Description of the activity

Planning, construction, extension, and operation of large-scale nature-based flood or drought management and coastal, transitional or inland aquatic ecosystem restoration measures contributing to preventing and protecting against flooding or droughts, and enhancing natural water retention, biodiversity and water quality.

These large-scale nature-based flood or drought management measures are applied in peri-urban, rural and coastal areas and are coordinated at river basin, regional or local, such as municipal, scale.

The economic activity includes:

(a) river or lake related measures, including:

(i) riparian or floodplain vegetation development or floodplain restoration, including re-connection of a river or lake with its floodplain or off-channel/lateral connectivity improvement to restore the retention capacity of the floodplain and its ecosystem’s function;

(ii) re-meandering river courses by creating a new meandering course or reconnecting cut-off meanders or reconnecting a lake or group of lakes to a river;

(iii) restoration of the longitudinal and lateral connectivity of a river (including oxbow lakes) by removing obsolete barriers, including dams and weirs or small barriers across or along the river;

(iv) substitution of artificial riverbank or lake shore protection with nature-based solutions for bank or bed stabilisation as measures for river or lake restoration;

(v) measures aimed to improve the diversification of river or lake depth and width to increase habitat variety;