LAND4FLOOD Task Force

Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of future flood events, leading to higher costs of flood damage and increasing public demand for protective measures. Traditional flood protection measures, mainly based on grey infrastructure (i.e. dikes, dams, etc.), are not sufficient to cope with dynamic flood risk alone. Nature-based solutions (NBS) such as Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) are promising options to mitigate flood risks as a complement to grey infrastructure—both for flood retention and resilience. These types of measures reduce risks and also provide additional ecosystem services, including increased biodiversity and recreation opportunities. However, a common characteristic of green infrastructure measures is that they often claim more land than traditional methods.

The challenge is to consider multifunctional land uses that enable temporary flood retention and flood storage on private land without restricting the provision of other ecosystem services. The reconciliation of flood risk management and land policy is needed. Since all NBS/NWRM primarily need to be implemented on private land, the consideration of multiple aspects includes next to hydrological and water engineering issues (e.g. where and how to allocate and realise measures technically): economic issues (e.g. how to compensate for or incentivise flood retention services); property rights issues (e.g. how to allow temporary flood storage on private land); issues of governance (e.g. how to ensure the involvement of private landowners); and issues of public subsidies (e.g. how to integrate/mainstream flood retention in agricultural subsidies).