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To reduce flood risks in the Netherlands, measures to increase the flood conveyance capacity of the Rhine River will be implemented. These measures will provide more room for the river and include lowering of the floodplains and excavation of secondary channels. Moreover, these measures provide opportunities for ecological rehabilitation of the floodplains. However, it is expected that floodplain sedimentation and softwood forest development in rehabilitated floodplains will gradually reduce the conveyance capacity and the biodiversity. Therefore, a floodplain management strategy was proposed that would meet both flood protection and nature rehabilitation objectives. This strategy, Cyclic Floodplain Rejuvenation (CFR), aims at mimicking the effects of channel migration by removal of softwood forests, by lowering floodplains or by (re)constructing secondary channels. In this study, the effects of CFR measures on reducing flood levels and enhancing biodiversity along the Waal River were assessed. A one-dimensional hydraulic modelling system was applied together with rule-based models for floodplain vegetation succession and floodplain sedimentation. The model simulations demonstrated that the flood management strategy of Cyclic Floodplain Rejuvenation is able to sustain safe flood levels in the Waal River when about 15% of the total floodplain area is rejuvenated with a return period of 25 to 35 years. The rejuvenation strategy led to a diverse floodplain vegetation distribution that largely complies to the historical reference for the Waal River. Cyclic Floodplain Rejuvenation may be the appropriate answer to solve the dilemma between flood protection and nature rehabilitation in highly regulated rivers.

Editor D. KoutsoyiannisCitation Okruszko, T., Duel, H., Acreman, M., Grygoruk, M., Flörke, M. and Schneider, C., 2011. Broad-scale ecosystem services of European wetlands-overview of the current situation and future perspectives under different climate and water management scenarios. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 56 (8), 1501-1517. Abstract An appropriate hydrological regime within a wetland is essential to maintain its goods and services. This regime is related to the source of the water, which differs for particular kinds of wetlands. This paper presents an overview of the ecosystem services of European wetlands, based on a representative sample of 102 protected wetlands larger than 5000 ha, and the implications of hydrological alterations caused by future climate and socioeconomic changes. Six major ecosystem services of wetlands were assessed namely: biodiversity in terms of plants and animals, biomass production, nutrient removal, carbon storage and fish production. Data showed that, on average, four services were present in each wetland. The impact of climate change, water management and land-use change was examined under different future scenarios. Major potential changes in hydrological regime (i.e. precipitation, groundwater recharge and river flow) were quantified up to the 2050s using simulated runoff and river flow data of the WaterGAP model driven by the climate input of two different general circulation models (GCMs), IPCM4 and MIMR. Thresholds of hydrological change that would endanger each ecosystem service were identified. The impacts of future scenarios were distributed across Europe with potential threats to ecosystem services of European wetlands resulting in the loss of between 26 and 46% of all identified ecosystem services in 2050. The models and scenarios suggest that the most significant loss of ecosystem services is likely to occur in Central Europe (Hungary, Germany, France, Belarus, Poland). In general, the most fragile services (the largest number lost) are projected to be those connected to the surface water dynamics-mostly the services of wetland birds and fish spawning. Ecosystem services dependent on groundwater dynamics and water balance changes are seemingly more buffered against the expected hydrological stress.Key words wetlands; climate change; hydrology; ecosystem services; water management Les services écosystémiques à grande échelle des zones humides européennes: aperçu de la situation actuelle et perspectives sous différents scénarios climatiques et de gestion de l'eau Résumé Un régime hydrologique approprié des zones humides est essentiel pour maintenir leur valeur et leurs services. Ce régime est lié à l'origine de leurs eaux, qui est particulière pour chaque zone humide. Cet article présente un aperçu des services des écosystèmes des zones humides européennes, fondé sur un échantillon représentatif de 102 zones humides protégées de plus de 5000 ha, et les implications des modifications hydrologiques causées par le climat futur et les évolutions socio-économiques. ...

In the future, climate change may severely alter flood patterns over large regional scales. Consequently, besides other anthropogenic factors, climate change represents a potential threat to river ecosystems. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of climate change on floodplain inundation for important floodplain wetlands in Europe and to place these results in an ecological context. This work is performed within the Water Scenarios for Europe and Neighbouring States (SCENES) project considering three different climate change projections for the 2050s. The global scale hydrological model WaterGAP is applied to simulate current and future river discharges that are then used to: (i) estimate bankfull flow conditions, (ii) determine three different inundation parameters, and (iii) evaluate the hydrological consequences and their relation to ecology. Results of this study indicate that in snow-affected catchments (e.g. in Central and Eastern Europe) inundation may appear earlier in the year. Duration and volume of inundation are expected to decrease. This will lead to a reduction in habitat for fish, vertebrates, water birds and floodplain-specific vegetation causing a loss in biodiversity, floodplain productivity and fish production. Contradictory results occur in Spain, France, Southern England and the Benelux countries. This reflects the uncertainties of current climate modelling for specific seasons.

Physical and transitional risks resulting from climate change are already inducing significant direct and indirect impacts on organizations-such as damages to assets, disruption to supply chains, or shifts in supply and demand for certain commodities, products or services. The current short-termism of most companies suggests the importance of raising awareness among the private sector about the potential risks of climate change. However, companies increasingly are reporting and disclosing climate risks and associated costs as asked for benchmarking by financial institutions and to comply with regulations with respect to sustainable finance. A guidance on how to do a climate risk assessment and to estimate the costs of physical climate risk as well as transitional and systemic risk concerning their operations and value chain management is lacking. This paper presents a stepwise blueprint on climate risk assessment and financial disclosures that support companies on reorienting capital flows towards more sustainable investments and with their disclosure process to foster transparency and long-termism in financial and economic activity in line with the action plan on sustainable finance adopted by the European Commission in March 2018 to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth.