Lower Orontes/ Asi River, Türkiye: The Renaturalisation Lab
Nestled on the Lower Orontes/Asi in Hatay Province, the Municipality of Samandağ anchors a riverine-coastal landscape where livelihoods and biodiversity are tightly intertwined. In recent years, however, the system has been pushed into decline. Invasive aquatic plants, blanket channels, starving waters of light and oxygen, accelerating sedimentation, and triggering severe ecological degradation. Flow connectivity has diminished, disrupting hydrological dynamics and fragmenting habitats, which in turn drives losses in native fish, amphibians, invertebrates, and riparian flora.
