This session explicitly aims to foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary exchange by bringing together hydrologists, geomorphologists, ecologists, soil scientists, hazard researchers, and social scientists, alongside practitioners and policymakers. The goal is to advance both the scientific basis and the practical governance of NBS for resilience planning, land and water management, and climate adaptation across landscapes.
We welcome contributions that:
- Provide evidence of NBS performance in water storage, flood and drought resilience, sediment and nutrient retention, and ecosystem service delivery.
- Develop or apply innovative tools and frameworks for placement and site selection, designing, and monitoring NBS (e.g., modelling, remote sensing, decision-support systems, participatory approaches).
- Explore co-benefits and trade-offs, particularly in relation to hydrological performance, ecological, and socio-economic effects.
- Present case studies and comparative analyses from different climatic and geographical contexts or applied to specific anthropic elements such as long linear infrastructures.
- Identify governance, policy, and financial mechanisms that enable successful NBS implementation and upscaling.
By bridging science, practice, and policy, this session highlights NBS as key instruments for advancing water and land management, strengthening resilience, and creating sustainable futures.
Climate‑driven changes in flood frequency and magnitude are intensifying the need for robust and efficient flood mitigation strategies that, at the same time, provide ecological co-benefits and are accepted by the public and other relevant stakeholders. A wide spectrum of measures, ranging from conventional grey-structural infrastructure to nature‑based solutions (NbS) and hybrid approaches, is nowadays being considered to reduce hydrometeorological risks. While NbS are increasingly promoted in European and international policy frameworks, their implementation is often hindered by uncertainties regarding effectiveness, feasibility, public acceptance, and funding structures. This contribution provides a brief overview of some recent studies dealing with hydrological modelling, economic evaluation, public perception analysis, and review of funding and conceptual frameworks related to the implementation and design of NbS and other flood mitigation measures.
Public perception study conducted in Slovenia, Czechia, and the Netherlands revealed statistically significant differences in perceived effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of green, grey, and hybrid measures. Respondents generally view grey measures such as dams as more effective and acceptable, though more difficult to implement and less feasible, while perceptions varied with country context, age, and income. Additionally, perception of multiple stakeholders was also investigated in Slovenia indicating that researchers tend to rate green measures more favourably compared to engineers and agricultural advisors. For selected measures (dams, retention polders and wetlands) hydrological simulations were conducted in the Gradaščica River catchment in Slovenia. It was shown that wetlands, although offering diverse ecological and other co‑benefits, reduced flood peaks by only few percentages whereas retention polders and dams achieved substantially higher peak flow reductions at reference downstream river cross-sections. Consequently, economic analyses indicated that grey measures outperform green measures in cost‑effectiveness. In contrast, some recently conducted studies showed that other NbS solutions like urban greenery can provide a notable reduction in runoff for low and medium magnitude rainfall events.
A complementary analysis of 53 European funding calls and 342 global projects highlighted how the current NbS policy discourse increasingly shapes funding opportunities and supports framing of interventions as NbS. This framing can facilitate access to resources and significantly enhance the research related to the NbS implementation. However, at the same time, too generic NbS framing can introduce additional uncertainty in assessments of NbS effectiveness and potentially exclude other viable flood mitigation measures from consideration and implementation. Therefore, it is recommended that coherence between the stated NbS and the indicators capturing effectiveness of actual set of measures is critical for gaining evidence from monitoring of hydrometeorological risk reduction projects.
In summary, while NbS and related measures are being promoted by different stakeholders, their public perception, hydrological effects, and economic viability continues to diverge across geographical and institutional settings. The research community, in turn, increasingly labels different types of measures as NbS in order ensure funding, potentially limiting research insights needed for more transparent and effective implementation of NbS.
Acknowledgment: The research was conducted within the project J6-4628 (22-04520L) co-funded by Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS) and Czech Science Foundation and was additionally supported by ARIS P2-0180 grant.
How to cite: Bezak, N., Raška, P., Macháč, J., Louda, J., Zupanc, V., Slavíková, L., and Alivio, M. B.: Multidisciplinary evaluation of flood mitigation measures integrating hydrological effectiveness, public perception, economic evaluation and funding opportunities analysis, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4838, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4838, 2026.
Perceived tradeoffs between ecosystem services (ES) delivered by nature-based solutions (NBS) may limit their widespread use as a tool for environmental management. Small artificial waterbodies (constructed ponds and free surface wetlands) are one type of NBS that can help mitigate the downstream eutrophying effects of agricultural nutrient runoff and contribute to carbon (C) storage. However, these waterbodies can also be significant greenhouse gas (GHG) sources. Here, we report on water chemistry, dissolved GHG concentrations and sediment properties measured over three years at 40 Swedish constructed agricultural wetlands. We measured inlet and outlet water chemistry, water column dissolved GHG concentrations and sediment C and phosphorus (P) levels. All waterbodies were supersaturated with carbon dioxide (CO2) and most were also supersaturated with nitrous oxide (N2O). There were large temporal variations in inlet water chemistry, highlighting the importance of seasonality and land management. Inlet P concentrations were positively correlated with water column dissolved methane (CH4) and sediment P concentrations; a clear tradeoff in nutrient retention vs. climate regulation. Inlet nitrogen (N) concentrations were positively correlated with N2O concentrations, but these waterbodies were also more likely to mitigate downstream dissolved N levels as suggested by lower outflow N concentrations. Sediment C concentrations were unrelated to any measured parameters, suggesting that it would be difficult to purposefully design ponds and wetlands to sequester large amounts of carbon. Although there are tradeoffs between mitigating downstream eutrophication and climate impacts, this should not preclude the use of constructed wetlands and other types of NBS as tools for ES delivery in agricultural landscapes.
How to cite: Futter, M., Audet, J., Djodjic, F., Lannergård, E., Peacock, M., and Granmayeh, P.: Tradeoffs and synergies in nutrient retention and greenhouse gas production in constructed agricultural wetlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-9999, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-9999, 2026.
As flood risks intensify across Europe, nature-based solutions (NBS) such as wetlands are gaining increasing attention for their potential to mitigate flooding while delivering multiple co-benefits. However, decision-making authorities often lack robust, site-specific scientific evidence to support the implementation of such measures. Flooding along Romania’s upper Timiș River poses recurrent risks to rural communities and agricultural land, prompting the Romanian public water management authority (ABA Banat), within the European LAND4CLIMATE project, to seek scientific support for evaluating NBS-based flood mitigation options.
This study assesses the extent to which a network of constructed wetlands could reduce flood risk in the Upper Timiș catchment (2,750 km²). A GIS-based multi-criteria analysis incorporating slope, soil permeability, and land-use constraints identified thirteen potential wetland sites—six side-channel wetlands, three main-channel wetlands, and four abandoned gravel pits converted into wetlands—covering approximately 0.8% of the catchment area. Using the semi-distributed SWAT+ hydrological model, four wetland implementation scenarios were developed and simulated for the 2015–2016 period, reflecting stable land-use conditions: (1) side-channel wetlands only, (2) main-channel wetlands only, (3) gravel-pit reconnection, and (4) a combined scenario including all wetland types. Model calibration (from 01-01-2012 until 31-12-2014) and validation (from 01-01-2015 until 31-12-2017) of daily discharge dynamics showed satisfactory performance (Kling–Gupta Efficiency = 0.69 vs 0.65, Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency = 0.43 vs 0.34, Percent Bias = +13% vs +20%, respectively), supporting the use of the model for scenario analysis. Results indicate that the combined scenario achieved the strongest flow attenuation at the catchment outlet, reducing above-90th-percentile peak flows by an average of 3.1%. Individual configurations yielded more limited reductions (0.4–0.7%), although side-channel wetlands reduced tributary peak flows by up to 11%. Sensitivity analyses further revealed diminishing marginal gains from increased wetland storage unless wetland area approaches 5–10% of the catchment.
Overall, the findings suggest that under current land-use constraints, wetlands alone are insufficient to deliver substantial catchment-scale flood mitigation in the Upper Timiș. Nevertheless, they provide meaningful local attenuation and important co-benefits, including habitat creation and improved water quality. Achieving larger-scale flood risk reduction will require a significant expansion of wetland area, integration with complementary NBS (e.g. riparian reforestation), or the adoption of hybrid green–grey flood management strategies.
How to cite: Ferreira, C. S. S., van Harten, A., Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, R., and Kalantari, Z.: Wetlands as Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation: Insights from the Timiș River, Romania, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20280, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20280, 2026.
In the Mediterranean region, changes in the hydrological cycle are evident, either due to increased drought intensity and frequency or the occurrence of extreme precipitation events. The impacts of these phenomena challenge the resilience of socio-ecological systems, posing a threat to the region's sustainability. In an effort to address this, the LandEX project aims to enhance the resilience of landscapes by spatially optimising a suite of synergistic measures that leverage the multiple benefits of Nature-based Solutions. In this work, we calibrated a SWAT+ eco-hydrological model to assess the impact of adaptation strategies on hydrological processes under a baseline scenario (2004-2010). Adaptation strategies, co-created in collaboration with regional stakeholders, were modelled in the Gilão catchment (Southern Portugal), a semi-arid area highly vulnerable to hydrological extremes. We evaluated the effectiveness of measures against a set of predefined Flood and Drought indicators. Preliminary results, testing the individual effect of each measure, suggest that structural NbS, such as check dams, contribute to reducing peak-flow more effectively than non-structural NbS (e.g., agroforestry, conservation agriculture, or riparian vegetation) during extreme precipitation events. Contrastingly, non-structural NbS demonstrated improved resilience towards hydrological drought by limiting evapotranspiration. Upcoming work will assess the overall effect of the adaptation strategies combining multiple NbS on flow regulation and drought mitigation under different climate change scenarios. Identifying the most effective adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts of hydrological extremes will enable decision-makers and field practitioners to enhance the resilience of socio-ecological systems in the region.
How to cite: Rodrigues, M., Dias, L. F., Carvalho Nunes, J. P., and Antunes, C.: Adapting Mediterranean Landscapes to Hydrological Extremes, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21548, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21548, 2026.
The management of industrial wastewaters represents a global water quality challenge that requires sustainable, low-energy solutions capable of restoring ecological function while reducing contaminant loads. In Alberta, Canada, bitumen extraction from the Athabasca oil sands, one of the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world, has generated over 1.4 billion m³ of liquid tailings and 400 million m³ of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), currently stored in large on-site tailings ponds. OSPW exhibits acute and chronic toxicity to aquatic organisms and contains salts, metals, and complex organic contaminants, including naphthenic acids (NAs), a persistent and toxic group derived from bitumen extraction. Given the immense volume of OSPW requiring treatment, scalable and cost-effective remediation strategies are urgently needed. Constructed wetland treatment systems (CWTS) offer a promising, nature-based solution that harnesses plant–microbe–substrate interactions to degrade, transform, and sequester contaminants. Optimizing CWTS for OSPW treatment requires a detailed understanding of their functional mechanisms.
The Genomics Research for Optimization of Constructed Treatment Wetlands for Water Remediation (GROW) project is a multi-stakeholder collaboration among academia, government, and industry that advances both the scientific foundation and applied design of CWTS for OSPW remediation. Using mesocosm and pilot-scale wetland systems, the project integrates insights from molecular biology, wetland ecology, and engineering to elucidate treatment processes and enhance system performance. Here, we present results from a mesocosm-scale experiment evaluating the influence of plant species and system complexity on NA attenuation. Treatments included water-only (OSPW) controls, unplanted substrate systems, and planted systems with Carex aquatilis, Typha latifolia, or a combination of both plants, enabling isolation of plant-mediated, microbial, and abiotic processes. All planted mesocosms showed high survival and robust growth, achieving 46-48% NA removal over 87 days, compared to 19% in unplanted and 6% in water-only controls. Isotopic analyses confirmed preferential removal of bitumen-derived NAs and indicated active biological and biogeochemical processing. Fathead minnow embryo assays generally corroborated chemical analyses, showing the highest toxicity reduction in planted treatments, though some decreases occurred in water-only systems despite the insignificant NA removal.
These results provide a holistic view of CWTS function, integrating plant physiology, chemical fate, isotopic evidence, and ecotoxicology. The findings demonstrate the potential of CWTS to substantially reduce OSPW toxicity and inform design and management strategies. Beyond efficacy, the GROW project establishes a framework for integrating nature-based solutions to address large-scale water quality challenges. The principles and tools developed have broad applicability to other industrial and municipal wastewater contexts, supporting sustainable water management worldwide.
