There is a large set of EU-requirements and standards that land managers have to meet in order to receive support scheme payments (“cross compliance”). However, local risk assessment may require exceeding mandatory standards. Here, voluntary agreements between farmer, land owner and municipality and local subsidies may help. Subsidies and agreements should accommodate the likely changes…
Risk awareness grows and turns into action when recurring and continuous information and personal expert advice are provided to private home owners as well as to public bodies. Contact persons and public consultation hours offer a greater guarantee of success than online information services or advertising campaigns. Acceptance of measures can be additionally promoted if…
Because of their retention effect and because they protect slopes from erosion, forests reduce surface water runoff and sediment transport. Forest management should be adapted to suit the specific needs of vulnerable objects further down the slope. Large-scale logging operations, for example, need to be avoided. Forest composition should be managed to achieve a water…
The main goal of this group of measures is to enhance the transformational and accumulation effects of existing and re-developing floodplains by terrain modifications like lowering of banks, offset or demolition of flood protection dikes etc. This allows the water to flood the floodplain during the periods of increased discharges.
Identifying and re-establishing of flood plains and deposition areas, such as by removal of protection structures for agricultural land, contributes to the retention of water along rivers and, thus, to heavy rain risk reduction. In the past, most floodplains have been taken over for other uses; former floodplain forests are separated from river and runoff…
The development of runoff routes can be prevented and retention can be improved on slightly sloping terrain by cultivating farmland across the slope along contours. Ideally, the soil should be farmed in a chequerboard pattern to control and slow down the flow of surface water. In principle, the avoidance of downhill lanes, the creation of…
