Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
landscape features such as river corridors. The
EC Water Framework Directive requires Member
States to aim to achieve 'good ecological status'
or 'good ecological potential' of rivers and other
water bodies by December 2015 and publish actions
as 'programmes of measures' in river basin plans
(Council of the European Communities, 2000).
Despite publication of these plans by several
Member States it is still unclear how much
restoration of physically damaged rivers is included
in the detailed actions.
One reason why the talk by Nadia Johanisova
had so much impact was that it confirmed that
environmental awareness and peer pressure
from the public can lead to change for the
better - particularly in cities such as London and
Liverpool (Environment Agency, 2001; Wood
et al.,
1999). Sometimes change only results from
the direct action of individuals and communities,
without support from legislation or public bodies.
Nevertheless, environmental legislation and
political support are strongly influenced and
shaped by individual and collective pressure and
action (Boon
et al.,
1992). Regardless of legislative
support, work to rehabilitate rivers and their
floodplains will always be improved by sharing
experiences of project work, including success and
failure. Facilitating this shared experience is a key
role for river restoration centres.
For the purposes of this chapter river restoration
centres are defined as 'organizations dedicated
to promoting river restoration' (collectively
restoration, rehabilitation, enhancement;
sensu
Cairns, 1988); they achieve this by sharing
knowledge on successful techniques. Organizations
that qualify under this term are those with a broad
focus on rivers and their floodplains, with a prime
purpose
Nadia Johanisova's inspiring presentation at
York. After the York conference a small team
developed a project structure, the purpose
of which was to demonstrate what could be
done for river restoration in the UK. This team
comprised dedicated enthusiasts and professionals
who garnered support and obtained funding from
organizations such as the National Rivers Authority
and British Coal (RRP, 1994).
The RRP was launched in 1992 by John Major,
then the British Prime Minister. Its aim was to
demonstrate how to carry out successful river
restoration and promote the multiple benefits
available to a wide audience. In March 1993,
the RRP and Danish partners secured European
Union funding for a demonstration project on river
restoration for three sites in Denmark and the
UK (Holmes and Nielsen, 1998; Nielsen, 1998).
The aims of this collaborative project were: (i) to
establish pilot sites demonstrating state-of-the-art
techniques for restoring severely degraded rivers;
(ii) to monitor the benefits of river restoration for
water quality, flood protection, ecology and local
amenity; (iii) to motivate and train practitioners,
encouraging them to include restoration work as
a means of achieving better river management; (iv)
to show how a partnership approach could achieve
common goals that would not be possible by a
single body; (v) to establish the costs and benefits of
restoration schemes; (vi) to assess public perception
of restoration activities; and (vii) to disseminate
information about river restoration.
Restoration work was completed at the three
demonstration sites (on the River Brede in
Denmark and the rivers Skerne and Cole in
England) in 1996 (Holmes and Nielsen, 1998;
Vivash
et al
., 1998). Some monitoring continued
after the restoration work was completed (Biggs
et al
., 1998; Aberg and Tapsell, this volume) and the
RRP developed into a fully fledged river restoration
centre (RRC, 1997). The RRC was established
because sharing information about what had been
done, and what was being done elsewhere, had
become a greater priority than simply doing more
demonstration projects.
Early development of the RRC focused on
the transition from a demonstration project to a
of
sharing
information
widely
among
practitioners.
Development of the River
Restoration Centre in the UK
The precursor to the first river restoration in
the UK was the River Restoration Project (RRP),
formed in 1992 as a result of discussions following
