User menu

Accès à distance ? S'identifier sur le proxy UCLouvain

A Comparison of Management Approaches To Control Muddy Floods in Central Belgium, Northern France and Southern England

Primary tabs

Evrard, Olivier [UCL] Heitz, C. Boardman, J. Vandaele, K. Auzet, A. -V. van Wesemael, Bas [UCL]

Muddy floods, i.e. water flowing from agricultural fields and carrying large quantities of soil, affect routinely numerous municipalities of central Belgium, northern France and southern England. A comparison of flood frequency between different European regions is difficult, because of the lack of a uniform and official database as well as the landscape heterogeneity of administrative entities. Agri-environmental measures [AEMs; e.g. grass buffer strips (GBS)] can contribute to the control of muddy floods but their installation is voluntary and depends therefore on farmers' willingness. Actions to increase awareness and to inform the farmers proved to increase drastically their participation rate in AEM programmes. In all the studied regions, flood prone areas are increasingly taken into account to define land approved for development. Moreover, several schemes for the control of muddy floods have also been proposed at the regional scale. However, there is a spatial mismatch between the scale at which muddy floods are triggered (small catchment scale) and the scale at which public authorities can operate (municipality, grouping of municipalities, delineated flood prone areas, river basin). In future, beside curative measures (e.g. retention ponds and dams), farming techniques preventing runoff and erosion in the field (e.g. conservation tillage) should be encouraged. This could be achieved by the creation of a new AEM. Moreover, guidelines for the location of AEMs could usefully be introduced. Existing flood control schemes should also be systematically carried out by catchment agencies including legal, environmental and financial expertise. These agencies should be set up for local groupings of municipalities and provide them technical assistance to equip the flood prone areas and carry out maintenance of the implemented control measures. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 2010
Language Anglais
Journal information "Land Degradation & Development" - Vol. 21, no. 4, p. 322-335 (2010)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher John Wiley & Sons Ltd (Chichester)
issn 1085-3278
e-issn 1099-145X
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - Autre
Keywords Muddy Floods ; Stakeholders ; Environmental Management ; Agri-environmental Measures ; Soil Erosion ; Flooding Of Properties ; France ; Belgium ; Uk
Links
  1. Auzet, Soil Erosion on Agricultural Land, 384 (1990)
  2. Auzet, Soil Erosion in Europe, 369 (2006)
  3. Berger, Journal for Nature Conservation, 11, 221 (2003)
  4. Bielders, Environmental Science & Policy, 6, 85 (2003)
  5. Boardman, Soil Technology, 1, 333 (1988)
  6. Boardman, Town & Country Planning, 63, 249 (1994)
  7. Boardman, DoE, The Occurrence and Significance of Erosion, Deposition and Flooding in Great Britain, 37 (1995)
  8. Boardman J 2000 Rural Property Bulletin 26 27
  9. Boardman, Geography, 86, 346 (2001)
  10. Boardman, Transactions Institute British Geographers, 28, 176 (2003)
  11. Boardman, Environmental Science & Policy, 6, 69 (2003)
  12. Boardman, Geomorphology, 10, 183 (1994)
  13. Boardman, Soil Erosion in Europe, 743 (2006)
  14. Caruso, Repenser les campagnes (2002)
  15. Christen G Wintz M 2006 COST 634 Workshop on ‘Socio-economic Aspects in the Management of Soil Erosion’
  16. Cuttle, An Inventory of Methods to Control Diffuse Water Pollution From Agriculture (DWPA): User Manual (2006)
  17. DEFRA, Controlling Soil Erosion: A Manual for the Assessment and Management of Agricultural Land at Risk of Water Erosion in Lowland England (2005)
  18. DEFRA, The First Soil Action Plan for England: 2004-2006 (2006)
  19. DEFRA, The Protection of Waters Against Pollution from Agriculture: Consultation on Diffuse Sources in England (2007)
  20. European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture 2005 http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/publi/reports/agrienv/rep_en.pdf
  21. Evans, Soil Erosion and its Impacts in England and Wales (1996)
  22. Evans, Soil Use & Management, 20, 178 (2004)
  23. Evans, Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, 31, 598 (2006)
  24. Evans, Soil Use & Management, 19, 223 (2003)
  25. Evrard, Catena, 70, 443 (2007a)
  26. Evrard, Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 118, 149 (2007b)
  27. Evrard, Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, 33, 1285 (2008)
  28. Fullen, Soil Erosion in Europe, 805 (2006)
  29. Gyssels, Soil & Tillage Research, 64, 189 (2002)
  30. Heitz C 2005 Unpublished DEA Dissertation
  31. Heitz, Land Use & Policy, 26, 443 (2009)
  32. Horsey S 2006 Case Studies Aimed at Reducing Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in England
  33. Joannon, Land Degradation & Development, 17, 467 (2006)
  34. Le Bissonnais, Catena, 46, 207 (2002)
  35. Ludwig, Catena, 25, 227 (1995)
  36. RDS 2005 Entry Level Stewardship Handbook, Rural Development Service
  37. Ritson, The Common Agricultural Policy (1997)
  38. Robinson, Soil Erosion on Agricultural Land, 369 (1990)
  39. SDMP, Interim South Downs Management Plan, March 2004 (2004)
  40. Souchère, Journal of Hydrology, 206, 256 (1998)
  41. Souchère, Environmental Science & Policy, 6, 7 (2003)
  42. SPF (Federal Public Service) Economy 2005 http://www.statbel.fgov.be/
  43. Stammers, The Surveyor, 164, 8 (1984)
  44. Takken, Journal of Hydrology, 248, 1 (2001)
  45. Urbano, Notes et Etudes Economiques, 22, 69 (2005)
  46. Vandaele, Catena, 25, 213 (1995)
  47. Van Dijk, Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, 30, 169 (2005)
  48. Verstraeten, Geomorphology, 29, 275 (1999)
  49. Verstraeten, Environmental Science & Policy, 6, 95 (2003)
  50. Verstraeten G Van Oost K Van Rompaey A Poesen J Govers G 2001 Integraal land- en waterbeheer in landelijke gebieden met het oog op het beperken van bodemverlies en modderoverlast (proefproject gemeente Gingelom)
  51. Walker E 2007 Soil Erosion and DEFRA's Catchment Sensitive Farming Programme-a Herefordshire case study MSc Thesis
Bibliographic reference Evrard, Olivier ; Heitz, C. ; Boardman, J. ; Vandaele, K. ; Auzet, A. -V. ; et. al. A Comparison of Management Approaches To Control Muddy Floods in Central Belgium, Northern France and Southern England. In: Land Degradation & Development, Vol. 21, no. 4, p. 322-335 (2010)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/58515