River Restoration & Conservation
- Human activity on rivers has often been far from effective
- In the past, rivers have been straightened, deepened, diverted, dammed, altered by steel and concrete, and adapted to reduce flooding and benefit people
- However, many of these changes had negative impacts and unforeseen consequences
- E.g. dams have reduced flooding, improved navigation and allowed year round irrigation
- But they also increase rates of evaporation and river erosion below the dam
- Meander straightening on the Mississippi was only short-term as the river began meandering again and abandoned the new channels that engineers had created
- River restoration and conservation is the protection, preservation, management, or restoration of wildlife and natural resources (forests, soil, and water etc.)
- Achieved through the removal of hard-engineered adaptions to meanders, wetlands and floodplains, in order to return the river to natural flood management
- It is often difficult and impractical to do, as the built environment has be developed in response to the original changes
- As a result, most river restoration projects are only partial, but they can be successful conservation projects
Exam Tip
You do not have to 'stick' to provided case studies, you can use your own. You are more likely to remember local details and argue the finer points in your exam.
Find a river near where you live that has been ‘restored’.
Visit the River Restoration Centre for details on projects around the UK.