How to cite: Degenhardt, D., Balaberda, A., Vander Meulen, I., Ahad, J., Headley, J., and Parrott, J.: Harnessing Nature-Based Solutions for Industrial Wastewater Remediation: Optimizing Constructed Wetlands for Treating Oil Sands Wastewater, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-162, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-162, 2026.
Climate-induced hazards, such as extreme flooding, pose a systemic risk to urban areas by triggering cascading failures across interdependent critical infrastructures. While the direct damages of flooding are well-studied, the indirect consequences from disruptions to power, water, and emergency services can be uncertain and require more research. This study presents a modeling framework to quantify these cascading impacts and to assess the effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) in enhancing systemic resilience.
Using the city of Malmö, Sweden, as a case study, we developed an integrated infrastructure model simulating the electricity, water, and emergency service networks. We subjected the city’s infrastructure model to three distinct, high-impact flood scenarios projected for the year 2125: extreme rainfall, extreme sea level, and a combination of mean high water level with heavy rain. The model first quantifies the propagation of failures, identifying critical vulnerabilities and estimating the population affected by service losses. Subsequently, we implemented five large-scale NBS scenarios based on a previous study to measure their potential to mitigate these cascading effects. The solutions include green roofs, street trees, parking area de-sealing, and enhanced park vegetation.
Our local results demonstrate that different flood types trigger unique failure pathways. Extreme rainfall would cause the most severe disruptions to municipal services. The analysis shows that NBS can substantially reduce the number of residents impacted by service disruptions. Comprehensive strategies combining multiple NBS interventions yielded the most significant benefits across all scenarios. This study provides a data-driven framework for policymakers and urban planners that translates the improved hydrological performance of NBS into tangible metrics of urban resilience, supporting the design of climate-resilient landscapes.
How to cite: Vieira Passos, M., Kan, J.-C., Destouni, G., Barquet, K., Brandimarte, L., and Kalantari, Z.: Assessing the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in Mitigating Cascading Infrastructure Failures in Urban Flood Scenarios, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1637, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1637, 2026.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) for flood mitigation requires robust, scalable, and transferable monitoring approaches to assess their effectiveness across spatial and temporal scales. Here, we present an open-access, satellite-based Earth observation (EO) monitoring tool designed to quantify surface water dynamics and water retention associated with NBS implementation. The tool integrates multi-sensor satellite data, including Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Sentinel-2 optical imagery, within a flexible, automated workflow capable of near–real-time monitoring at high spatial (<10 m) and temporal resolution.
The workflow addresses key challenges in NBS monitoring, including small site extents, rapid hydrological responses, and the need for efficient, reproducible methods. It integrates complementary Earth observation indicators for surface water detection, combining optical indices (e.g. Normalised Difference Water Index) with SAR backscatter metrics sensitive to open water and flooded vegetation to enable continuous, all-weather monitoring. The framework is flexible and site-adaptive, allowing threshold calibration using local ground knowledge, historical flood information, and ancillary datasets, thereby improving reliability beyond globally fixed thresholds. Data are structured into spatio-temporal data cubes, supporting pixel-level analysis, aggregation over user-defined regions of interest, and integration of ancillary open datasets for contextual interpretation and future extension toward soil moisture and drought indicators.
The tool is demonstrated using a UK catchment with established NBS interventions, where EO-derived surface water patterns during recent storm events indicate preferential inundation of upstream retention features and limited flooding in downstream vulnerable areas. The monitoring system is implemented as a modular, open-source framework that automatically retrieves, processes, and structures EO and ancillary datasets into spatio-temporal data cubes, enabling both scripted analyses and interactive visualisation through dashboards.
This EO-based tool provides a transferable, transparent, and scalable approach for evaluating NBS performance in data-sparse environments. Designed for long-term use beyond project lifetimes, the workflow is fully open-source, computationally efficient, and adaptable across diverse European contexts, with the potential for integration into broader multidimensional monitoring and decision-support frameworks for flood risk management.
How to cite: Chevuturi, A., Myrgiotis, V., Bulut, B., Sah, N., Blake, J., and Dussaillant, A.: An Earth Observation–Based Workflow for Flood Monitoring at Nature-Based Solution Sites, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5474, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5474, 2026.
Nature based solutions (NBS) are often considered as one of the potential measures to improve the flood resilience of landscapes. In the Geul catchment, located in eastern Belgium and the south of the Netherlands, the severe flooding event of summer 2021 significantly increased attention on the potential for NBS. Although many stakeholders and institutes see potential value of implementing NBS in the catchment, many uncertainties about their effectiveness hamper fast action and decision making. Applying a spatially distributed model to explore the potential of NBS on local and regional scales, can provide valuable answers to the question of which NBS, and in which spatial configuration can minimize flood risk.
Within the LandEX project, funded by Water4All, the aim is to study how the spatial distribution of NBS can improve the resilience of landscapes against hydroclimatic extremes. One of the case study areas in this project is the Geul catchment. We applied the OpenLISEM model to multiple sub catchments of the Geul river to quantify the effectiveness of multiple NBS for flood risk reduction, which were selected based on a participatory workshop. The study investigates how the catchment characteristics like land use, slope steepness and management, as well as the spatial placement and configuration of NBS influence the effectiveness to reduce flood risks. A secondary result of this study is the further exploration of approaches to parametrize NBS in a process-based model. The results of this application of OpenLISEM can be used to further understand the processes influenced by NBS and how to include these in modelling and scenario analyses. In addition, local stakeholders and decision makers can use the modelling results as a basis for the spatial implementation of NBS.
How to cite: Commelin, M., Baartman, J., Chow, R., and Jetten, V.: Exploring spatial effectiveness of NBS measures for flood mitigation with OpenLISEM, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-12082, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12082, 2026.
The Upper Severn catchment on the border of England and Wales has been subject to regular floods over the past two decades with severe events recorded in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Coupled with updated climate change projections, these events have heightened the urgency of flood risk management among strategic and policy stakeholders. In this context, Natural Flood Management (NFM) has emerged as a promising approach to mitigate downstream flood impacts. Unlike conventional flood defences, which are usually centrally instigated and maintained, natural flood management requires buy-in from a wider range of stakeholders, including landowners and local communities.
Despite the potential benefits of NFM approaches, there are still some significant challenges to widespread implementation. Approaches to identifying opportunities are generally limited to traditional ground surveys, which typically require landowner buy-in from the outset, or large-scale opportunity mapping drawing on relatively coarse datasets. Furthermore, while pilot projects have demonstrated initial success, empirical evidence on the long-term effectiveness of NFM remains limited. This lack of robust data constrains stakeholder confidence and hinders broader adoption.
This paper will outline a demonstrator project, currently being delivered as part of the Environment Agency-funded Severn Valley Water Management Scheme in Shropshire, UK, which is investigating the potential of high-resolution satellite imagery, drone-based LiDAR survey, and real-time sensor data to improve the quantification of the impacts of NFM measures as well as high-resolution mapping of future opportunities. In parallel, the study examines strategies for effective stakeholder engagement, focusing on optimizing data visualization and communication to support informed decision-making and community participation. By combining advanced geospatial technologies with participatory approaches, the project aims to strengthen evidence-based implementation of NFM and contribute to resilient flood management in the Upper Severn catchment.
Keywords: Natural Flood Management (NFM), High-Resolution Remote Sensing, Drone-Based LiDAR, Stakeholder Engagement, Flood Resilience, Opportunity Mapping
How to cite: Mis, N. B. and Miles, A.: Opportunities, validation, and engagement: Application of Geospatial Technology and Realtime Sensors to Enhance Natural Flood Management , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18962, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18962, 2026.
Nature‑based solutions (NbS) act as a catalyst for large‑scale transformations in vulnerable landscapes, enhancing climate adaptation by reducing exposure to climate‑related hazards and strengthening ecosystem resilience. In doing so, they also deliver valuable co‑benefits, including richer biodiversity and more robust, functional ecosystems. Addressing the complexity to fully mainstream NbS for climate adaptation requires the capacity to manage cross‑sectoral problems and to foster collaboration across multiple levels of governance, networks, and partnerships. Although interdisciplinary work which promotes mutual understanding is widely recognised as essential for effective climate action, achieving it in practice remains challenging.
To address this challenge, a Systems Oriented Design (SOD) approach was employed to operationalise interdisciplinarity in the design and implementation of participatory processes. This approach supported a shared understanding of local needs related to the placement and selection of specific NbS interventions in two Norwegian municipalities, each facing distinct landscape hazards based on the local contexts. The two case study sites include the Hølenselva watershed in Vestby municipality, which is representative of the south‑eastern region of Norway. The area faces challenges such as landslides in sensitive marine clays, poor water quality in the catchment due to agriculture and landscape modifications that have increased the risk of flooding. The second case study site is in Aurland municipality and reflects the country’s west coast fjord landscapes. The area consists of fjords and mountains, with small settlements concentrated in the lower river valleys. The steep mountainsides make the area prone to landslides and snow avalanches, and the narrow valleys are experiencing frequent flooding, intensified by climate change in recent years.
A SOD framework was developed to map complexity and gain insight into the case study sites. Working with a multidisciplinary team spanning social science, natural science, landscape architecture, and design, the system maps were analysed using a ZIPP approach to identify Zoom points, Ideas for interventions, as well as Problems and Potentials. These findings provided the basis for identifying leverage points for potential interventions in the system. After this preliminary mapping was completed, the maps and background documentation were presented to local stakeholders through two workshops conducted at each case study site to validate the system understanding, prioritise stakeholder needs, and introduce potential NbS options for their main concerns regarding natural hazards.
The presentation will illustrate the application of SOD as a basis for stakeholder involvement at the two case study sites, showing how stakeholders understood system complexity and helped identify potential NbS to reduce flooding and landslide risk. It will also highlight challenges and positive experiences and provide examples of how stakeholder input informed the modelling and monitoring of selected NbS interventions that are not yet implemented and may be taken forward in future planning.
How to cite: Oen, A., Solheim, A., Di Biagio, A., Capobianco, V., Steinholt, I., and Bigillon, F.: Systems Oriented Design to facilitate participatory approaches for selecting nature-based solutions to reduce flooding and landslides – experiences from two Norwegian municipalities, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17073, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17073, 2026.
Living laboratories are increasingly recognized as effective instruments to test and implement Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for climate change adaptation while bridging science, society, and policy. In these Labs, concrete measures are being implemented. This paper presents the case of the agriculturally shaped Wagram region in Lower Austria. There, nine municipalities work hand-in-hand with local actors across municipal and sectoral boundaries to address climate mitigation and adaptation challenges, notably drought and flooding.
In the Wagram Lab, the Lower Austrian Agricultural District Authority (ABB) is closely working with representatives of the region and advocacy groups as well as landowners and farmers to mainstream adaption to climate change with NBS using agricultural land-use planning. The goal here is to develop an optimal overall concept for the defined area, which considers current and future economic and ecological requirements. Within this framework, ABB also promotes multi-purpose hedgerows (MNH, from the German term Mehrnutzenhecken) as effective NbS. MNH offer an array of ecosystem services, including soil erosion reduction, biodiversity enhancement through biotope networks, carbon sequestration, amenity provision, and economic benefits for landowners, who can take advantage of (wild) orchards and herbs growing in a surface that remains cropland.
From the Wagram Lab, some important findings have emerged. First and foremost: although every meter of hedge has significant effect on the immediate environment, MNH can only achieve large-scale impact when conceived and developed within the framework of the existing planning tools, including land-use plans. A series of recurrent and systemic challenges to upscaling has been identified, which need to be addressed from the early project phases. These challenges include (1) increasing the acceptance degree among farmers and other landowners, (2) enhancing public outreach, (3) dispelling misconceptions, and (4) integrating MNH knowledge into agricultural education schemes. Likewise, land-use planning programs should be strengthened to increase effectiveness and awareness. Priority should be given to measures that can be implemented directly by municipalities and/or farmers themselves. Top-down technical advice and support from policy makers is therefore crucial, including visualizations, checklists, maintenance plans and long-term financing for the proposed solutions. Early participatory involvement and the consideration of farmers’ interests—such as ease of management, erosion control, humus conservation, or, where appropriate, compensation for the use of their land for the provision of public ecosystem services—as well as follow-up support in cases of delayed implementation make a substantial contribution to further improving the effectiveness of both land-use planning and MNH.
