Healthy floodplains have a key role to play in improving our environment
The preservation and restoration of Europe’s largely degraded floodplains, must be better prioritised according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today. The report says floodplains have a key role to play in improving biodiversity, water, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
A more ecosystem-based approach to the management of floodplains would help to conserve and restore biodiversity and reduce chemical and nutrient pollution in rivers, lakes and wetlands, and increase water retention according to the EEA report ‘Floodplains: a natural system to preserve and restore.’ Such an approach would recognise the multiple functions floodplains play.