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Tubifex worms improve densification rates and the strengthening of soft sediments and mine tailings
Laboratory tests on oil-sand fluid fine tailings proved that Tubifex worms improve densification by up to 60%. This nature-based technology represents a potential alternative to chemical additives such as flocculants. The potential applications of Tubifex augmentation include tailings basin closure, land reclamation and flood defence projects.
Opzet monitoringsplan voor ecologische meerwaarde van het Wervenpark in Dordrecht
Het Wervenpark in Dordrecht wordt ontwikkeld volgens de principes van Bouwen met de Natuur (Building with Nature). Dit voormalige bedrijventerrein wordt ingericht als getijdenpark waar een natuurlijke dynamische intergetijdenzone wordt gerealiseerd. In dit rapport wordt beschreven hoe de effecten van een dergelijke inrichting in zoetwatergetijdengebied op de ecologie kunnen worden gemonitord en gewaardeerd. De generieke opzet van een monitorsplan wordt weergegeven. Achtereenvolgens worden de verschillende stappen besproken: beschrijving van de maatregel en verwachte effecten; monitoringsvragen; te monitoren parameters; monitorprogramma; optimalisatie monitorprogramma en kostenafweging monitorprogramma. Hierna wordt nader ingegaan op de waardering van de resultaten, en wordt specifiek behandeld hoe het begrip 'connectiviteit' beoordeeld kan worden.
Deformations and damage to buildings adjacent to deep excavations in soft soils : literature survey F531
Vegetation modelling to assess the development and performance of nature-based flood defences
The assessment of the performance and development of nature-based flood defences and natural/semi-natural systems requires efficient quantitative tools. Drawing on experience with these systems and software, we developed an open source tool for biophysical modelling based on Python, Delft Flexible Mesh and XBeach.
Advancing disaster risk reduction through the integration of science, design, and policy into eco-engineering and several global resource frames
By the later part of the 21st Century, our planet will be faced with compelling climatic circumstances requiring tradeoffs to maintain viable environmental conditions and standards of living. The prognosis for people near coastlines and waterways is particularly dire without decisive actions that capitalize on shared strengths such as ecosystems. One clear opportunity is the regenerative services and co-benefits of natural infrastructure that reduce the impacts of environmental disasters as magnified by climatic change. Certainly, nature-based solutions are increasingly being viewed as critical actions to reduce societal risk. However, to advance the use of natural infrastructure through eco-engineering, there is a need to clarify the science regarding risk reduction effectiveness, develop agreeable principles, standards, and designs, and grow a demonstration site network responsive to circumstances faced by communities around the globe. In addition, there is a need to consider the legal, policy, and regulatory obstacles and opportunities for natural infrastructure within local to national contexts (i.e., science-based building codes, architectural design criteria, incentive policies, etc.). Ultimately, the integration of science, designs, and policy coupled with installation within several globally recognized resource frames (IWRM, ICZM, etc.) will help establish eco-engineering standards. Supportive coastal, river, and urban examples from around the world are used to illustrate the current state of knowledge, model this integration of science, design, and policy, serve as initial “benchmark site”, and finally help define guiding principles for the emerging field of eco-engineering.
Challenges in developing sustainable sandy strategies
Sandy nourishments are worldwide applied along sandy shores as maintenance strategy and to enhance the values of coastal areas. In this context, there is a challenge in developing competitive sandy strategies that optimally suit local demands and needs. Within the Building with Nature innovation program three pilots projects based on sandy strategies are explored and discussed in this paper. The pilot projects are based on existing concepts reinvented for new environments in which the challenge is to better suit a local context with respect to conventional approaches. This obviously is a design challenge in which the capacity to 1) develop designs with controlled morphodynamics and 2) engineer with vegetation are both critical.
Offshore wind farms as potential locations for flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) restoration in the Dutch North Sea
The “Dutch Energy Agreement” motivates governments and industries to invest in renewable energy sources, of which offshore wind energy is one of the solutions to meet the agreed target of 16% of the total energy budget from renewable resources by 2023. An option for the multi-use of wind farms is nature-inclusive building, in which the design and construction of wind farms make use of the potential for co-design with oyster bed restoration. This can support the government’s ambitions, for the Dutch North Sea, to achieve biodiversity goals, restore ecosystem functions, and enhance ecosystem services, including future seafood production. For the recovery of flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) beds, knowledge is required about the conditions under which active restoration of this species in the North Sea can be successfully implemented. This paper gives a framework and presents results to determine suitability of wind farms for flat oyster restoration, and provides recommendations for pilot studies. Our analysis showed that a number of wind farms in the Dutch section of the North Sea are suitable locations for development of flat oyster beds. Combining oyster restoration and oyster culture, as a protein source, is a viable option worth investigating.
Building with economic nature : market based instruments for risk management to promote spatial adaptation to climate change
Currently water management faces such challenges as high climate adaptation costs, scarcity of land, and low individual flood risk perception. This report reviews pros and cons of economic instruments (e.g. flood insurance, tradable development rights) that can be complementary to the structural defense measures in responding to these 3 challenges.
How ecological engineering can serve in coastal protection
Traditionally, protection of the coastal area from flooding is approached from an engineering perspective. This approach has often resulted in negative or unforeseen impacts on local ecology and is even known to impact surrounding ecosystems on larger scales. In this paper, the utilization of ecosystem engineering species for achieving civil-engineering objectives or the facilitation of multiple use of limited space in coastal protection is focused upon, either by using ecosystem engineering species that trap sediment and damp waves (oyster beds, mussel beds, willow floodplains and marram grass), or by adjusting hard substrates to enhance ecological functioning. Translating desired coastal protection functionality into designs that make use of the capability of appropriate ecosystem engineering species is, however, hampered by lack of a generic framework to decide which ecosystem engineering species or what type of hard-substrate adaptations may be used where and when. In this paper we review successful implementation of ecosystem engineering species in coastal protection for a sandy shore and propose a framework to select the appropriate measures based on the spatial and temporal scale of coastal protection, resulting in a dynamic interaction between engineering and ecology. Modeling and monitoring the bio-physical interactions is needed, as it allows to upscale successful implementations and predict otherwise unforeseen impacts.
Rich reefs in the North Sea : exploring the possibilities of promoting the establishment of natural reefs and colonisation of artificial hard substrate
This project, carried out on the instructions of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, is a preliminary study aiming to give an overview of possibilities and knowledge gaps pertaining to hard substrate in relation to ecological added value. It intends to provide input for the national policy on “Building with North Sea Nature”, which aims to bolster the conservation and sustainable use of species and habitats native to the Dutch section of the North Sea. As a result of various human activities, past and present, the North Sea is currently severely impoverished, not only in terms of the decline of species, but also in terms of loss of different types of habitat, in particular hard substrate.