The catastrophic European floods in July 2021 demonstrated the urgent need to deploy landscape level nature-based solutions that make people and property safer. Solutions, such as the “natural sponge” concept, which involves restoring the absorptive capacity of soils in Europe’s upper valley have to be recognised, designed, and applied. The time to embrace the potential of natural sponges and scale up the investment in nature-based solutions for people and the environment is now; writes Jane Madgwick, CEO of Wetlands International, an IUCN Member organisation.
Swollen rivers in Germany break their banks (c) Shutterstock.jpg
On 14 and 15 July 2021, rivers and streams in the Eifel and Ardennes mountains of western Germany were swollen by extreme rainfall. The results were catastrophic. More than 200 people died in Germany and Belgium, making it the deadliest European flood in decades and 10th-deadliest in the past 100 years. Economic damage will be many billions of euros…
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