Nature-based solutions for reconciling flood prevention and integrated management of aquatic lands

Abstract

The application of the GEMAPI (Management of aquatic environments and flood prevention) competence in France calls for solutions aiming at reconciling flood prevention and integrated management of aquatic lands. Nature-based solutions, based on healthy, resilient, functional and diversified ecosystems to address the effects of global change, such as climate change and increase of natural risks, can be eligible for this purpose. These kinds of solution based on the use of eco- and bio-engineering structures, complementary to civil engineering ones, should allow better prevention of floods while restoring environments with an integrated approach at the catchment scale. However, the evaluation of the efficiency of this kind of solutions, in particular on flood prevention, remains a major challenge to which scientists try to answer through an interdisciplinary approach seeking to assess their ecological and security-based benefits in the framework of the GEMAPI law.