The project will identify and prioritise barriers with high removal potential, creating a practical roadmap to restore free-flowing conditions and ecological connectivity in Ukraine's Kogilnik River Basin.
The Kogilnik (Cogâlnic) is a 234 km transboundary river shared by Moldova and Ukraine. Its 120-km Ukrainian section flows through the arid steppe landscapes of Odesa Region into Sasyk Lagoon within the Danube Biosphere Reserve. Together with its tributaries (Chaga, Saka, Chylyhyder, Dzhalar, Kagach, Bakhmutka, and Frumushyka), the river forms an ecological corridor linking inland steppe habitats with the Black Sea coast and three Emerald Network sites. Its meanders, wet meadows, reedbeds, and riparian habitats support distinctive Ponto-Caspian aquatic fauna, rare amphibians, turtles, otters, European mink, and internationally important waterbirds.
The Ukrainian catchment contains more than 50 known or suspected barriers; many are poorly maintained, structurally degraded, or potentially illegal. The last comprehensive assessment of these hydraulic structures dates from the late 1990s-early 2000s, leaving a critical data gap regarding their condition and ecological impact.
| Project status | Live |
|---|---|
| Project type | Barrier identification and prioritisation |
| Country | Ukraine |
| River | Kogilnik (Cogâlnic) River and its tributaries |
| Focal species | Ponto-Caspian gobies (Caspiosoma caspium and Benthophiloides brauneri), narrow-clawed crayfish (Pontastacus leptodactylus), and European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina). |
| Organisation | Rewilding Ukraine |
| Website | rewilding-danube-delta.com |
Decades of channel straightening, drainage, and regulation have fragmented the Kogilnik River. Obsolete sluices, earthen embankments, and small dams restrict fish movement, encourage reed overgrowth, and increase evaporation and mineralisation of water. These pressures are intensified by a hotter, drier climate.
Restoration of the Kogilnik supports the priorities of Ukraine’s River Basin Management Plan for the Black Sea Basin (2025-2030). Previous restoration confirms the opportunity: in 2019, four barriers in the Kogilnik mouth were removed as part of a wider restoration action that cleared or partly dismantled ten barriers and embankments across the Kogilnik, Kagach, and Sarata delta systems. In 2021, monitoring recorded 150 hectares of inundated habitat, a 22.5% increase from 2020, along with evidence of fish spawning and wet-meadow recovery.
The project will extend this evidence-based approach upstream to develop a pipeline of feasible barrier-restoration projects.
The project will create an evidence-based pathway from barrier identification to practical river restoration. Field surveys will cover the 120 km Ukrainian section of the Kogilnik and its main tributaries, representing more than 324 km of river channels in total.
Structures will be mapped and assessed for their legal status, ownership, technical condition, current function, and ecological impact. This work will produce a GIS-based inventory and a prioritised shortlist of sites where clearing blocked sluice openings, dismantling damaged structures, or removing obsolete barriers could restore river connectivity. It will also identify interventions that could reconnect approximately 20 km of the Kogilnik upstream from the estuary.
A Kogilnik Dam Removal and River Restoration Plan will define priority sites and practical next steps. Public hearings and Memoranda of Understanding with local communities and key stakeholders, including a dedicated MoU between Ukrainian and Moldovan water authorities, will build support for coordinated basin-wide restoration.
Expected outcomes include at least one viable follow-up restoration project, stronger ecological connectivity, and a transferable restoration model for drought-affected rivers in Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania.
Funded by
