Talleres - V Congreso RestauraRios 2026

Tuesday, June 9

4:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Palacio Teatro de la Audiencia, Soria

As part of the congress's additional program, four parallel workshops will be held on the afternoon of the previous day, Tuesday, June 9. Below is the information for each workshop and the registration form. To participate, it is mandatory to be registered for the congress.

Registration deadline: April 29th

Re-Sponging Iberia: Creating Flood- and Drought-Resilient Landscapes

Across the Iberian Peninsula, river basins are increasingly shaped by prolonged drought and sudden flooding. This workshop explores how basin actors can move toward landscape-scale water retention - strengthening infiltration, restoring soil storage capacity, and coordinating agriculture, restoration and water management to strengthen long-term resilience.

Language: english

Target audience: Water and land managers, river basin authorities, and practitioners involved in restoration and land management. Also relevant for: policy makers, consultants and applied researchers working on water resilience and nature-based solutions.

Facilitators: Paul Brotherton (Wetlands International Europe) and Aniela Stachnik (CIREF)

Rios sem Fronteiras: Que soluções para uma gestão partilhada entre Espanha e Portugal?

The workshop will be set in the context of the Tourões stream, a basin shared between Spain and Portugal, and will aim to develop and gather solid proposals for the technical clauses and specifications of a river contract. It will be based on a methodology designed to foster a collaborative environment, where participants will be invited to share experiences and develop robust proposals for actions to be implemented in a transboundary river, encouraging reflection on how to harmonize the differences inherent to existing governance processes.

Language: Portuguese and Spanish

Target audience: technicians, public managers, experts, researchers, and local stakeholders involved in the management and governance of transboundary rivers between Spain and Portugal.

Facilitators: Manuela Oliveira (consultora independiente); Diana Fernandes (E.RÍO; CIREF); Irene Duque (Wetlands International Europe)

¿Para quién restauramos? Aprendizajes de la comunicación y la participación en ríos urbanos

The workshop addresses urban river restoration from a social perspective, focusing on participation and communication as key factors in project development. Based on a comparative analysis of real cases —with diverse outcomes— patterns, recurring mistakes, and good practices in engaging with citizens and local stakeholders will be identified. The session includes a participatory dynamic aimed at actively involving attendees, promoting the sharing of their own experiences and the collective construction of knowledge.

Language: Spanish

Target audience: people involved in river restoration projects, local managers, academics, professionals, and the general public

Facilitators: Antonio Figueroa (CIREF; Agua y Territorio) and Gaizka Aranguren (CIREF)

«Free Flowing Rivers»: metodología, evaluación y priorización

The workshop will be structured in two distinct blocks. In the first part (60 min), the European methodology for assessing free-flowing rivers will be presented, along with its application in Spain, covering both the conceptual approach and the progress and challenges in its implementation.

The second part (90 min) will be participatory and will focus on identifying and discussing key criteria for prioritising interventions in river stretches that do not meet free-flowing river conditions. The different steps of the process (diagnosis, selection of measures, planning) will be addressed, exploring existing indicators, methodological gaps and practical limitations. The discussion will be based on specific case studies and will aim to integrate different technical and territorial perspectives.