Restoring floodplain grasslands: reconciliation of multiple objectives

Ben Moore, Open University

Link to project: Integrated Management of Floodplains

Floodplains account for 10% on the land surface in England and Wales. Traditionally, the majority of this area was managed as grassland, however, land use changes in the last 100 years have dramatically reduced the grassland extent. This loss has negative consequences not only for the biodiversity of the systems and countryside amenity, but also with respect to flood risk, water quality and water resources.

Restoration of floodplain grassland has been identified as a priority within the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, it is also a critical part of meeting UK's commitments under the EU Water Framework Directive and it is an important component of reducing flood risk in the context of climate change. Defra's new Environmental Stewardship Scheme offers a mechanism by which such restoration might be realised and therefore research into how to manage restoration schemes is very timely.

If grassland restoration on floodplains is to meet all of these objectives, in addition to forming part of a sustainable local farming economy, then a rational framework is required to identify and explain the influence of factors affecting the management of land and water in floodplain areas and to classify and evaluate the benefits provided by floodplains. the Relu project entitled "Integrated land and water management in floodplains" will seek to develop such a framework for the full range of floodplain habitats. This studentship, working alongside that project will focus solely on the grassland habitat and will address the following specific issues:

• The extent to which site-specific water and vegetation management operations are required in order to achieve both flood defence and multiple nature-conservation objectives.
• The extent to which the targets set for a restoration scheme and its subsequent management need to be tailored to the local soil type and hydrological regime.
• Which mechanisms best incentive and enable land managers to achieve the site's objectives.