At around 334 km long, the Havel is one of the longest side rivers of the Elbe – and a natural paradise without parallel. More than 1,000 highly endangered animal and plant species live on its riverbanks. The paradise for the rare common river swallow, kingfisher, the big curlew and river otter is acutely threatened by drained wet meadows, cleared wetland forests and banks forced into stone.
Together with the Naturschutzbund Deutschland and the support of the federal government and the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, we wanted to change this in the past and made our contribution to preserving one of the most important wetlands in western Central Europe.
With its donation, the Lottoland Foundation was helping with the largest river restoration project in Europe. This involved reconnecting old branches of the Havel, revitalising flood channels, removing embankments and planting wetland forest. Among other things, 17 hectares of Havelland were being bought up and re-vegetated. Together, we were giving the common river swallow and many other animals and plants back their safe home.
