Giving rivers room to move
This article is food for thought when we consider how best to manage the predicted increasing frequency and severity of flood events into the future in the Motueka – catchment.https://theconversation.com/giving-rivers-room-to-move….
The authors, Jonathan Tonkin, Associate Professor of Ecology and Rutherford Discovery Fellow, University of Canterbury, and Christina McCabe, PhD Candidate in Interdisciplinary Ecology, University of Canterbury, start the article with “When we think about flood management, higher stop banks, stronger levees and concrete barriers usually come to mind. But what if the best solution – for people and nature – isn’t to confine rivers, but to give them more space?”
And finish with this – “As climate change accelerates, we must rethink how we manage our waterways. It’s time to embrace a new paradigm for river management – one that sees rivers not as threats to be controlled, but as lifelines to be protected and restored.“
Giving rivers more room to move was a topic of conversation at the Motueka Catchment Collective’s (MCC’s) recent catchment planning session. It is also a key area of interest for MCC’s Living River thematic group. The ideas posed in this article have no easy solutions, but exploring what it means to give our rivers more room to move is an important discussion for our community to be having and one we shouldn’t avoid.
What are your thoughts about this topic? We’d love to know. Please email dana@motuekacatchment.org.nz if you’d like to share your thoughts.