Integrated Floodplain Management, Environmental Change, and Geomorphology: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Recognition of the failure of old perspectives on river management and the need to enhance environmental sustainability has stimulated a new approach to river management over the past couple of decades. The manner that river restoration and integrated management are implemented, however, requires a case study approach that takes into account the influence of historic human impacts to the system, especially engineering. The process of engineering frequently results in an embanked floodplain to reduce the impact of flooding. It is increasingly recognized that floodplain embankment, while usually effective at minimizing flood risk, results in a variety of adverse consequences to the functioning of the river and associated ecosystem health. New, geomorphic-based approaches, which take into account the different modes of adjustment under the framework of integrated management, are now largely seen as the way to move forward. Implementation of such an approach, however, requires a sophisticated understanding of the fluvial system.