This work showcases the effectiveness of Living Laboratories to bridge governance, policy, and financial mechanisms that enable successful NbS implementation and upscaling by operationalizing them at local and regional scales through concrete planning instruments. As part of a broader EU project (ARCADIA), this Lab benefited from cooperation and partnership with other European regions as well as knowledge from transdisciplinary scientific partners in sociology, psychology, engineering, and economics.
How to cite: Sancho-Reinoso, A., Deim, K., and Szlezak, E.: Bringing nature-based solutions down to earth. The case of agricultural land-use planning and multi-purpose hedgerows in Lower Austria (AT)., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20889, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20889, 2026.
Cities are home to an increasing majority of the world’s growing population, and are responsible for more than half of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (IPCC, 2023). Cities will need to make use of carbon sinks in order to achieve net-zero emissions according to the timelines of their various climate action commitments, as laid out in e.g. the Paris Agreement (United Nations, 2023). Even cities which have made significant progress towards ambitious climate goals, such as Stockholm, Sweden, will need to focus on maintaining and growing carbon sequestration capacity in addition to further reducing emissions if they are to meet their goals (Page et al., 2025, 2021).
Nature-based solutions (NBS) can help cities to take action for both climate change adaptation and mitigation, while also improving the health and wellbeing of their residents (Chiabai et al., 2018, Kalantari et al., 2018). Our research finds that NBS can play a significant role in reducing emissions in cities, and that they have the potential to help accelerate the transition towards net-zero in many cities (Cong et al., 2023; Pan et al., 2023).
Using modelling, we investigate how NBS can be combined with other urban planning and policy actions, seeking to understand i) how to design city-wide NBS implementations which maximise both climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits, and ii) how best to integrate NBS into existing climate action plans for accelerated net-zero transitions.
References:
Chiabai, A., Quiroga, S., Martinez-Juarez, P., Higgins, S., Taylor, T., 2018. The nexus between climate change, ecosystem services and human health: Towards a conceptual framework. Science of The Total Environment 635, 1191–1204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.323
Cong, C., Pan, H., Page, J., Barthel, S., Kalantari, Z., 2023. Modeling place-based nature-based solutions to promote urban carbon neutrality. Ambio 52, 1297–1313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-023-01872-x
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Kalantari, Z., Ferreira, C.S.S., Keesstra, S., Destouni, G., 2018. Nature-based solutions for flood-drought risk mitigation in vulnerable urbanizing parts of East-Africa. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, Sustainable soil management and land restoration 5, 73–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2018.06.003
Page, J., Kareflod, V., Kåresdotter, E., 2025. Chapter 1.1 - Forests for climate change mitigation: Temporal dynamics of carbon sequestration in the forests of Stockholm County, in: Pan, H., Kalantari, Z., Ferreira, C., Cong, C. (Eds.), Nature-Based Solutions in Supporting Sustainable Development Goals. Elsevier, pp. 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-21782-1.00001-4
Page, J., Kåresdotter, E., Destouni, G., Pan, H., Kalantari, Z., 2021. A more complete accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration in urban landscapes. Anthropocene 34, 100296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2021.100296
Pan, H., Page, J., Shi, R., Cong, C., Cai, Z., Barthel, S., Thollander, P., Colding, J., Kalantari, Z., 2023. Potential contribution of prioritized spatial allocation of nature-based solutions to climate neutrality in major EU cities. [Manuscript]. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2399348/v1
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How to cite: Page, J. and Rezvani, A.: The many roles of nature in carbon-neutral cities, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-12520, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12520, 2026.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are central to achieving climate-resilient landscapes under the European Green Deal, the Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), and the Nature Restoration Law (NRL). While scientific evidence demonstrates their ecological and hydrological benefits, large-scale uptake of NbS remains constrained by governance fragmentation, limited institutional capacity, and weak integration across land, water, and agricultural policies—particularly in southeastern Europe.
This contribution examines how Nature Infrastructure (NI) can function as a policy-operational framework for NbS implementation in agricultural landscapes, drawing on insights from the EU-funded Twinning Green Deal SONATA project in Serbia. NI encompasses natural and semi-natural landscape features that deliver multiple ecosystem services, including water regulation, biodiversity support, and climate adaptation. SONATA applies a Modelling, Mapping, and Monitoring (3M NI) approach to generate spatially explicit evidence that supports policy design, prioritization, and performance assessment of NbS. SONATA’s spatial tool enables single- and multi-objective spatial optimization in raster-based GIS environments, supporting evidence-based prioritization and scenario testing of NbS at the landscape and local scale.
A central focus is the role of the participatory framework (e.g., Living Labs) from the outset as governance instruments that bridge science, practice, and policy. By engaging farmers, water managers, conservation authorities, and policymakers in co-creation processes, Living Labs help align NbS interventions with local needs while strengthening institutional learning and policy coherence. The project highlights how participatory governance can reduce implementation barriers, enhance legitimacy, and support the mainstreaming of NbS within existing regulatory and funding frameworks.
The results underline the importance of integrated governance arrangements, spatial decision-support tools, and long-term monitoring systems for translating NbS from policy ambition into effective landscape-scale action. The NI framework offers a transferable pathway for embedding NbS into climate adaptation strategies, agri-environmental schemes, and land-use planning, contributing to more resilient and multifunctional landscapes across Europe.
How to cite: Nikolić-Lugonja, T., Obrenovic, N., Kireeva, M., Brdar, S., and Knezevic, M.: Nature-based solutions for climate-resilient landscapes: governance and policy pathways for Nature Infrastructure implementation, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17161, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17161, 2026.
Mountainous regions inhabited by Indigenous communities are increasingly exposed to coupled geomorphic and hydrological disturbances under climate change, including intensified rainfall, altered sediment dynamics, and shifting hydrological regimes. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are widely promoted as adaptive responses in such settings; however, their implementation in complex sloping environments often lacks clear operationalization, particularly under conditions of climatic uncertainty and hydrological non-stationarity.
Here, the gap is addressed by introducing Participatory Resilience Monitoring (PRM), a framework that integrates community-based knowledge with scientific environmental monitoring to support the design, evaluation, and adaptive management of NbS in sloping environments. The core challenge for NbS in such contexts lies not in their conceptual validity, but in the absence of mechanisms linking place-based knowledge, monitoring indicators, and decision-making processes over time.
This study combines ecosystem services assessments, interviews with Indigenous and local stakeholders, and field surveys in the Maolin District, Taiwan. The analysis identifies community priorities, culturally valued landscapes, and zones of geomorphic sensitivity. Riparian corridors, slope–valley ecotones, and habitat-supporting areas emerge as key locations where potential NbS interventions and resilience monitoring overlap. These areas represent both high environmental sensitivity and strong social relevance. PRM integrates three interconnected pillars: (1) place-based knowledge, (2) resilience indicators and monitoring, and (3) adaptive decision-making and learning. Environmental data analysis and modeling provide decision support within PRM while maintaining participatory processes at the core. By operationalizing NbS through participatory monitoring, PRM enables interventions to be context-specific, testable, and adaptable under ongoing climate change, offering a transferable framework for NbS implementation in mountainous regions characterized by social-ecological dynamics.
How to cite: Harrison, J. and Wang, H.-W.: Participatory resilience monitoring to guide nature-based solutions in sloping environments under climate change, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5172, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5172, 2026.
Like many European countries, Ireland faces numerous threats from climate change and environmental degradation, including biodiversity loss, falling water quality, and property damage due to extreme weather events. Ireland is also one of the EU’s highest emitters of greenhouse gases per capita, and almost a third of its EU-protected species and 85% of its EU-protected habitats are in unfavourable status. Whilst natural resources are under threat, they can also offer solutions to these environmental challenges. Properly managed land can provide large-scale nature-based solutions to challenges including carbon sequestration, flood risk, biodiversity enhancement, and water quality. With agricultural land comprising 68% of Ireland’s land area, the agriculture sector is central to environmental improvements nationally. Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) has been identified as a key tool to measure and track natural resource stocks vital for life, including those resources provided on agricultural land. Major EU policies and legislation, including the European Green Deal, Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Nature Restoration Law promote NCA as a critical tool for EU Member States achieving EU environmental policy commitments. Mandatory NCA reporting at an EU level is also expected imminently. Despite this urgency, uptake of NCA in policy and practice remains poor both in Ireland and elsewhere across the EU. FARM-NC, an Irish Environmental Protection Agency funded project, aims to promote NCA as a critical tool in policy and practice through evidence-based monitoring and evaluation of ecosystem services at farm-level. Drawing on interviews with key agricultural stakeholders in Ireland (n=30), including policymakers, industry representatives, researchers, sustainability practitioners and farmers in 2025-2026, we present preliminary insights on the barriers that currently constrain uptake of NCA in policy and practice and identify recommendations to overcome these barriers. The results show that barriers are centred around three key aspects: (i) digital and technical feasibility challenges related to data capture, data quality, accuracy and trust, training and expertise; (ii) the internal design of NCA, including how complexity, simplification, and comparability are handled within the accounting framework itself, which makes it difficult for policymakers and practitioners to define the parameters to base natural capital accounts on, and; (iii) weak regulations, incentives and political leadership to demonstrate benefits of NCA to diverse stakeholders. We identify several recommendations to overcome these barriers in policy and practice, which have relevance beyond Ireland, particularly given the aforementioned EU policy and legislative direction aiming to mandate NCA reporting to improve environmental outcomes. Our findings and recommendations could greatly support these efforts.
How to cite: Clarke, D., O'Keeffe, J., Sinnott, F., Cullen, N., McCarthy, V., Clinton, M., and Bourke, M.: Barriers to and opportunities for natural capital accounting: Lessons from Ireland, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13804, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13804, 2026.
Climate change and the current biodiversity crisis are challenging the sustainability of human societies. Nature Based Solutions (NbS) strategically deployed in the landscapes could help reducing the impact of climate risks and help restoring and preserving biodiversity. The NBRACER Horizon Europe project has recently developed a new conceptual framework that connects regional climate risk assessments to the design of scalable networks of blue and green solutions. This framework synthesizes five core components:
- Climate Risk Impact Chains: Mapping hazard-to-risk propagation through environmental and social vulnerabilities, identifying critical intervention points where NbS can reduce exposure and enhance resilience.
- Landscape Functional Units & Archetypes: Decomposing regions into functional units reflecting hydrological, ecological, and socio-economic processes, organized as recurring landscape archetypes. This approach links localized ecosystem functions to broader multi‑risk patterns.
- Meta–Ecosystem Perspective: Viewing interconnected ecosystems across spatial scales, enabling the evaluation of Blue Green Infrastructure (B–GI) networks that deliver cumulative ecosystem services across functional units.
- Ecosystem Service and Hazard Regulation Linkages: Demonstrating how targeted NbS interventions mediate water, energy, and material flows to attenuate hazard impacts and provide co–benefits.
- Network and Scaling Strategy: Moving beyond stand–alone projects that are functionally not linked, our framework supports systemic network solutions aligned with regional adaptation pathways, ensuring replicability and transferability across contexts.
By integrating these elements, the developed conceptual framework guides practitioners and policymakers from risk–mapping to the strategic design of interconnected B–GI networks. It supports the identification of optimal intervention locations, the selection of NbS types suited to specific landscapes, and the assembly of strategies that build long–term resilience. The framework’s logic underpins subsequent developments focused on spatial mapping, scenario quantification, monitoring, and NbS implementation.
This conceptual foundation paves the way for evidence–based, scalable NbS deployment, contributing to regional adaptation pathways and compliance with the EU Adaptation to Climate Change Mission objectives.
How to cite: Barquín Ortiz, J. and the NBRACER - WP5 Team: From Climate Risk Assessment to the Design of Blue and Green Infrastructure Networks: A Conceptual Framework, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8403, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8403, 2026.
