Whereas assessing the biological and chemical quality of water is a standard environmental procedure in many countries, the use of habitat survey methods that assess the ecomorphological quality of rivers is relatively new. In Europe, the EC Water Framework Directive requires such assessment from all EU Member States. In Germany, the first river habitat assessments were introduced in the late 1990 s. Each federal state develops its own river habitat map using the 'On-site Survey' and/or the 'Overview Survey'. The assessment describes the difference of the actual condition from a previously defined reference condition. In practice, a defined 'potential for restoration', a more realistic condition, makes restoration activities much easier and more successful. In Germany, the first River Habitat Map 2001 was published in 2002. The survey covered 33,000 km of river length, which equates to 10% of all rivers. A wide range from 'Undisturbed' (class 1) to 'Totally Disturbed' (class 7) river units exists; 77% of them are 'Clearly Disturbed' (class 4) or in worse condition. These result reflects extensive anthropogenic impact on the environment in general, but also past intense technical river 'improvements' that focused on the protection of settlements and traffic routes from flooding, better shipping conditions, the use of water power, and drainage of floodplains for agriculture and urban development. For comparability of survey results between EU Member States, a harmonization of national survey methods is in progress. A crucial point here is the definition of the reference condition for each river (near-natural conditions), since it influences the survey results.

From 2009 until 2012 the project "Watershed Management of Forest Land in Beijing, Restoration of Small Water Bodies (SWBR)" was implemented, combining Close to Nature Forest Management and Restoration of Small Water Bodies. The targets were to improve flood control, to enhance the ecological conditions by copying nature and to support the recreational value of small water bodies, all in cooperation with people living there. The efficiency of each project was proofed by comparison of biological and hydro-morphological assessment before the projects started and 2-3 years after they were finished. The results confirmed the ecological improvements of the restored river sections and showed the achievements. Guidelines to assess the biological and hydro-morphological status of rivers were developed and there are plans to introduce them as Beijing Standards. Planning and implementation of measures, based on experiences in Central Europe, will be documented in a handbook.

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