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Good practice Imported

UNDP/GEF Prut River Basin Wetland Restoration — Rehabilitating the Camenca Watercourse, Moldova

Moldova · Cahul · See the Moldova profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 40% 47/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A UNDP/GEF project (~US$900,000) is restoring wetland hydrology across 20,803 ha of Moldova's Lower Prut Biosphere Reserve; rehabilitating the Camenca river's old watercourse alone should add 8.3 million m3 of water a year, safeguarding 11,175 ha of floodplain habitat.

20,803 hectares
Wetland area targeted for restoration
~900,000 USD
Project budget
8.3 million m3/year
Additional water projected annually from Camenca rehabilitation
11,175 hectares
Floodplain habitat safeguarded
~14 communities
Downstream communities benefiting
UNDP/GEF Prut River Basin Wetland Restoration — Rehabilitating the Camenca Watercourse, Moldova

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Moldova Ministry of Environment and UNDP, financed by the Global Environment Facility
Period
2023–2028 (five-year project; project document dated November 2022)
Keywords
wetland restoration, floodplain hydrology, biodiversity protection, water resources

Context

Moldova's Ministry of Environment and UNDP, financed by the Global Environment Facility (project budget approximately US$900,000, GEF-7 project document dated November 2022), are implementing a five-year programme to conserve and restore high-value wetlands across roughly 20,803 hectares of the Lower Prut Biosphere Reserve and surrounding floodplain.

Activities

The project's centrepiece is the hydrological rehabilitation of the Camenca river's old watercourse, projected by UNDP's own modelling to deliver an additional 8.3 million cubic metres of water annually to wetlands in the Prut's mid-section.

Results

UNDP states this water is intended to sustain approximately 11,175 hectares of floodplain habitat even under a severe climate-driven water-scarcity scenario, and to improve water quality for around 14 downstream communities.

Conclusions

As the project was still in its early implementation stages at the time of reporting, no post-restoration biodiversity or water-quality outcome data has yet been published; the evidence available covers hydrological modelling and committed restoration targets rather than measured ecological results.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Moldova Ministry of Environment, UNDP, Global Environment Facility (financier)

Conditions for success

  • Quantified engineering target (8.3M m3/year) from UNDP's own hydrological modelling
  • Explicit downstream community water-quality commitments

Common failure modes

  • Project in early implementation; no post-restoration biodiversity or water-quality outcome data published yet

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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