Czech-Norwegian bilateral workshops on the use of floodplain forest buffer zones for improving water quality and reducing soil erosion.
Water quality is often influenced by agricultural production (soil run-off into watercourses, water pollution caused by fertiliser and other chemicals etc.). At the same time, current agricultural practices are contributing significantly to the erosion of valuable fertile soils. The costs of water treatment / purification within the water management infrastructure are increasing; the quality of soil and water, and the biodiversity are decreasing. Only little attention is paid to so called nature-based solutions (NBS), which could help meet these challenges and furthermore they bring also many other benefits to the society in form of various ecosystem services. One of these NBS is floodplain forest buffer zones between agricultural land and watercourses, but so far very little planting has taken place. The practical implementation of this measure faces a number of barriers.
The aim of the project is therefore to support the meetings of scientists and practitioners from the Czech Republic and Norway, enabling the exchange of experience and knowledge in this area, which should result in the submission of a joint bilateral or multilateral project aimed at identifying and evaluating the benefits of the riparian forest buffer zone and the subsequent proposal of support mechanisms for their practical implementation.
Funding Agency: State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic, Norway Grants
Duration: 01/2019–08/2022
Contact Person: Jiří Louda, e-mail: louda@ieep.cz
In cooperation with: Norwegian University of Life Science, Global Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences