Throughout Europe, there is inconsistent and incomplete data on how many barriers currently exist. Thus, the magnitude of river fragmentation in Europe is almost unknown. An essential first step of the AMBER project was to create an inventory of barriers within European rivers— a Pan-European Atlas of In-Stream Barriers.
To date, this map is the most comprehensive overview of available information on barriers in Europe. There are over half a million recorded barriers fragmenting our rivers. However, through field validation, we estimate that there may be well over 1 million barriers in Europe’s rivers. For example, it appears as if the only barriers on Sardinia’s rivers are some 53 dams but there could be many more. An additional factor is the state of in-stream barriers, whether they are in use or not; our citizen science phone application has helped to map barriers in many countries, providing preliminary information on the proportion of obsolete and abandoned barriers.
The Atlas can be found on the AMBER website here