In response to the degradation of ecosystems caused by human activities and climate change, In order to protect the alpine ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau, a number of major ecological projects have been carried out in the region since the end of the twentieth century, including the return of farmland to forests, the return of pasture to grassland, the protection of natural forests, and the construction of the Three Rivers Reserve. We integrates the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) assessment framework and focuses on the ecosystem services and the SDGs as the two core indicators, to comprehensively assess the impacts on ecosystem services and sustainability of the Tibetan Plateau since the ecological projects have been implemented. The impacts of the ecological project on ecosystem services and sustainable development on the Tibetan Plateau since its implementation were comprehensively assessed, and the distribution of the key implementation areas of the ecological project under future climate and land use scenarios were explored.
As a result, since the implementation of the ecological project, the NDVI of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region shows an overall increasing trend, in which the areas with significant increase are concentrated in the northern and southeastern regions of the plateau, occupying 21.80% of the total area of the plateau; And the relationships among the three major groups of ecosystem provisioning services, regulating services and supporting services have maintained an overall synergistic relationship, so we suggest that the reference threshold for future implementation of ecological projects aiming at optimal provisioning of ecosystem services should be an NDVI of 0.7; Furthermore, Based on the ecosystem services contribution to SDGs (ESSDG) calculated in the framework of ‘ecosystem services-SDGs’, we found that the average ESSDG score of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau counties has increased from 40.32 to 42.42 and the spatial distribution has been higher in the southeast and higher in the northwest, and the spatial distribution has been higher in the south-east and higher in the north-west, which generally indicates that the level of development of the SDGs process on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is gradually higher than the level of ecosystem services provision; We also simulate four scenarios of future land use changes and three SSPs scenarios varied greatly among four climate scenarios on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We draw a conclusion about the priority areas for future ecological project implementation under the different scenarios were mainly distributed in the southern and southeastern parts of the plateau.
How to cite: Dai, E.: Dynamic assessment of ecosystem service response and sustainable development on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the context of ecological engineering, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17993, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17993, 2026.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are key to climate adaptation policy, yet upscaling across diverse landscapes remains challenging. Within the HEU-NBRACER project, we developed a process framework to up- and outscale NbS. This framework is applied to the Province of West-Flanders, Belgium, where climate adaptation strategies have been co-designed by integrating evidence-based science with participatory governance.
First, we assessed risk at detailed spatial scales by combining available current and future spatial multi-hazard mapping with local vulnerability and exposure indicators. These risk maps informed stakeholder dialogues to prioritize risks and co-define a shared vision for climate resilience.
At the same time, concrete NbS-actions were co-designed and demonstrated with municipal actors and stakeholders. This process captured perceived co-benefits, barriers, and enablers, ensuring context-specific feasibility and alignment with policy and planning.
Next, solutions were identified and organized into a portfolio of process-based strategies (e.g., sponge landscape for water storage and retention; evapotranspiration-driven cooling for urban heat mitigation). Using a hotspot mapping approach, we identify where specific NbS are most effective by jointly considering biophysical effectivity (e.g., infiltration potential, connectivity) and risk reduction needs (e.g., locations with high flood or drought risk and vulnerable population):
NbS hotspot score=hazard score ×vulnerability score ×effectivity score
The hotspot approach applied in this framework aligns with the methodology used by the Flemish climate portal (Klimaatportaal), ensuring consistency with governmental tools and facilitating integration into policy processes.
For each strategy, we provide an overall score for climate benefits (drought and flood mitigation, soil erosion control, water quality improvements) and ecosystem services (food production, carbon sequestration and biodiversity enhancement) using multi-criteria scoring informed by expert interviews and literature study. During a co-design process informed by the NbS hotspot scores, local stakeholders finally identified actionable pathways to also implement those NbS. This is done for a specific subregion in West-Flanders, as part of the Landscape Park Zwinstreek.
Results deliver a portfolios of strategies, NbS hotspot maps, and actionable pathways to support decision-making and implementation. The framework bridges science, practice, and policy, enabling transparent prioritization, stakeholder ownership, and scalable NbS deployment for climate adaptation.
How to cite: Notebaert, B., Brosens, L., and Haesen, L.: From Risk Maps to Nature-Based Solutions Hotspots: Evidence-Based Upscaling for Climate Adaptation in West-Flanders (BE) , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5860, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5860, 2026.
Climate change, with increasingly severe impacts such as droughts and floods, necessitates rapid efforts toward cross-sectoral adaptation strategies, while administrative and practical collaboration for integrated landscape management remains at an early stage. Obstacles that keep the climate change adaptation gap widely open – both at local and regional scales – include, for example, the insufficient implementation of geoscientific four-dimensional (4D) thinking in spatial planning, nature conservation, etc. With our concept of “Landscape Pleofunctionality” (from Greek pleōn: "more, beyond") that incorporates the functional and interactional diversity of above- and belowground landscape elements, we undertake a double paradigm shift. First, the two-dimensional “map view” of landscapes is replaced by a natural 4D perspective that explicitly accounts for subsurface geodiversity (Aehnelt and Totsche, 2025; Lehmann et al., 2025) and the contribution and interlinkage of the subsurface space to landscape element functions such as water retention and purification. One key aspect is the recognition of the role of the thick aeration zone (sensu Lehmann et al., 2026; Lehmann and Totsche, 2020) beneath topographic highs (groundwater recharge areas). This neglected yet pivotal subsurface domain is particularly exposed to climate change yet provides considerable functions that can be leveraged to support numerous adaptation goals, with a focus on nature-based solutions. Second, the strict land-use benefit-oriented perspective (“maximation approach”) in practical planning and theory is replaced by a requirement to optimize the services of the pleofunctional landscape elements (“optimization approach”) and their multi-sectoral demands. Utilizing our holistic approach, we enable a deeper, cross-sectoral, and transferable understanding of surface–subsurface landscape functioning, provide a framework for the effective deployment of nature-based solutions (NBS) through appropriate site selection and monitoring, and promote the integration of science, practice, and policy. We’ll present practical examples of how the concept enables addressing local and subregional issues and nature-based solutions, for example, for water suppliers in Hesse and Thuringia in promoting landscape water storage, groundwater recharge, and explaining contamination pathways.
References:
Aehnelt, M., Totsche, K.U. (2025). From rock to soil: Saprock genesis and its legacy for subsoil structure and micro-aggregate formation during pedogenesis. Geoderma 459, 117356, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117356
Lehmann, K., Arachchige, D. E., Lehmann, R., Overholt, W. A., Küsel, K., Totsche, K. U. (2026). Neglected but pivotal: Complex matter dynamics in the aeration zone contribute to groundwater quality evolution. Water Research: 125287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2025.125287
Lehmann, R., Totsche, K. U. (2020). Multi-directional flow dynamics shape groundwater quality in sloping bedrock strata. Journal of Hydrology 580: 124291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124291
How to cite: Lehmann, R. and Totsche, K. U.: Landscape Pleofunctionality: an integrated surface–subsurface perspective for advancing transformative change and climate-change adaptation, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20003, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20003, 2026.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) such as wetlands are increasingly promoted as multifunctional measures for flood mitigation, water quality improvement, and ecosystem service enhancement under climate change. However, their effectiveness strongly depends on where they are implemented within the landscape, and uncertainties in spatial targeting continue to limit their performance and large-scale uptake. This study presents an integrated, catchment-scale framework for strategic NBS placement that bridges process-based hydrological science with participatory decision support.
The framework combines structural and functional landscape connectivity modelling with hydrological assessments and stakeholder-informed multi-criteria decision analysis. Sediment and hydrological connectivity are quantified using a connectivity index that integrates topography, land cover, soil properties, runoff potential, and soil moisture to identify areas of high transport activity and retention potential. Potential wetland locations are identified through high-resolution depression analysis and evaluated based on upstream-downstream interactions, storage capacity, and land-use context. Stakeholder priorities are incorporated using an analytic hierarchy process and multi-criteria decision analysis to explicitly account for governance constraints, feasibility, and desired ecosystem services.
The approach is demonstrated in two contrasting lowland catchments in central Sweden draining into Lake Mälaren, characterized by different land-use patterns, soil compositions, and hydrological responses. Results show that high-priority NBS locations consistently emerge where hydrological and geomorphological connectivity converge, highlighting the importance of targeting intervention points that influence catchment-scale processes rather than isolated sites. The multi-objective analysis reveals clear trade-offs and synergies among flood regulation, sediment and nutrient retention, water storage, and biodiversity, supporting transparent decision-making across competing objectives.
By integrating connectivity-based modelling with participatory prioritization, the framework links scientific understanding of landscape processes with practical implementation needs and policy-relevant decision support. The methodology is scalable, transferable, and suitable for application across different climatic and socio-economic contexts. It provides a robust basis for advancing climate-resilient landscape planning and supports the mainstreaming of NBS in water and land management strategies aligned with climate adaptation and sustainability goals.
How to cite: Rezvani, A. and Kalantari, Z.: A catchment-scale framework for nature-based solution placement using hydrological connectivity and participatory decision support, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5590, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5590, 2026.
Diffuse non-point source pollution from fertilizers, pesticides and soil erosion poses a significant threat to the water quality of agro-urban lands, driven by intensive farming and urban growth. In this context, buffer strips are widely recognized as an effective nature-based adaptation measure to mitigate the spreading of diffuse pollution. Although the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) promotes their adoption through eco-schemes and incentives, real-world implementation remains often limited and this is largely due to farmers reluctance to allocate productive land for buffers as well as the lack of comprehensive cost-benefit assessments demonstrating their economic viability. To address these gaps this study applies an integrated framework to quantitatively evaluate riparian buffer strip implementation and its potential benefits in Mediterranean agricultural basin regions that are highly vulnerable to climate-change impacts. In this extent, as a real-world case study, we select the Rio Santa Marina basin, a headwater tributary of the Sarno River (Campania, Italy) that is a severely polluted watercourse characterized by intensive agricultural activity principally in the upper part of the watershed. This integrated framework combines data on the topography, irrigation channel networks, land use and land cover, crop types and agricultural productivity to quantify the implications of buffer strip installation. This analysis supports the optimization of buffer placement while accounting for potential reductions in farmer’s income. In parallel, a cost-benefit analysis will evaluate financial feasibility and farmer’s willingness to adopt CAP-supported buffer designs. The study will support policymakers and water managers by providing: (i) a high-resolution spatial assessment of land suitable for buffer strip implementation (ii) a scenario-based buffer strip designs that maximize diffuse pollution reduction while minimizing the land subtracted from agriculture and (iii) a policy-oriented cost-benefit analysis to strengthen adoption under EU CAP eco-schemes. Ultimately, the project will offer a validated, scalable decision-support system to improve water quality in accordance with EU Water Framework Directive across agro-urban basins in Europe.
How to cite: Bashir, R., Merola, M., Lama, G. F. C., Tropeano, R., and Peruzzi, C.: An integrated framework to assess the optimal implementation of buffer strips in Mediterranean agricultural regions: Insights from the real-world case study of Rio Santa Marina watershed (Southern Italy), EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1238, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1238, 2026.
Lowland agricultural landscapes are increasingly exposed to climate-driven hydrological instability manifested through intensified rainfall extremes, prolonged droughts, rising temperatures, and altered groundwater–surface water interactions. In flat regions such as the Middle Banat drainage system in Serbia, hydrological functioning is controlled by slow system response, high groundwater sensitivity, and strong dependence on recipient water stages, making these landscapes particularly vulnerable to climate non-stationarity. Traditionally, flood protection and drainage in such systems have relied almost exclusively on grey infrastructure, while the regulatory role of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) within canal networks and drainage corridors has remained largely underestimated. In this study, long-term time series (2003-2023) of precipitation, groundwater levels, and recipient water stages were analyzed using a combined deterministic–stochastic hydrological framework, while future temperature and precipitation dynamics were projected using CMIP6 climate scenarios. Deterministic analysis was applied to interpret physical processes of infiltration, percolation, baseflow generation, and surface runoff propagation, while stochastic methods were used to detect trends, seasonality, system memory, and correlation structures under increasing climatic uncertainty. The results reveal persistent positive coupling between precipitation, groundwater levels, and recipient stages, confirming the storage-controlled behavior typical of flat lowland drainage systems. A statistically significant increase in mean air temperature and a strong rise in the number of extreme dry days were detected, while annual precipitation shows a slight long-term decline combined with pronounced intra-annual irregularity. Climate projections further indicate increased evapotranspiration demand, enhanced drought probability, and growing pressure on both natural groundwater recharge and conventional drainage capacity. Within this hydro-climatic context, NbS implemented directly along canals and within agricultural drainage corridors emerge as a critical missing link between scientific diagnostics and practical climate adaptation. Vegetated buffer strips and riparian strips along canals reduce flow velocity, enhance sediment and nutrient retention, promote bank stability, and improve thermal and ecological regulation of drained waters. Constructed wetlands and vegetated detention zones within the canal network increase temporary flood storage, attenuate peak flows, and enhance groundwater recharge under high-water conditions. Soil-focused NbS, including organic matter enhancement, cover crops, and micro-retention in fields, further strengthen infiltration capacity and drought buffering. The integration of deterministic–stochastic hydrological analysis with spatial NbS planning enables the identification of where, when, and at what scale such measures provide maximum hydro-climatic benefit within drainage systems. Beyond their engineering function, these NbS measures directly support SDG 13 by strengthening climate-change adaptation, reducing flood and drought risks, and increasing system resilience under non-stationary conditions, while simultaneously contributing to SDG 15 through the restoration of riparian habitats, enhancement of biodiversity corridors, improvement of soil functions, and reduction of diffuse agricultural pressures on aquatic ecosystems. The Middle Banat case demonstrates that climate-resilient lowland hydrology cannot rely solely on structural drainage control, but must embed NbS as functional components of canal networks, capable of simultaneously stabilizing groundwater regimes, mitigating hydrological extremes, restoring ecosystem services, and supporting integrated water, climate, and biodiversity policies. The presented framework provides a transferable scientific basis for bridging hydrological science, NbS practice, and sustainability-oriented policy implementation in large lowland agricultural regions facing climate-driven water instability.
