Words by Smiley Team
A new project has launched to help reduce flood risks to communities in Lancashire – protecting our land and the people on it.
It's the first of its kind Natural Flood Management (NFM) project, which has a £1.5 million investment from Triodos Bank UK, a sustainable bank from the UK that says its mission is “to make money work for positive change”.
There are a number of different measures being put in place to help prevent flooding, all of which are reliant on making improvements to the environment. This is brilliant, because not only is this project protecting communities from being damaged by flooding, it is doing it in the most sustainable and least invasive way possible.
[Sign up here to receive a weekly dose of positive news in your inbox]
“I’m extremely proud to see this innovative project come to fruition,” said Mark Lloyd, CEO of The Rivers Trust. “Nature-based solutions are a vital part of our collective arsenal to restore our natural environment and increase climate resilience, and I’m delighted that The Rivers Trust is leading the way, working in cross-sector partnerships to find sustainable funding models to implement them at scale.”
The project is tackling flooding prevention in three main ways; wetland creation, grassland creation and woodland creation.
Wetland creation will help to temporarily store water, including leaky dams, bunded hedgerows, floodplain reconnection and more. This will help water to move through the land at a steady pace, without building up and allowing flooding to happen.
Grassland creation increases the roughness and traction on the ground, which will slow and divert water overflow. Here, land usage may change to be more appropriate for flood slowing, for example changing intensive grasslands to rough pasture, or growing riparian plants as a buffer.
Finally, woodland creation is an easy one - planting more native trees, particularly riparian ones which are used as a natural barrier to water, will help to intercept the flood waters. Any intercepted water will also be diverted, preventing a buildup and making it much safer.
DONATE: Give to The Rivers Trust to help preserve and maintain our rivers.
VOLUNTEER: Get involved with The Rivers Trust, whether that is cleaning pollutants from rivers, removing invasive species or creating habitats.
