Strategic sediment management plans for climate adaptation
Within this workpackage we support river managers and local authorities in assessing the strategic value of sediment management for climate adaptation and regional development strategies. The goal? To develop action plans in which sediment management serves as an adaptation pathway to achieve territorial objectives.
What do we do?
- We implement one overarching strategy and three action plans for sediment management, tailored to future climate conditions and consistent with the vision on land use and protection in upstream, midstream and downstream parts of the Scheldt, Rhine and Shannon.
- Practical application: The strategy and action plans are supported by guidelines and example projects that demonstrate the social, economic and ecological benefits of resilient sediment management.
- Cross-border parameters: We provide climate parameters from source to sea, so that action plans can be adapted to changing conditions and cross-border challenges.
Why is this important?
By using sediment management wisely, we maximise the cascade effects of upstream measures all the way to the estuary. In this way, we create a robust basis for climate-proof river management and sustainable development.
Where are we now?
After discussions between partners and based on WP2 requirements, a list of climate parameters has been proposed, as well as a pre-selection of climate scenarios, all to be validated by the partners. The discussions between WP1 and WP2 to determine these climate indices in order to feed the sediment management models were then productive, and will able the next deliverable (Report on a selection of 14 climate parameters and 3 IPCC scenarios) to be finished in time.
Alongside with this selection, topic groups by activity went along with their work, each of them helding meetings and collecting preliminary documentation. Their work firstly focused on the methodology to be used to identify and analyse documents that constitute and/or contain sediment management strategies or action plans.
A small committee has been set up to test an initial analysis of these documents, using AI assistants such as CoPilot or NotebookLM. This work is currently in progress.