eel, salmon, sturgeon and other typical riverine species.”

Jörn Gessner

Leader of the “Research Group Reintroduction of the Atlantic Sturgeon to Germany” at Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Germany

“The natural area of the Oder has a tourist potential comparable to that of the Yukon River. The biodiversity of the river landscape is the basis for my work in nature tourism.”

Frauke Bennett

Canoe, nature and landscape guide and owner of the tourism company “flusslandschaft reisen”, Germany

“Along Oder river, for example in Międzyodrze, peatlands have developed over centuries. Instead of peatland drainage, we need wet peatlands because they retain carbon in the soil and provide many ecosystem services for us humans when wet.”

Franziska Tanneberger

Greifswald Mire Centre, Germany

Strong alliance to save the Oder

Koalice pro řeky – Czech

Koalice pro řeky is the association of non-profit organizations in the Czech Republic that supports all activities aimed at promoting healthy river and floodplain ecosystems. It takes initiative in water management in cases of particular concern, integrates arguments for the improvement of the good ecological status of rivers and supports and ensures the cooperation and exchange of information between scientists, experts and the public in this field.

Koalicja Ratujmy Rzeki – Poland

The Koalicja Ratujmy Rzeki (Save the Rivers Coalition) brings together organizations which protect Poland’s rivers, streams and wetlands, as well as scientists, individual persons, local authorities and institutions, for whom the fate of Polish rivers and ecosystems is important. The coalition actively works in the international field in accordance with the attitude “rivers have no borders”.

Aktionsbündnis lebendige Oder – Germany

The Aktionsbündnis lebendige Oder (Action Alliance Living Oder) is made up of 10 environmental and nature conservation organizations that are working together to ensure that the Border Oder river, the Oder estuary and its surroundings are once again developed into a living Oder river.

The Oder

A near-natural river landscape in the heart of Europe.

The Threat

How the expansion to a European waterway can destroy the nature of the river landscape.

The Alternative

Protect the river landscape, invest in the railways and promote nature-based tourism.

17 Nov 2015

Michael Succow Foundation: Emissions will be Five Times higher after Drainage of the Międzyodrze Area

A recent project launched by the World Bank in Poland for flood protection at Odra and Vistula (Odra-Vistula Flood Management Project) threatens among other things floodplain moors in the Międzyodrze area.

16 Mar 2020

WWF News: The Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal: Billions for a Senseless Mammoth Project

Environmental associations protest against destruction of river landscapes, in violation of EU environmental laws

27 Aug 2020

WWF, BUND and Deutscher Naturschutzring Call for a Stop to the Planning for the Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal

The canal would mean the end of these last large and still relatively near-natural river and floodplain landscapes.

2 Feb 2021

EEB META News: Controversial plans for destructive Danube-Oder-Elbe waterway moving forward

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is Europe’s largest network of environmental citizens’ organisations. EEB released a META News about the controversial plans for destructive Danube-Oder-Elbe waterway.