This information is now out of date

Day 2: Options and Opportunities • Theme: Meeting Global Needs

Managing river corridors under the prospects of climate change: A challenge considering conflicting ecosystem services

Jörg Luster, Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Switzerland; Marco Baumann, Office for the Environment, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland; Irmi Seidl, Economics and Social Sciences, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Switzerland; Klement Tockner, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Germany; Mario Schirmer, Water Resources and Drinking Water, EAWAG, Switzerland

Session content: For many reasons, including availability of transportation, energy, water resources, and fertile soils, river corridors have been used intensively by humans. Consequently, people have regulated the natural courses and flow regimes of rivers in order to fulfil their needs and to abate damage by flooding or spreading of diseases. In many parts of the world this has led to a loss of natural river floodplains, often hot spots of biodiversity and productivity. Environmental legislation such as the EU water framework directive thus asks for efforts to restore a „good ecological status" of rivers. Managing river corridors is a challenging task that has to consider various, partly conflicting ecosystem services, including flood protection, provision of habitat, drinking water, food and energy, climate regulation, and recreation. Furthermore, because of the intensive and dynamic exchange between aquatic and terrestrial systems, river corridors are expected to be affected strongly by climate change. We intend to bring together experts from both developed and developing countries who look at the ecosystem services of river corridors from different angles. We welcome contributions from natural scientists who study ecological functions, or try to predict flooding regimes, from social scientists, incl. economists who work on the valuation of ecosystem services and who investigate the planning and political processes of restoration, from engineers who devise restoration measures and from environmental agents responsible for managing river corridors. With this set-up and the chosen format, the session should attract also stakeholders such as legislators, politicians and the public.