How to cite: Vranešević, M., Petrić, Đ., and Meseldžija, M.: Nature-based solutions as a missing link in climate-resilient lowland hydrology: evidence from the Middle Banat drainage system, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-2456, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-2456, 2026.
Flood is the most common natural disaster in the world, and can have catastrophic impacts on human society and the environment, including infrastructure damage, agricultural losses, and casualties, resulting in widespread economic and social disruptions. In early studies, water body detection relied on on-the-spot investigation, hydrological models and common remote sensing techniques that face issues like slow processing and real-time delays. By addressing this challenges we propose a novel hybrid PoLSAR-metaheuristic-DL models and high-resolution remote sensing data to generate accurate and rapid flood mapping for one of the huge recent flood in France. Compared with standard synthetic aperture radars (SAR), polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) is an advanced technique of SAR remote sensing. So, by using polarimetric decomposition methods, features were extracted and feature selection problem, one of the most challenging, was solved by using metaheuristic techniques. The selected features fed into three deep learning-based segmentation models- U_Net_V3, Nested_UNet and Efficient_UNet. The reliability of the generated flood maps was evaluated using Accuracy, precision and recall metrics. Our experimental results indicate that Nested_UNet integrate with optimized PolSAR data achieves the highest segmentation performance, with an accuracy of 0.910, precision of 0.914, and recall of 0.909. These findings underscore the capability of Nested_UNet, demonstrates superior feature extraction abilities, making it a promising choice for real-time flood segmentation applications. Moreover, detecting the knowledge of flooded areas, officials can actively adopt steps to reduce the potential impact of flood, ensure the sustainable management of natural resources and mitigate flood impacts.
Keywords: Flood Segmentation, U_Net_V3, Nested_UNet, Efficient_UNet, PolSAR, Methaheuristis algorithms, France
How to cite: Khazaei Moughani, S., Kalantari, Z., Zou, L., Jaramillo, F., Santos Ferreira, C. S., and Khosravi, K.: Enhanced Flood Detection through Innovative Integration of PolSAR, Metaheuristic Optimization, and Deep Learning-Based Segmentation, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-7010, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-7010, 2026.
Flooding is one of the major risks in the UK, which is increasing due to climate change and increased urbanisation. The Environment Agency in the UK has predicted that 1 in 4 properties will be affected by flood risk due to river, sea or surface water flooding by 2050. Traditional flood defences built to protect the receptors such as infrastructure and people in floodplain are facing more intense and frequent floods. Natural Flood Management (NFM) aims to reduce flood risk to downstream communities by implementing upland measures that slow and store runoff, complementing traditional flood defences. Field-based evidence of the effectiveness of different types of NFM features are limited. This research develops a field-based method to quantify the performance of offline runoff attenuation ponds. A dense hydrometric network comprising of 12 pressure transducers, 2 ultrasound flow probes, and a tipping-bucket rain gauge has been installed across the site Coatham Beck, NE England (April 2024–present). The study quantifies pond storage and evaluates reduction or delay in downstream peak flows. This study addresses the wider challenge of lack of empirical quantification on NFM features. Findings will inform the design consideration for building better offline ponds allowing the replicability of such measures of flood in wider scale mitigating the impact of future flood risk.
How to cite: Medha, , Glenis, V., Walsh, C., Pollock, M., Revell, N., Nicholson, A., and Hetherington, D.: Quantifying the post-installation impact of offline ponds in Coatham Beck, Stockton, NE England, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3273, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3273, 2026.
Whilst there is an ever-growing evidence base, much guidance remains qualitative and further upscaling of schemes from the plot scale to the catchment scale is hindered by funding and uncertainty in performance. A key area of uncertainty is the interplay between different NbS interventions and whether they may have positive or negative feedback on each other. This has motivated further research into modelling and systematically exploring trade-offs across a large design space of different intervention options, and evaluating their effectiveness against multiple stakeholder objectives.
Even for a small catchment, evaluating all possible combinations is intractable, so the model is incorporated into a multi-objective optimisation framework for decision support. This research uses a genetic algorithm to explore intervention parameters and placement, and then simulates the performance for different intervention arrangements with a physically-based hydrological model to capture vertical as well as lateral surface flows. This seeks to form the basis for a catchment-scale planning tool which allows catchment stakeholders to interrogate the details between alternative strategies and evaluate if high-level needs are being met. A case study in the Wansbeck catchment will be presented, quantifying trade-offs between attenuating peak flow, habitat creation, carbon sequestration, and the cost of implementation.
How to cite: Rong, H., Dawson, R., and Hewett, C.: Spatial Multi-Objective Optimisation of Catchment-Scale Nature-based Solutions Strategies, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4227, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4227, 2026.
Flooding is the most frequent and socially disruptive natural hazard observed worldwide and is expected to increase in severity under climate change and due to urban expansion. This has prompted research in upland natural flood management (NFM) strategies and in using gully blocks as leaky barriers. Gully blocking is often implemented into degrading peatlands, primarily for restoration through water table recovery, erosion control, and soil restoration. However, they are not designed for flow attenuation and there have been relatively few attempts to test their capabilities to attenuate discharge peaks and reduce downstream flood risk. Past efforts to model gully block hydraulics are limited and those that exist have typically applied simple ‘weir’ and ‘orifice’ equations, sometimes tested against field observations of stage and discharge but never (to our knowledge) tested against detailed laboratory observations.
We collected 465 measurements through a series of 20 flume experiments in a 1 x 1 x 12.5 m flume under the range of discharges expected for timber gully blocks in UK gullies (i.e. 10 - 220 L/s). We examined the stage-discharge relationship under steady discharge for a timber barrier with a single configurable full channel width slot, 0.2 m above the bed and with slot height 10 - 100 mm. Mathematical modelling suggests that this design has the potential to considerably improve discharge attenuation relative to traditional gully block designs, but this has not been tested in the laboratory. This design functions in three phases, dependant on upstream pond height: 1) the slot functions as a weir from the point at which it overtops until the free surface reaches to the top of the slot; 2) thereafter it functions as an orifice with this as the only outflow point; until 3) the pond overtops the barrier when this is supplemented by weir flow over the top of the barrier. We find that the first phase weir flow is not well approximated by the classical weir equation, the more complete form accounting for upstream velocity improves the relationship, but resultant stage-discharge curves remain a poor fit to observations. However, both models (with and without upstream velocity) are a good fit to observations for phase 3, where the upstream pond depth is > 565.5 mm for a 10 mm slot barrier configuration. Taken together, these results suggest that weir equations are not appropriate for the shallow upstream depths associated with phase 1 but are appropriate for phase 3. The good news is that phase 1 will be short-lived in storms (early on the rising limb) thus the resulting error will have limited influence on modelling their hydraulic behaviour. In phase 2, orifice equations prove a good model, with both large and small orifice equations providing a good fit to observations and the large orifice equation providing a better fit at smaller upstream pond depths. These preliminary results are an encouraging step forward in pursuit of simple models for gully blocks to inform design optimisation and placement.
How to cite: Drummond, S. L., Milledge, D., and Hewett, C.: Optimising Gully Blocks to Reduce Flood Discharge, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-9872, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-9872, 2026.
Crop diversity underpins the stability of food supply and the sustainability of agriculture, yet limited understanding of its variability and underlying drivers constrains effective management. Drawing on data from 211 countries over six decades (1961–2020), we show that global crop diversity has generally increased, although one-third of countries experienced declines, and crop evenness decreased in nearly half of the countries. Differences across nations are primarily shaped by farm size, multiple cropping intensity, farmers’ crop income, and crop consumption patterns. Farm size emerges as the dominant factor, reducing global crop diversity by approximately 4%–8% annually from 1961 to 2020 and amplifying global inequalities in crop diversity distribution. Projections indicate a further 3%–10% decline by 2050 relative to 2020 levels. However, this trajectory can be reversed, with effective farm size management yielding a 6%–17% increase in global crop diversity while narrowing inter-country disparities. Such progress is critical to strengthen agricultural stability and advance multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, including zero hunger, reduced inequality, and responsible consumption and production.
How to cite: Gong, X.: Managing farm size as a nature-based solution to restore global crop diversity and reduce inequality, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4779, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4779, 2026.
For decades, alpine hazard management has relied on “grey” infrastructure such as protective structures and retaining walls to provide immediate safety. However, these major construction interventions and investments require regular maintenance, renovation or even replacement. This often involves significant financial efforts and management obligations, entailing open discussions on alternative management approaches.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have emerged as a sustainable alternative or complementation to conventional grey interventions within natural hazard management. The various forms of NbS have been serving as a toolkit to complement the hitherto, mainly structure-based protection approach, and they hold potential for a more comprehensive application instead of replacing outdated structures. NBS provide protection over long periods of time, with the biological component being strengthened during maturation and eventually taking over and entirely maintaining the protective function. The greatest advantage is that NbS may provide protection against certain natural hazards types for decades without significant maintenance costs.
Evaluating NbS structures, their effects and performances is currently under scientific focus, however methods for NbS evaluation in a quantifiable manner especially on a large scale, has remained a challenge. In many cases, the benefit of the NbS is evident, but measurability is often lacking. This study evaluates NbS implemented during the last two decades to stabilise the Gschliefgraben landslide area in Upper Austria, as part of the Horizon NatureDEMO project. We combine high-resolution UAV data with on-site inspections to assess the functionality and physical condition of the NbS interventions. These two approaches, when combined, should offer a way to monitor NBS projects on a larger scale more easily.
Furthermore, the study introduces a guideline to quantify the impact and benefits of NbS on basis of figures and parameters. In addition, emphasis is placed on dynamic protection performance to better reflect the time course and biological components of NbS methods. The methodology is linked to measurable variables and is developed in line with Eurocode 2. The ongoing pilot study aims to provide empirical data to build a theoretical framework towards integrating NbS into the Eurocode System.
How to cite: Tisch, P., Obriejetan, M., Kuschel, E., Hübl, J., and Stangl, R.: Quantifying the protective capacity of Nature-based Solutions: A Scalable Framework based on multi-decadal data at the Gschliefgraben landslide (Austria), EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10138, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10138, 2026.
Recent extreme drought and floods demonstrates society’s immediate need for climate adaptation and increased water storage capacity higher up in the landscape through the use of natural flood retention measures. Here, we present FLOODtool, a mapping tool that helps landowners, managers and catchment officers to estimate above and below ground water storage potential in the landscape. With the tool, we are able to investigate if detention ponds and restored wetlands in upstream forest areas can protect downstream arable fields (ensure food production), cities and waterways (improve water quality). In FLOODtool, we use soil distribution maps, high-resolution digital elevation data, land use maps and distributed modelling to quantify water storage potential and possible phosphorus reductions. We have applied the new tool in multiple watersheds with different land cover and water holding potential. In collaboration with different stakeholders, we have used FLOODtool modelling results to find cost-effective locations to rewet or implement new water retention measures depending on their criteria. Our modelling is complemented by empirical work in which we will use high-frequency sensors to quantify the ability of detention ponds ability to store water, prevent flooding, reduce erosion and phosphorus losses and study the drought mitigation potential. In co-creation with stakeholders, we followed the implementation process to evaluate possible barriers and goal conflicts. For example, if farmers and landowners can be compensated to protect downstream areas (prevent economic losses linked to infrastructure/housing) this would promote uptake of upstream flood retention measures. However, there may be obstacles in current legislation.
