www.gov.uk/natural-england

Natural Flood Management: Securing Environmental Benefits

Emily Dresner – Senior Adviser, Flood Management and Wetlands

Building Resilience and Natural Capital

How can Natural Flood Management help us build resilience and natural capital? • It can help us do both • It won’t happen by itself • Environmental benefits require effort

What is Natural Flood Management?

Working with natural features and processes to sustainably manage flooding at the source, in flow pathways and when it arrives. •  Infiltration drainage through the soil •  Surface roughness slower travel over land surface •  Attenuation storage in floodplains, waterbodies

Floodplain Meadow

NFM to build natural capital

•  Holistic •  Sustainable •  Integrated •  Based on the principles of natural function •  and delivers for the natural environment •  Not just using nature as engineering material

Leaky woody dam Natural materials ü Echoes natural fall ü Choice of storage area = more ecologically functional ü Choice of position = more ecologically, morphologically functional ü ü

Start with natural function…

Mitigate sustainably + build natural capital

Natural ecological function + catchment processes

Flooding + role in natural (modified) systems

Spot opportunities (risks) for environment

Recognise and articulate compromises

Clear objectives and expectations

Good projects J

Think about…

…habitats, species, connectivity, water quality, water resources, geology, geomorphology… …fisheries, agriculture, archaeology, landscape… …access, engagement, wellbeing, economic regeneration, climate change adaptation… …alongside flood management objectives Go out and secure environmental benefits!

www.gov.uk/natural-england

“Natural flood management involves techniques that aim to work with natural hydrological and morphological processes, features and characteristics to manage the sources and pathways of flood waters. These techniques include the restoration, enhancement and alteration of natural features and characteristics, but exclude traditional flood defence engineering that works against or disrupts these natural processes”. SAIFF (2011) - See the SEPA NFM Handbook

Emily Dresner – Senior Adviser, Flood Management and Wetlands

Thank you