MERLIN restoration case studies assessment

Read: Manuscript and policy briefing evaluating success of large landscape-scale restoration

Aggregated assessment of impact monitoring results

Aggregated assessment of impact monitoring results reported by the 18 case studies for the 13 EU Green Deal criteria. The background colour of the cells corresponds to the Theory of Change categories:

  • dark blue indicates a primary restoration goal
  • medium blue a secondary goal
  • light blue a restoration cobenefit
  • white denotes not relevant

Case Study 18 did not provide any information on the Theory of Change.

Note: More information regarding the study sites is provided in Annex 1. For case studies reporting data for a given criterion for more than one implementation site, the respective sites are denoted by lower case letters:

  1. Emscher basin-scale DE (CS11)
  2. Emscher Lake Phoenix DE (CS11)
  3. Emscher flood-basins DE (CS11)
  4. Emscher mouth DE (CS11)
  5. Riparian buffer strips BE (CS16)
  6. Zwalm restoration BE (CS16)
Green deal criteria infographic
Overview of the Green Deal Criteria as adopted in the MERLIN project framework. The diagram shows the categorisation of the 13 sustainability-related criteria derived from the European Green Deal into three overarching domains. Each domain is colour-coded: green for environmental, purple for social, and blue for economic dimensions.
Restoration effects infographic
Results of MERLIN's systemic monitoring, summarising restoration impacts (positive, negative, or none) per Green Deal criteria category across all 18 case studies, together with confidence levels of the underlying data.
Case study Biodiversity net gain
database iconinfo icon 		Climate regulation
database iconinfo icon 		Flood resilience
database iconinfo icon 		Drought resilience
database icon 		Health & well-being
database iconinfo icon 		Zero pollution
database iconinfo icon 		Farm to fork
database iconinfo icon 		Sustainable energy
database icon 		Sustainable transport
database icon 		Inclusivity and governance
database iconinfo icon 		Circular economy
database icon 		Financing the transition
database iconinfo icon 		Green growth
database icon
Peatlands and wetlands
CS01 — Kvorning wetland rewetting DK NA NA NA NA NA NA
CS03 — Beaver river engineering SE NA NA NA
CS05 — Kampinos wetland rewetting PL NA NA NA NA
CS06 - Hutovo Blato peatland rewetting BiH NA NA NA NA NA
CS12 — Lima floodplain forest restoration PT NA
CS14 — Komppasuo peatland rewetting FI NA NA NA NA
Small streams and basins
CS02 — Deba barrier removal ES NA NA NA NA NA NA
CS11 — Emscher basin restoration DE a NA NA a NA b
c
d
CS13 — Sorraia river restoration PT NA NA NA NA NA
CS15 — Tzipori basin restoration IL NA NA NA NA
CS16 — Upper Scheldt restoration BE f e
f 		e e e
f 		NA e
f
CS17 — Forth basin restoration UK NA NA NA
CS18 — Ervidel river restoration PT NA NA NA NA
Large transboundary rivers
CS04 — Room for the Rhine NL NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
CS07a — Danube floodplain restoration AT NA NA NA NA NA NA
CS07b — Danube sidearm reconnect HU NA NA NA NA NA NA
CS08 — Danube floodplain reconnect RO NA NA NA NA
CS09 — Tisza floodplain rewetting HU NA NA NA NA
CS10 — Blue Belt Germany DE NA NA