How to cite: Geranmayeh, P., Djodjic, F., Lannergård, E., Collentine, D., and Futter, M.: FLOODtool – mapping water storage potential and evaluating institutional barriers, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10364, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10364, 2026.
Leaky dams are an in-channel nature-based solution and a natural flood management intervention constructed in headwater streams to reduce runoff rates and attenuate flood peaks. Despite their widespread implementation, their hydraulic performance under high-flow conditions remains poorly constrained due to a lack of high-resolution observations when dams are actively storing floodwater. This lack of detailed performance characterisation is a barrier to uptake, particularly among the engineering community that designs flood mitigation schemes. This study presents the first application of Space-Time Image Velocimetry (STIV) to quantify surface flow velocities upstream and downstream of channel-spanning (≥4 m wide) leaky dams under controlled, repeatable high-flow conditions. Experiments were conducted along a 170 m white water rafting course, providing an intermediary setting between laboratory flumes and natural catchments that enables controlled flows. Three channel-spanning leaky dams were installed in sequence and tested using both natural (pine log) and engineered (pre-cut commercial timber) designs with systematically varied degrees of leakiness. Drone-based imagery was analysed using STIV to derive spatially distributed surface velocities, which were coupled with a maximum entropy method to estimate discharge.
Results demonstrate that dam leakiness is the dominant control on both upstream and downstream flow velocities. Velocities upstream of the dams decreased linearly with reduced leakiness (R² up to 0.97), while velocities downstream of the dams increased due to flow acceleration through dam gaps, revealing a clear trade-off between upstream flow attenuation and downstream jet strength. When arranged in sequence, leaky dams produced a cumulative reach-scale effect, with mean upstream velocities decreasing by approximately 0.15 m s⁻¹ per dam along the experimental reach. A full-scale partial dam failure was also captured, showing a rapid increase in downstream velocity and highlighting the transient residual flood risk associated with structural compromise.
These findings provide new empirical insights into the hydraulic functioning, cumulative effects, and failure behaviour of leaky dams, while demonstrating the value of STIV as a non-invasive tool for monitoring these interventions under high-flow conditions.
How to cite: Jones, A., Knapp, J., and Reaney, S.: Using Space-Time Image Velocimetry to assess characteristics of flow through full-scale leaky dams for flood hazard reduction, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10434, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10434, 2026.
As climate change intensifies hydro-meteorological extremes across Europe, nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly promoted as effective tools for flood risk reduction while delivering multiple environmental co-benefits. Most NBS, however, are implemented through small, locally driven interventions rather than large-scale programmes, and their role in fragmented landscapes depends strongly on who owns and manages the land. While public authorities have expanded their engagement through policy frameworks and funding schemes, flood-relevant NBS on private land remain largely shaped by individual landowner decisions.
This research presents comparative case studies from the Liguria region (north-western Italy), where steep slopes, dense drainage networks and widespread land abandonment have increased runoff, erosion and flood risk. In this context, private landowners are often the main actors maintaining or restoring landscape features such as terraces, dry-stone walls, small drainage systems and vegetated retention structures that influence local water retention and flow pathways.
Based on semi-structured interviews with private landowners who have realised such interventions, the study analyses the background for their decisions, through the following aspects: (i) landowners’ relationships with their land (productive, recreational or mixed); (ii) the motivations driving their engagement in nature-based water and land management; (iii) the role of financial, technical and social support in enabling implementation; and (iv) the environmental and socio-economic effects perceived after the interventions. The analysis follows an established framework for understanding private initiatives in natural water retention under different institutional and territorial conditions.
The work provides empirical examples of how nature-based solutions are initiated and implemented by private actors in a specific, hydro-geologically fragile landscape. By documenting motivations, enabling conditions and perceived outcomes, the study contributes to the growing research field on NBS by offering grounded evidence from local practice, supporting the design of more effective policies and incentive schemes for wider uptake.
How to cite: Dagnino, M. and Pezzagno, M.: What drives landowners to adopt nature-based retention in a fragile Mediterranean landscape?, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13402, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13402, 2026.
This study presents a data-driven framework that integrates deep learning and UAV-based remote sensing for geomorphic change detection. A Mask R-CNN model is trained to identify specific plant species from high-resolution orthoimagery, treating vegetation as spatially persistent surface features. The detected plant locations are georeferenced and represented as coordinate-based point datasets, enabling quantitative analysis of surface displacement through multi-temporal comparisons. The framework is demonstrated in the Guanziling region of southern Taiwan, a tectonically active area influenced by the Chukou Fault. Results indicate that temporal changes in the spatial distribution of detected vegetation effectively capture subtle surface deformation patterns that are difficult to observe using conventional image-based approaches. Compared with LiDAR surveys, the proposed method significantly reduces data acquisition costs while preserving essential spatial information for geomorphic analysis. Beyond monitoring applications, the resulting vegetation-based spatial datasets provide new opportunities for integration with physics-based geomorphic and geotechnical models, supporting data-driven model calibration, validation, and predictive assessment. Overall, this study highlights the potential of deep learning–enabled feature detection to advance scalable, cost-effective, and interpretable geomorphic monitoring in complex natural environments.
How to cite: Tsai, W.-P., Yang, C.-K., and Wang, H.-W.: Deep Learning–Based Vegetation Feature Detection for UAV-Derived Geomorphic Change Monitoring, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16430, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16430, 2026.
The environmental impacts of modern agricultural systems are well documented, with intensification contributing to declining water quality, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and significant biodiversity loss. In Ireland, these challenges are particularly acute: agricultural land accounts for approximately 68% of national land cover, meaning that solutions to the climate, biodiversity, water quality and flood risk crises are unattainable without meaningful engagement from the farming community. At the same time, Ireland’s farm structure is dominated by small holdings, with 36% of farms classified as small, generating less than €8,000 per annum. This highlights the need for approaches that support environmental outcomes while maintaining farm viability and the right to farm.
While farmers are increasingly recognised as central actors in delivering national climate and biodiversity commitments, many require practical tools and incentives to enable this transition. Natural capital accounting (NCA) has been identified by the State as a promising mechanism to support sustainable land management, implementation of nature based solutions and to potentially underpin payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes that reward farmers for delivering public goods such as carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, improved water quality and biodiversity enhancement. However, NCA remains poorly integrated into farm-level decision-making, particularly for small and medium-sized farms.
The Irish EPA funded FARM-NC (Farming Resilience and Management through Natural Capital) project addresses this gap by developing a transferable and adaptable whole-farm natural capital accounting framework. The project is implemented across three representative small to medium-sized Irish case study farms containing diverse natural capital assets and ecosystem service potentials. Using a participatory, systems-based approach, farmers and other decision-makers are embedded throughout the framework design process. Farm-level natural capital is mapped, measured and monitored using a combination of uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys, rapid ecological assessments and targeted water level monitoring in flood-prone areas. These data inform the development of whole-farm natural capital accounts, alongside a methodological guide to support wider uptake. The framework explicitly links environmental performance to livlihood outcomes by quantifying the benefits of natural capital management and developing practical sustainability metrics. Project outputs are translated into policy-relevant insights through direct engagement with policymakers, demonstrating how farm-scale NCA can support agri-environmental policy, PES schemes and nature-based solutions that enhance both environmental sustainability and farm resilience.
How to cite: O'Keeffe, J., Bourke, M., Cullen, N., McCarthy, V., Clarke, D., Clinton, M., and Sinnott, F.: The development of a Whole-Farm Natural Capital (NC) Accounting Framework to support farm level decision making and sustainable land use practices., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18163, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18163, 2026.
Across many regions, flood and drought events are becoming more frequent, negatively impacting livelihoods, infrastructure, and safety. In recent years, Trelleborg, a significant agricultural region in southern Sweden, has experienced an increase in flood events, in addition to previous large-scale issues with nutrient management entering the Baltic. Stakeholders are concerned, which has led to the implementation of several nature-based solutions (NBS) to manage the small streams flowing through agricultural landscapes. These measures include wetland creation, stream re-meandering, and riparian zone restoration, targeting not only water-related risk management but also showing great promise in enhancing biodiversity and creating new areas for recreation. Building upon existing knowledge and projects developed over the last decade, Trelleborg’s small streams and bottom-up NBS initiatives provide a valuable opportunity to examine diverse NBS across both agricultural and urban contexts. This project focuses on the co-creation of knowledge around previously implemented NBS, where researchers support an already engaged community through evaluation and recommendations for future work, utilizing modeling, mapping, and synthesis of information provided by different actors. The study identifies key success factors that enable NBS to meet objectives, such as flood risk reduction and biodiversity enhancement, while also highlighting areas that require careful evaluation prior to implementation, including nutrient retention, where outcomes are mixed. Further, scalability and transferability to similar stream systems are also discussed. Overall, the findings indicate that small-scale NBS have the potential to foster acceptance and capacity, enhance perceptions and local understanding of NBS, and promote shifts from viewing farmers as a source of environmental problems to recognizing them as environmental stewards.
How to cite: Kåresdotter, E., Rezvani, A., Mobini, S., and Kalantari, Z.: From Risk to Shared Resilience: Co-Creating Nature-Based Solutions in Small Catchments in Southern Sweden, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18715, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18715, 2026.
Small retention ponds are increasingly recognised as effective nature-based solutions for managing hydrological extremes in Norway’s agricultural catchments. Typically located in upper catchment areas or at the forest–agriculture interface, these ponds temporarily store runoff during intense rainfall events and snowmelt. In addition to flood mitigation, they provide important co-benefits by reducing soil erosion and sediment transport and by protecting agricultural drainage systems from erosion and overflow during extreme events, thereby supporting long-term soil productivity. Although individual storage volumes are limited, their cumulative impact at the catchment scale can be substantial when retention ponds are strategically distributed across the landscape.
This study investigates the potential effects of small retention ponds using process-based hydrological modelling with SWAT+ to support catchment-scale climate adaptation planning in a Norwegian agricultural catchment. SWAT+ enables an improved representation of hydrological connectivity between managed landscapes and the stream network through its flexible spatial structure and rule-based management algorithms. The model is calibrated using a constraint-based approach that integrates both soft and hard data to represent streamflow and sediment dynamics in the Lierelva catchment. Multiple retention ponds are implemented to assess their cumulative effects on streamflow and sediment transport. Finally, the study discusses key challenges associated with modelling catchment–NBS interactions using SWAT+.
How to cite: Shafiei, M., Farkas, C., Skarbøvik, E., and Bieger, K.: Catchment-scale assessment of small retention ponds as nature-based solutions in a Norwegian agricultural catchment using SWAT+, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19278, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19278, 2026.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognised as effective and multifunctional approaches for addressing an array of environmental concerns in agricultural landscapes. However, their wider adoption remains constrained by limited integration of evidence at farm scale, and by the absence of transferable frameworks that support systematic assessment and decision making.
This contribution presents an integrated whole farm natural capital accounting framework for evaluating NbS performance in agricultural systems, developed within the EPA-funded FARM-NC (Farm-level Natural Capital) programme in Ireland. The framework combines high resolution spatial data, ecological field surveys, and water monitoring with spatial analysis and systems based modelling to quantify ecosystem services related to water regulation, flood and runoff attenuation, carbon storage, and habitat provision. Natural capital accounts are structured in alignment with international standards, including the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) and State-and-Transition models, enabling consistency, comparability, and scalability across sites.
The approach is applied across three small to medium sized farms representing diverse land use configurations and natural capital assets. Initial analyses focus on identifying NbS opportunities for enhancing hydrological resilience, including the role of semi-natural habitats, riparian features, and land-cover heterogeneity in influencing flow pathways and water retention.
