Speaker
Description
People have intentionally transformed river channels in various ways to e.g., enable shipping, for flood protection and hydropower generation. The effects of such measures are well understood and instruments in place to revert some of the environmental impacts through river restoration and re-wildering of river courses. But how do natural rivers look like? In recent years it became clear that across Europe our image of unaltered rivers needs attention: the single thread meandering river channels that are found widespread in European lowlands are in many cases the by-product of soil erosion on the slopes. Already during the Iron Age did delivery of soil-erosion derived sediment exceed the transport capacity of hydrological pathways and result in widespread sediment accumulation that buried the original wetlands and created the floodplain settings that have for long been considered ‘natural’.
Using examples from across the European arable regions the presentation will discuss how the Anthropocene, where humans outpace natural forces, challenges our traditional ideas of ‘nature’. Can we use millennia old river alterations as target for present day river conservation and management of river system functioning? Is it possible to revert such landscapes to a pre-agriculture natural state? What would be the cost and the benefit?
References
DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.02.001
| Keywords | Anthropocene; human impact; floodplain; nature |
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