Coastal and estuary

CREW has published a report on the effect of shellfish, kelp and sea grass beds on flood risk and coastal erosion in Scotland. The report was written by a team of scientists from Heriot Watt University. The project aimed to evaluate how well selected shallow marine habitats (specifically kelp forests, seagrass beds, oyster reefs and blue mussel beds) protect the Scottish coastline from erosion and flooding.

A webinar recording is now available that summarises the new Working With Natural Processes Evidence Directory update. 

Working with natural processes (WWNP) aims to protect, restore and emulate the natural functions of catchments, floodplains, rivers and the coast to reduce flood risk. It is also referred to as natural flood management (NFM). The 2025 update report brings together evidence from natural flood management studies published after 2017. 

The webinar was hosted by the Environment Agency.

The Environment Agency have published an update to the Working with Natural Processes evidence directory. This was developed in collaboration with JBA Consulting. 

The Working with Natural Processes Evidence Directory was first published in 2017 and captures what research says about NFM. Evidence of NFM has grown in recent years, building our confidence in the flood risk and wider benefits these approaches can bring. Therefore this update report brings in the latest evidence. 

Scotland’s Flood Resilience Conference 2025 was held in Edinburgh on the 28th and 29th January. The theme of the conference was on taking action to implement the Flood Resilience Stratergy. Organised by Verture, the event built on Scotland’s first National Flood Resilience Strategy, published in December 2024. With sub-themes of People, Place and Process and multiple breakout sessions, the event aimed to share good practice, inspire and provide learning opportunities to establish a new level of cross-sector collaboration.

The Floods and Droughts Research Infrastructure (FDRI) is now establishing a long term monitoring programme in the UK. FDRI is an innovative long-term programme which, for the first time in the UK, will monitor the whole hydrological system, to improve resilience to floods and droughts. FDRI will advance our understanding of how, when and where floods and droughts occur, enabling improved predictions, robust assessment of impacts and implementation of appropriate mitigation measures.

A National Flood Resilience Strategy for Scotland has been published by the Scottish Government. The strategy sets out a vision for a flood resilient Scotland through to 2045 and beyond. It is structured around the themes of People, Places and Processes. There are four guiding principles laid out in the Strategy that will help embed flood resilience into climate adaptation and place-making and engage as many contributors as possible to deliver as broad a range of actions as possible.

The 2024 British Hydrological Society National Symposium will be held at the University of Oxford on the 23rd and 24th September. This major two-day event will showcase research across the hydrological community and include presentations, workshops, discussions, field visit and conference dinner. The field visit this year includes a walk around the site of the proposed Oxford Alleviation Scheme where you will have an opportunity to understand the flood mechanisms within Oxford and hear about the plans for the scheme.  
 

The Scottish Government is seeking views on Scotland's first Flood Resilience Strategy. The strategy will focus what needs to be done to make communities more flood resilient over the coming decades. The consultation paper seeks views on the proposed principles that will guide the Flood Resilience Strategy under the three key themes of people, places, and processes. The Flood Resilience Strategy public consultation will remain open until 13 August 2024.

Sniffer hosted Scotland's Flood Resilience Conference at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on 8 - 9 February 2024. This was a hybrid event and almost 700 people attended across the two days. Sessions at the event included community resilience, coastal change and funding for multiple drivers. Presentations and videos from the event are now available on the Sniffer website. 

The Engineering with Nature initiative (led by US Army Corps of Engineers) has now published "Engineering with Nature: An Atlas, volume 3". The atlas contains lots of global case studies that are using NbS inspired approaches. 58 projects (including several cases from the UK) are highlighted in this latest version which is available to download via the link below.