By integrating biophysical assessment with economic and governance relevant metrics, this work advances the scientific basis for evaluating NbS at farm scale and supports their targeted placement and monitoring in agricultural landscapes. The framework provides a transferable foundation for informing agri-environmental policy, incentive mechanisms, and resilience planning, contributing to more sustainable land and water management under changing climatic conditions.
How to cite: Clinton, M., O'Keeffe, J., Bourke, M., Clarke, D., Cullen, N., McCarthy, V., and Sinnott, F.: Integrating Natural Capital Accounting to Evaluate Nature-Based Solutions in Agricultural Landscapes, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20235, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20235, 2026.
Field-ditch-pond (FDP) systems can mitigate nitrogen (N) runoff loss from rice production by interception, impoundment and purification, but their regulation potential remains unclear across China. This study identified the scales of ditches and ponds and evaluated their N runoff mitigation efficiency, by combining image extraction of small water bodies and the newly developed FDP-NPS model. The four rice-growing regions varied in the scale of ditches and ponds: the Mid-lower Yangtze River Basin (MLYZ) exhibited the highest ditch-pond proportion (Rdp), followed by Northeast Plain, Southeast Coast, and Upper Yangtze River Basin. By jointly regulating water levels in paddies, ditches and ponds, the FDP system retained > 90% of runoff under light and moderate rainfall events and > 80% under heavy rainfall events, and further achieved notable N reduction efficiency (IRNload) of 14-90%. Compared with low- and medium-regulation intensities, a high-regulation intensity of FDP’ water levels enhanced IRNload. IRNload was primarily governed by Rdp, regulation intensity, and precipitation. Overall, the current ditch and pond scales exhibited acceptable N reduction potential, future efforts should prioritize the optimization of water management and ecological purification functions over the blind scale expansion of ditches and ponds, but differentiated optimization strategies are necessary for four rice-growing areas. This study provides decision support for implementing nature-based N loss reduction strategies.
How to cite: Zhuang, Y., Li, W., Wen, W., and Zhang, L.: Potential and effects of field-ditch-pond systems to mitigate N loss from paddy fields in China, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21657, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21657, 2026.
Flooding remains the most frequent and damaging natural hazard globally, causing significant loss of life and socio-economic disruption each year. In response, flood risk management policies have increasingly embraced nature-based solutions, particularly Natural Flood Management strategies (NFMs), which seek to preserve, restore, or mimic natural hydrological and geomorphological processes across catchments as interconnected systems. While growing evidence supports the hydrological implications of individual NFM interventions (Bagheri et al., 2025), comparative assessments of multiple NFM strategies in rapid-response catchments remain limited. This study, led by Devon County Council in partnership with 19 organisations and aiming to enhance community flood resilience through NFMs, evaluates the hydrological effectiveness of multi-intervention NFM approaches across five fast-responding catchments in Devon, UK. Utilising a robust Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design, we collected high-resolution hydrological data at five-minute intervals using water level loggers, rain gauges, soil moisture probes, and time-lapse cameras. 545 flood events were identified and analysed. Preliminary results from the completed catchments confirm that NFMs collectively contribute to reductions in flood peak magnitude and increases in flow travel time, with the magnitude of effect varying by intervention type and catchment characteristics.
Reference
Bagheri‐Gavkosh, M., Panici, D., Puttock, A., Dauben, T., & Brazier, R. E. (2025). Hydrological Analysis and Impacts of Natural Flood Management Strategies: A Systematic Review. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 18(3), e70112.
How to cite: Bagheri Gavkosh, M., Puttock, A., Panici, D., Alexander, G., and E. Brazier, R.: Evaluating Natural Flood Management Effectiveness Across Fast-Responding Catchments Using High-Resolution Monitoring, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-553, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-553, 2026.
Climate change is intensifying the exposure of cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to extreme events and risks, increasing the need for effective adaptation strategies. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are recognized as key instruments to cope with climate impacts. Among them, urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) stands out for its multifunctionality, providing economic, social, health, and environmental co-benefits such as urban cooling, heat mitigation, improved nutrition, and enhanced well-being. However, the explicit inclusion of UPA within the NbS framework is still recent, and its implementation remains limited, often overlooking interactions among co-benefits and underexploring its contribution to climate adaptation. In this sense, we developed a conceptual framework for implementing UPA as a NbS in LAC, recognizing the importance of doing so in the context of accelerating climate change and the growing need for urban adaptation and resilience. The proposed framework provides guidance for policymakers to integrate UPA into urban planning, supporting more resilient, healthy and adapted cities. The methodology combines a literature review on NbS design and case studies of UPA in LAC cities, ensuring both conceptual understanding and practical application. This approach also allows the identification of challenges, opportunities, and enabling conditions for integrating UPA into urban climate adaptation strategies. The framework highlights the key components of UPA implementation and the interactions between them and is structured in three complementary phases: (i) pre-implementation, focused on planning, stakeholder engagement, and enabling conditions; (ii) implementation, which underpins UPA practices and enhances health, social, economic, and ecological dimensions via multifunctional benefits and co-benefits; and (iii) post-implementation, in which, through a network, the environmental, social, and economic benefits and co-benefits may collectively enhance climate adaptation and urban resilience. Governance and stakeholder engagement are crucial across all stages. Our analysis of UPA initiatives in LAC demonstrates that these practices are highly multifunctional, providing interconnected social, economic, environmental, and health co-benefits. Case studies reveal that, although many projects were initially implemented to address immediate needs such as food security and income generation, they often evolve over time, producing additional benefits including urban cooling, biodiversity enhancement, and community engagement. The proposed conceptual framework captures these dynamics, emphasizing the importance of planning, stakeholder engagement, and enabling conditions during pre-implementation, the delivery of multifunctional benefits during implementation, and long-term monitoring and adaptive management in the post-implementation phase. By integrating UPA into urban planning, the framework highlights how multifunctional NbS can strengthen climate adaptation, enhance urban resilience, and provide cost-effective alternatives to grey infrastructure. This approach also identifies key challenges and opportunities for scaling up UPA in LAC cities, underscoring the need for governance structures, context-specific indicators, and participatory processes to ensure sustainable and equitable outcomes.
How to cite: Bertolini, A. M., Di Giulio, G., and van den Bosch, M.: Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture as a Nature-Based Solution: A Conceptual Framework for the implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-615, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-615, 2026.
Large regulated rivers across Europe have progressively lost floodplain connectivity due to channelization and longitudinal levees. This has led to increased flood risk, higher flow velocities, and recurrent economic damage in agricultural areas. In the middle reach of the Ebro River (NE Spain), decades of river confinement have resulted in frequent levee overtopping and failures during medium-magnitude floods, despite extensive structural defences.
This contribution presents the implementation of Lateral Flow Buffering Zones (ZAFL, Spanish acronym), developed within the LIFE Ebro Resilience project, as an adaptive flood risk management measure for non-urban floodplains. The approach combines setback levees, controlled overflow sections, and compartmentalized agricultural areas that allow pre-inundation and temporary water storage, reducing flow velocities and erosive forces during flood events.
Two-dimensional hydraulic modelling was applied to evaluate multiple design scenarios under a 10-year return period flood (Q ≈ 2,300 m³/s). Results show that the selected configuration—covering approximately 630 ha and subdivided into 14 buffering units—delays the onset of overtopping, increases the conveyance capacity of the main channel by more than 200 m³/s in constricted sections, and significantly reduces flow velocities over cultivated land. Additionally, the system stabilizes levees by balancing hydraulic pressures and enables rapid, controlled drainage after flood recession.
Beyond flood risk reduction, the intervention promotes river–floodplain reconnection, supports riparian habitat restoration, and aligns with the objectives of the EU Habitats and Floods Directives by applying Nature-Based Solutions. The Ebro River case demonstrates how adaptive floodplain management can provide a resilient, multifunctional alternative to traditional flood defences in large regulated rivers under climate change pressures.
How to cite: Murillo Peñacoba, E., Gargantilla Cañero, D., Chopo Prieto, S., García Suikanen, C., Sanz Azcarate, L., Zaragueta Arrizabalaga, E., Clavijo Izquierdo, M. J., Montero García, A. M., Royo Naya, M. P., Palú Aramburu, F., Arrachea Veramendi, E., Paniagua Rodriguez, M., Fernández Irizar, F. J., and Garza Merino, T.: Enhancing flood resilience in large regulated rivers. fighting flood with flood , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3943, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3943, 2026.
The restoration of peatlands taking place worldwide is a remarkable case of implementation of nature-based solutions at large spatial scales. It is often suggested that peatland restoration may contribute to climate adaptation goals by attenuating the hazard of floods and improving water quality. However, approaches to evaluate such benefits beyond single case studies and account for them in the planning of restoration are lacking.
Peatland restoration is often realized by filling in or damming drainage ditches, thereby increasing the distance of land parcels to the drainage network. In this work we leverage recent advances in the relationship between drainage network structure and the mean distance to the nearest drainage (i.e., the mean hillslope length, a key metric for ecosystem services like flood mitigation and solute degradation) in the context of peatland restoration. We analyze how this metric changes with different ways of realizing peatland restoration (i.e., by intervening on all ditches - as it is mostly done now - or only on some of them) in four catchments located across Norway.
We find that effects comparable to those obtained by erasing all ditches can be achieved by only erasing some of them. This means that peatland restoration may be realized at lower costs, while obtaining similar results for the ecosystem services mentioned above.
Results indicate that the contributing area of a ditch is the fundamental criterion determining the benefit of its removal, and ditches with larger contributing areas should therefore be prioritized in restoration. When the restoration goal is to achieve a target mean hillslope length and the related ecosystem services, implementing restoration from down to upstream consistently minimizes ditch removal, making it the most economically convenient option.
The proposed approach can support effective planning of nature-based solutions such as peatland restoration, thus reducing costs linked to their large scale implementation.
How to cite: Basso, S., Casarotto, F., and Botter, G.: Effective design of peatland restoration: insights from studying how hillslope lengths change with drainage network structure, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4059, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4059, 2026.
Floods and droughts pose significant threats to both human communities and natural landscapes. The EU Horizon SpongeScapes project (www.spongescapes.eu 2023-2027) aims to enhance landscape resilience against these hydrometeorological extremes by exploring "landscape sponge functions" – the natural ability of landscapes to absorb, store, and gradually release water. This project includes research in various “sponge measures” (i.e., Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and/or hybrid interventions) across European sites with varying climates, geographies, and soil conditions, to address three main research questions: (1) what is the longer-term effectiveness of sponge measures (and what indicators/metrics are more adequate to monitor change); (2) what is the overall effect of all sponge measures in a catchment (i.e. of sponge strategies); and (3) what are the main co-benefits and tradeoffs of sponge measures and strategies?
Here we will present findings from one of the SpongeScapes sites, in an agricultural sub-catchment of the Thames basin where research has been ongoing since 2017. The Littlestock Brook Natural Flood Management (NFM) site includes several NbS measures including woody leaky dams connecting floodplain and field corner bund storage areas, and regenerative agriculture practices, that provide resilience to hydro-climatic extremes of floods and droughts to soil and fluvial systems.
Results are based on baseline and ongoing field monitoring, including analyses based on hydrological (surface water levels and soil hydraulic properties) and survey data (airborne Lidar and ground topo-bathymetric campaigns) for the agricultural fields, floodplain and storage areas. Longevity of interventions will be discussed. Since installed over 5 years ago, several surface water storage measures have been colonised by vegetation providing co-benefits (plant and macroinvertebrate recent re-survey results will be presented). While also gradually infilled by fluvial and/or agricultural field sediment (geomorphic change results will be presented), or degraded, such as some woody leaky dams.
We will discuss longer-term water retention effectiveness, monitoring/maintenance needs and potential co-benefits, dis-benefits/tradeoffs or unintended consequences. We will frame these findings in the context of a recently developed sponge measure monitoring framework, and identify research priorities within the wider project towards achieving more climate resilient landscapes.
How to cite: Dussaillant, A., Sah, N., Blake, J., Rameshwaran, P., Bishop, J., Robotham, J., George, C., Laize, C., Everard, N., Scarlett, P., Dueñas-López, M.-Á., and Old, G.: Sponge Measures for Natural Flood Management in Agricultural Landscapes: Water Retention Effectiveness, Co/Dis-Benefits, and Hydro-Geomorphic Change in Nature-based Solutions in the Upper Thames, UK, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20783, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20783, 2026.
