Water Objective WA-3.4

Sustainable management of freshwaters and wetlands

Water Objective WA-3.4 contributes to meeting CEH Science Strategy Challenge VI (to identify strategies and control measures to mitigate impacts of environmental change on ecosystems, ecosystem services and human health) by providing new strategies and control measures to address the impacts of environmental change on freshwater ecosystems.

WA-3.4 aims to:

  • Develop new tools for monitoring and assessing habitat status
  • Develop and evaluate novel management techniques for hydro-ecological systems
  • Determine critical thresholds for environmental flows
  • Develop criteria for assessing the sustainability of freshwater ecosystems, including identifying thresholds for collapse and recovery
  • Develop guidance on best practice for restoration / remediation

These activities inform and are informed by other areas of Water Programme research and by research in the Biodiversity and Biogeochemistry Programmes and the Environmental Information Data Centre.

 

Areas of research

WA-3.4 undertakes research which is supported by a wide range of stakeholders, which include the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency.

Areas of research relevant to WA-3.4 include:

  • Community catchment management
  • Automatic monitoring buoys
  • Sustainable water use in the Mediterranean
  • Predicting environmental impacts on phytoplankton communities
  • Techniques for enhancing lake recovery from eutrophication

Collaborative research projects

WA-3.4 contributes to many collaborative projects. Examples include:

  • Predicting environmental impacts on phytoplankton communities (WA-1.3)
  • Community catchment management (WA-1.3)