Reconnection plan to cut flood risk?
The need to find solutions to flooding is becoming greater due to global warming
Connecting flood plains to rivers could help reduce the risk of more flooding in the coming years, according to a new study.
Research conducted by the Nature Conservancy's Global Freshwater Team and detailed in Science highlights that allowing such areas to go underwater during storms would reduce the risk of flooding in nearby urban communities, reports the BBC.
The study's authors cited the example of California, where the flood season and the growing season do not coincide, meaning that if farmland was submerged during heavy rainfall then there would be no permanent damage to any crops or fields. However, local towns and villages may be offered some protection.
They added that man-made flood management systems, such as levees, have an ecological impact, stating that as such infrastructures prevent high flows from entering the flood plain they diminish both natural flood storage capacity and the processes that maintain healthy riverside forests and wetlands.
Take action
- Act against climate change with 350
- Read The Nature Conservancy's water platform
- Learn what the Environment Agency is doing to manage flood risk
Dr Jeffrey Opperman, the study's co-author, is quoted as saying that many nations already have agricultural strategies for private landowners in place, which would be compatible with flooding certain areas, for example ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and nutrient sequestration.
It is becoming increasingly important to put plans in place for dealing with flooding, as climate change means that heavy rainfall, such as that seen in Cumbria last month, is increasingly likely.
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