ES5 - Climate change adaptation and mitigation

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...

Rainwater harvesting involves the collection and storage of rainwater at source for later use, for example, using water butts or larger storage tanks. Water butts are the most widely used and simplest rainwater harvesting technique, collecting rainwater runoff from roofs via a connection to the roof down-pipe. They are...

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). 

Permeable paving is designed to allow rainwater to infiltrate through the surface, either into underlying layers (soils and aquifers), or be stored below ground and released at a controlled rate to surface water. Permeable paving is used as a general term, but two types can be distinguished:

-       Porous pavements, where water is infiltrated across the entire surface (e.g. reinforced grass or gravel, or...

Infiltration trenches are defined as shallow excavations filled with rubble or stone. Their function is to facilitate the natural process of infiltration into the surrounding soils from the bottom and sides of the trench, thereby enhancing the soil's inherent capacity for drainage. Ideally, they should receive lateral inflow...

Soakaways are buried chambers that store surface water and allow it to percolate into the ground. They are typically square or circular excavations either filled with rubble or lined with brickwork, pre-cast concrete or polyethylene rings/perforated storage structures surrounded by granular backfill. The supporting structure and backfill...

Swales are broad, shallow, linear vegetated channels which can store or convey surface water (reducing the rate and volume of runoff) and remove pollutants. They can be used as conveyance features to pass the runoff to the next stage of the SuDS treatment train and can be designed to promote infiltration where soil and groundwater conditions...

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...

According to the Convention on Wetlands (1971), a wetland is an area of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres. 

Wetlands play a crucial role in regulating the global climate and are natural biofilters for pollutant removal, nutrient...

Intercropping is the practice of growing two or more crops’ species simultaneously in the same field. The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources that would otherwise not be utilised by a single crop. Examples of intercropping strategies are planting a deep-rooted crop with a shallow-rooted crop, or planting a tall crop with a shorter crop that requires partial shade...