River and floodplain management measures involve the restoration of a stretch of river and/or its associated floodplain to a more natural functioning state. This can include channel re-meandering or channel feature reinstatement (e.g. measures to restore channel river bars). Where redundant embankments are present, it may also be possible to breach, set back or remove these embankments, restore floodplain connectivity and re-activate floodplain features. Where naturally occurring wood is absent from a river, leaky barriers can be installed. These help attenuate flood flows by slowing and deflecting flow out of the channel on to the floodplain, thereby increasing water storage.
The Engineering with Nature initiative (led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) has developed a series of podcasts. The podcasts explore topics such as innovation, collaboration and combining natural and engineered systems and takes views from a wide range of organisation and disciplines. Currently, 10 podcasts are available from the Engineering with Nature website (see link below).
A report investigating multifunctional buffer zones has been published by the Environment Agency. The report "3D buffer strips: designed to deliver more for the environment" was developed by scientists from the James Hutton Institute and Forest Research and was supported by collaborators at Newcastle University, Rothamsted Research, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. The report considers ways to improve the effectiveness of riparian buffer zones to deliver wider ecosystem services (inc. Natural Flood Management).
Research findings just revealed by one of the EU North Sea Region Building with Nature partners in Scotland are revealing the true value of taking a sustainable approach to reducing flood risk - through the careful and targeted use of Natural Flood Management (NFM) measures, building with nature at a landscape scale across the whole Eddleston Water river catchment.
The Building with Nature (BwN) project, funded by Interreg, demonstrated BwN solutions that utilise natural processes to deliver flood risk and coastal erosion management whilst enhancing ecosystem services. The Scottish Government led the 'catchments' work package and the Eddleston catchment was the Scottish case study example. The project has developed an extensive list of outputs which are available from the link below.
Scotland's Flood Risk Management Conference 2021 was held from the 1st - 5th February 2021. The conference was virtual this year and covered a range of topics such as finance and green recovery, science and policy updates and communication and engagement. The conference organisers (Sniffer) have now published the conference outputs on their website. It is possible to see the virtual presentations or view them on a Vimeo channel. All outputs can be access via the link below.
A conference report highlighting key messages from the Scottish Flood Risk Management Conference 2020 has been published by Sniffer. The conference included a session on Natural Flood Management. The report contains links to audio sound recordings and video interviews.
The Tweed Forum, Scottish Government and SEPA are partners in the EU Interreg Building with Nature project. The project’s Policy Learning Group (PLG) has produced a series of country specific policy briefs. You may be interested in these Scottish policy papers written by Prof. Jim Hansom and Dr Alistair Rennie (coastal) and Prof.
The NERC NFM research programme is advertising a series of webinars. These one hour webinars occur roughly every month and cover a range of topics. The aim of the webinar series is to allow NFM researchers and practitioners to share knowledge and experiences. Registration is required in advance. For more details on future webinars or to view past webinars please visit the link below.
The Interreg BwN (Building with Nature)/FAIR /C5a end event 'Be Adaptive to Become Resilient' was held on the 4th June 2020. Over 150 people attended the online event. The recordings and presentations from the webinars and workshops are now available online (see link below). The event included keynote speeches by Kerstin Brunnström (President of the CPMR North Sea Commission) and Steve Mathies (Global practice leader on Coastal Restorations at Stantec).
The European Environment Agency has recently published a report on the importance of floodplains (report title: "Floodplains: a natural system to preserve and restore"). The report highlights the importance of natural and restored floodplains for managing flood risk and supporting other ecosystem services. A pdf of this report can be accessed via the link below.