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Selecting Natural Small Water Retention Measures (NSWRM) is only the first step in the analytical process. In OPTAIN, the focus was not on field implementation, but on the structured design, modelling and optimisation of alternative NSWRM portfolios within calibrated catchment environments.
Planning NSWRM strategies requires integrating environmental conditions, agricultural constraints, and stakeholder priorities into a coherent analytical framework. Because the effectiveness of measures depends strongly on spatial allocation, local soil and climate characteristics, and interactions between measures, their evaluation must be conducted through systematic simulation rather than isolated assessment.
Within OPTAIN, this process involved:
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Translating documented measures into model parameterisations
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Designing alternative spatial allocation scenarios
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Running predictive simulations under current and future climate conditions
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Applying multi-objective optimisation to explore trade-offs
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Interpreting Pareto-optimal portfolios in dialogue with stakeholders
This structured approach allows comparison of alternative NSWRM strategies while maintaining transparency of assumptions and robustness of results. Rather than promoting fixed solutions, the OPTAIN framework supports informed evaluation of planning options based on harmonised modelling and optimisation analyses.