BP17 - Absorb and/or retain CO2

Continuous cover forestry is a forest management approach that maintains a continuous canopy during the regeneration phase, avoiding clearcutting in favour of selective harvesting or small-scale clearing. The main idea behind continuous cover forestry is a reduction in the number or size of clear-cuts. Some definitions of continuous cover forestry state that no clear-cuts shall be larger than 0.25...

Trees in urban areas deliver multiple benefits, including improved aesthetics, microclimate regulation, and enhanced urban hydrology. They also serve as crucial biodiversity refuges and contribute significantly to reducing particulate air pollution. Trees intercept precipitation, reducing the volumeof rainfall that needs to be processed by sewers systems and other...

Beaver mimicry structures (BMS), also known as beaver dam analogues (BDAs), are in-stream structures designed to replicate the function of natural beaver dams. These simple, low-tech installations slow streamflow, increase groundwater recharge, favour water diversion in two or more arms, and create wetlands and alluvial forest. By mimicking beaver behaviour, they support biodiversity, improve climate resilience, and help restore degraded...

Urban forest parks can deliver a broad range of hydrology-related and other ecosystem services. Forests in urban areas have great amenity value, can improve air quality, moderate local microclimates, improve urban biodiversity and contribute to climate change mitigation as well as having ancillary hydrological benefits. Forest soils often have greater infiltration capacity than other urban...

Headwater catchments are the source areas of rivers and streams and are critical for maintaining the structure, function, productivity and complexity of downstream ecosystems. They are vital to hydrologic cycle as they are one of the main areas where precipitation contributes to surface and groundwater. Headwaters are typically...

Forests act as natural sponges, absorbing excess rainwater to prevent flooding and retaining moisture for gradual release during dry periods. By increasing soil infiltration and storage, forests provide a consistent water supply, buffering against the extremes of climate change and increasing the resilience of ecosystems.

Rain gardens are defined as small-scale vegetated gardens used for storage and infiltration. The term ‘rain garden’ is often used interchangeably with ‘bioretention area’ (although the latter could also be applied more loosely to other measures such as filter strips or swales). 

Riparian buffers are areas of land, predominantly covered with trees, shrubs, and sometimes grasses, along, and often up-gradient from, streams, watercourses, or water bodies. These natural or restored buffers serve multiple purposes. By maintaining a relatively undisturbed zone adjacent to open water, they play an important role in water quality and flow...

Green roofs are multi-layered systems that cover the roof of a building with vegetation and/or green landscaping over a drainage layer. There are two types of green roof: 

• Extensive green roofs cover...

A river meander is a U-form taken by the river, allowing it to decrease water velocity. In the past, rivers have been straightened by cutting off meanders. Many rivers in northern and Western Europe have been straightened and channelized to, for example, facilitate log floating and/or speed up the drainage of water and control/limit the river bed movements. Channelizing was also a way to gain land for cultivation. River re-meandering consists...