eco - issue one | Page 4

Flooding the headlines... Solutions: Reforestation… Planting trees is never bad! This way they will stabilise soil and also hold back water from percolating through soil, thus lessening the effects of heavy rainfall! In effect they will slow down the rate at which ground water travels! Species re-introduction… As aforementioned beavers are natural engineers, building dams . Building dams upland to create habitats full of water for themselves will once again slow the flow of water, this time above ground, if a reintroduction scheme occurs land will need to be allocated. Land allocation… Allocating land that can be flooded is key in preventing flooding of areas that are vulnerable. If subsidies are given to low value rural land owners to flood their fields it could aid in preventing the impacts that flooding has on developed areas. Don’t build on flood plains… Really this is the most obvious one, simply halt human development, unfortunately this is also the most unlikely solution. By not building on marshland and wetlands natural areas that absorb water are free to do what they naturally would have done without human interference!