Natural Flood Retention on Private Land

The main objective of the Action is to establish a common knowledge base and collaboration among scientists, regulators, land owners and other stakeholders in field in implementing “Nature-based solutions” such as Natural Water Retention Measures. These measures are primarily applied on private lands. Thus, the mission of the LAND4FLOOD action is to coordinate flood risk management and land management from different perspectives: clarifying economic issues, property rights issues (e.g., how to allow temporary flood storage on private land), public participation issues (e.g., how to ensure involvement of private landowners), and public subsidy issues (e.g., how to integrate flood retention in agricultural subsidies).
In the first four years, 34 different publications were published, including books, articles, and special issues of the journal; proposals and recommendations were prepared for decision-makers and citizens; 16 meetings and workshops were held; a research network was established to continue collaboration after completion of the project.