The publication ‘Dammed context: community perspectives on ecosystem service changes following Poland’s first dam removal’ has been published on the website of the journal Land Degradation & Development, co-authored by researchers from the Faculty of Geographical Sciences at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz.
The team of researchers is headed by Dr Michał Habel, Professor at the university, the originator of the monitoring of the decommissioned dam in Wilkowice. This is already his second paper on dam decommissioning in Europe. Both publications are a huge contribution of Polish researchers to the development of the science of dam decommissioning and research pioneered by the Americans. In the USA, more than a dozen dams are decommissioned annually.
The research has been conducted over the past three years and concerns the social and environmental impact of the demolition of the first large dam in Poland. This structure was decommissioned in 2022 and is also the youngest dam to be demolished in Europe and probably in the world.