Soil erosion, surface runoff, and nutrient losses are critical processes linking environmental degradation with social and economic pressures, particularly in multifunctional landscapes where agricultural production, ecosystem conservation, and local livelihoods coexist. In such contexts, the effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) depends not only on biophysical performance but also on their social feasibility and acceptance. This study explores how structured science–society interaction can support participatory planning of NBS in an erosion-prone socio-ecological system.
The research is developed within the Horizon Europe EUROLakes project and focuses on the Lake Vico volcanic basin (Central Italy), a unique landscape where high natural value, hazelnut cultivation, and strong cultural, recreational, and identity-related ties to the lake coexist. Increasing erosion-driven runoff and nutrient transport are contributing to declining water quality and eutrophication, highlighting the urgent need to balance human pressures and ecosystem functioning to avoid further degradation of the lake’s water ecosystem.
Environmental analyses of erosion processes and nutrient pathways were used as a shared knowledge base to support dialogue with local actors. Stakeholder mapping, workshops, and focus groups were adopted as key methodological steps to identify feasible management interventions and alternative scenarios aimed at improving water quality and erosion issues, while preserving community identity and agricultural productivity. Building on this process, a participatory workshop was conducted using a digital Participatory Multicriteria Analysis (PMCA), implemented through a tailored version of the consolidated MULINO Decision Support System (mDSS), and structured around the 4 Returns Framework to jointly evaluate NBS-oriented options across natural, social, financial, and inspirational returns.
Preliminary results from the participatory assessment contributed to the identification of priority intervention themes and informed the evaluation of alternative management options within the EUROLakes project. By integrating scientific indicators with experiential and place-based knowledge within a single decision-support process, the approach makes trade-offs explicit and fosters collective learning. The study contributes to interdisciplinary debates by demonstrating how environmental and social sciences can jointly support the co-design of context-sensitive NBS in sensitive lake landscapes
How to cite: Iavarone, C., Pelorosso, R., Mancini, G., Rivadeneyra, P., Cornacchia, F., Raimondo, S., Patriarca, A., Recanatesi, F., Giupponi, C., and Ripa, M. N.: Stakeholder-Driven Prioritisation of Nature-Based Solutions in a Volcanic Lake Basin, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-11865, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-11865, 2026.
Wetlands can serve as nature-based solutions for flood control, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity support but have faced increasing pressure from urban growth. This has led to the development of land protection policies such as the Greenbelt, which was designed to protect wetlands and prime farmland from the expansion of the Greater Toronto Area in Southern Ontario, Canada. This region is home to over a third of the Canadian population and one of the most productive soils in the country, fact that exacerbate competition for land between these two uses. Furthermore, urban land has substantially expanded over ecologically and socially valuable wetlands, raising questions about transition drivers and how effective the three Greenbelt designations are: Niagara Escarpment, Oak Ridges Moraine, and Protected Countryside.
This study thus investigates the role played by the three different Greenbelt designations in preventing further wetland conversion in Southern Ontario between 2000 and 2020 by estimating a land-use shares spatial model. We used remote-sense-based land use and cover maps, aggregated over 241 Ontario’s census subdivisions, and explanatory variables representing socioeconomic drivers and biophysical characteristics such as population density, farm income, temperature, precipitation, and soil suitability for agriculture.
As expected, population density, farm income, and mainly household income are major socioeconomic drivers of wetlands conversion to urban land and cropland. In terms of wetlands being converted to cropland areas, temperature and precipitation are also important drivers, although with much smaller coefficients’ magnitude compared to the socioeconomic drivers. This underscores the potential impacts of a warming climate on future conversion of wetlands and peatlands in Northern Ontario, where most of the Canadian Peatlands are located. Turning to the policy barriers to further wetland loss, both Niagara escarpment and the Oak Ridges Moraine has been effective in preventing further conversion of wetlands to urban areas, but they are not statistically significant for transitions between wetlands and croplands. These two Greenbelt designations were designed to protect the natural landscape of the Niagara Escarpment, fauna and headwaters. The protected countryside was specifically created to protect not only wetlands but also agricultural lands, and we observed that this designation did not show up statistically significant for urban expansion over cropland areas. Wetland areas have yet increased in areas within this policy area domain.
Southern Ontario is one of the most rapidly growing regions in Canada, surpassing the national average growth rate. This rate is expected to further increase as the province population is projected to grow by more than 40% in the coming three decades. Our results reveal the urgent need for continuous monitoring of land use policies aimed to protect nature-based solutions such as wetlands, especially peatlands due to their ability to act as a sink of greenhouse gases and, therefore, potential for mitigating climate change. With a warming climate, the conflict over land allocation for urban and agricultural development may push agricultural uses to the Northern part of the province, triggering unprecedented wetland and peatland disturbance and conversion.
How to cite: Sone, J., Ortuzar, I., Brouwer, R., and Eamen, L.: Effective land use policy to protect wetlands as nature-based solutions: the Ontario’s Greenbelt study case, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-15927, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-15927, 2026.
Globally, Urban Parks are key infrastructure for climate adaptation. Many studies report that urban parks have positive effects and advantages, for example by absorbing carbon, cooling urban areas, reducing air pollution and reducing stormwater runoff. However, there is still a gap between research and practice. Research often relies on specific assumptions and controlled conditions, and results are sometimes criticized as difficult to apply in real design and construction settings. These limitations make it challenging to translate scientific findings into practical landscape-design solutions. In the Republic of Korea, the government-owned Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) which commissions and manages large public development projects has been working to strengthen design approaches that better connect research and on the ground practice. In this background, this study proposes method and tool for public institutions (including organizations like LH) to assess landscape design’s potential functions of adapting climate changes.
This study addresses three key adaptation functions in urban parks, such as carbon uptake, temperature reduction, and runoff reduction. Our approach has two parts. First, we identify design factors to enhance both park’s functions and designer’s understanding. Second, we develop simple assessment methods that can estimate each function based on those design factors. So, we describe the mechanisms behind each function, define conditions that make the assessment easier to apply, and refine the framework through expert input.
Importantly, we focused on practical applicability. We have maintained ongoing communication with LH and design professionals throughout the process. As a result, the proposed method can support real-world decision-making in public projects and may also be transferable to other countries. We present this study as a meaningful step toward narrowing the gap between theory and practice in climate-adaptive landscape design.
How to cite: Choi, J., Kim, Y., and Park, C.: Development tool to assess urban Park design for climate adaptation in public institutions of managing landscape-architecture, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16054, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16054, 2026.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly promoted to address climate change while delivering multiple benefits. In the Geul Basin in the south of the Netherlands, interest in NbS has increased notably following the 2021 flood. This has led to a growing number of initiatives by both governmental and non-governmental actors. Despite this interest, uncertainties remain regarding which NbS options should be prioritized, accounting for not only their disaster risk reduction benefits but also their co-benefits and stakeholder preferences, and how these measures can be combined and sequenced over time. This study presents the outcomes of a workshop conducted with a diverse group of stakeholders from different sectors in the Geul Basin, combining multi-criteria analysis (MCA) with the adaptation pathway approach. Workshop participants jointly assessed NbS options using agreed and weighted socio-economic and ecological criteria. The MCA results informed the co-development of adaptation pathways, exploring how preferred NbS options can be sequenced under changing climate conditions and identifying enabling conditions, such as governance, financing, and land-use arrangements, required for their implementation.
Results show that participants prioritised flood protection and highlighted the importance of sustainable financial models to support measures in the long term. Based on the ranking of measures, forest-based and wetland measures, such as (food) forests, alluvial forests, and wetlands, emerged as the top solutions. In the pathway exercise, these measures are sequenced later in the timeline, while the enabling conditions necessary for their implementation are already underway at an early stage. Finally, the pathway exercise revealed the importance of combining different measures and upscaling them, given the limitations of a single NbS measure in fully addressing flood and drought extremes. At the same time, land use and financing remained the key conditions for the successful implementation of the pathway.
How to cite: Bilalova, S., Schaafsma, M., and de Wolf, L.: Co-creating strategies to implement nature-based solutions for flood and drought risk: insights from the Geul Basin, the Netherlands, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16323, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16323, 2026.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are widely recognised for their potential to deliver ecological and socio-economic benefits across diverse urban contexts. However, the spatial design and long-term governance of NbS in dense, land-constrained environments remain underexplored. This paper examines community gardens (CGs) and everyday greening practices as small-scale NbS within such settings, focusing on three upgraded informal settlements in Bangkok, Thailand, developed under the Baan Mankong (“secure housing”) participatory social housing programme.
The study adopts a comparative lens to examine how CGs operate as adaptable and socially embedded NbS in contexts where land scarcity and competing priorities constrain urban greening. Using an exploratory mixed-methods design, we combine (1) spatial typology analysis to identify constraints and opportunities for greening; (2) NDVI time-series analysis (2018–2025) derived from PlanetScope imagery to monitor vegetation patterns over time; (3) household surveys capturing ecosystem service aspirations, perceived benefits, and disservices; and (4) semi-structured interviews with community leaders, long-term gardeners, and technical partners. Together, these methods form an analytical framework for evaluating existing CGs and informing future small-NbS design in upgraded informal settlements.
The findings show that while urban CGs are frequently celebrated for their multifunctionality, their form and social benefits are strongly shaped by spatial configuration, institutional arrangements, and modes of community stewardship within which they are placed. Across the three settlements – characterised by clustered, linear canal-edge, and grid-like high-connectivity spatial forms – CGs exhibit distinct patterns of accessibility, participation, and stewardship among community members. These spatial differences further influence perceived benefits and disservices, as well as patterns of land use, labour burdens, and leadership dynamics. Collectively, the findings illuminate the functionality and dynamics of CGs as small-scale NbS and contribute to the development of a decision-support framework for the design and assessment of small-scale NbS in dense, land-constrained urban environments.
How to cite: Gohain Baruah, A., Ng, S., Natakun, B., Hamel, P., and Arif Fathoni Lubis, M.: Community Gardens as Small-Scale Nature-Based Solutions in Upgraded Informal Settlements: Spatial Typologies and Decision-Support Insights from Bangkok, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8524, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8524, 2026.
Posters virtual: Wed, 6 May, 14:00–18:00 | vPoster spot 4
EGU26-8304 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS32
The effectiveness of Temporary Storage Areas for Natural Flood Management: Empirical evidence from a lowland catchment, UKWed, 06 May, 14:06–14:09 (CEST) vPoster spot 4
Temporary storage areas (TSAs) are a nature-based solution for attenuating flood peaks through the temporary detention of floodwaters in small (up to 10,000 m3) storage ponds on hillslopes or floodplains. Despite their increasing prevalence as part of Natural Flood Management (NFM) schemes in the UK, empirical evidence demonstrating their capability to mitigate flooding at catchment scales is limited. Addressing this evidence gap is a key priority for informing future flood risk management policies.
In this study, we intensively monitored a prominent NFM scheme in the Littlestock Brook, a lowland rural sub-catchment (6.4 km2) of the River Evenlode in England. Ten TSAs providing a combined 25,000 m3 of flood storage were implemented between 2018 and 2020 to protect a flood-prone settlement. Measurements of river discharge (5 min), TSA stored volume (5 min), and precipitation (10 min) enabled the filling and drainage dynamics of individual TSAs to be quantified. The monitoring period (2019-2021) captured several notable storm events, including one with an estimated return period of 1 in 37 years.
To quantify the aggregated impact of multiple TSAs on flood hydrographs at the catchment scale, observed TSA inflows and river discharge were used within a time-of-travel based hydrograph reconstruction approach to enable the estimation of downstream discharge in the absence of TSAs. Comparison of observed (with TSAs) and reconstructed (without TSAs) hydrographs indicate a 23% reduction in peak discharge for a 1 in 16-year return period storm. Furthermore, analysis of individual TSAs revealed substantial variation in storage utilisation and drainage during and after storms. These results provide quantitative evidence of how TSAs function both individually and in combination. The potential effectiveness of TSAs as a sustainable Natural Flood Management intervention will be discussed.
How to cite: Bishop, J., Old, G., Rameshwaran, P., Wade, A., Robotham, J., Gasca-Tucker, D., Berkeley, A., Old, J., and McKnight, D.: The effectiveness of Temporary Storage Areas for Natural Flood Management: Empirical evidence from a lowland catchment, UK, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8304, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8304, 2026.
