Science and Research

International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) for Flood Risk Management have now been published. The guidelines provide practitioners with the best available information concerning various elements of NNBF implementation. The guidelines cover a series of land uses and measures from uplands to coastal measures. They were developed as part of an international collaboration and the guidelines contain 20 chapters. Please click the link below to get more information on this publication and to download the guidelines.

The Engineering with Nature initiative has now launched a new book "Engineering With Nature: An Atlas, Volume 2". The book showcases 62 international projects that demonstrate the concept of Engineering with Nature. Two Scottish case studies are highlighted in the new volume of the Atlas (Eddleston Water and River Nairn restoration projects). Please visit the link below for more information on the Atlas.

Results have recently been published from the Scottish Government’s flagship NFM study in the Eddleston Water catchment.  Seeking to examine the effectiveness of NFM measures combined across the 69 km2 area of the Eddleston Water catchment, the study examines hydrological lag as an index of the effectiveness of NFM measures, and how this changes as a function of catchment scale.  The paper shows that median lag time increases by more than 2 hours in headwater catchments treated with the installation of ponds and flow rest

A newly published paper in the international journal Water Security (Hankin, Page, McShane, Chappell, Spray, Black & Comins 2021) features results from Scotland’s Eddleston Water NFM study in attempting to answer this important question.

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.