Sustainable fluvial socio-hydrosystems; from past trajectories to sustainable river restoration
The Tri-national Metropolitan Region (RMT) of the Upper Rhine offers a major and privileged scientific framework to explore river restoration challenges in highly anthropized socio-hydrosystems, and make this cross-border territory attractive for research at the European and international level. Since the 1980’s after the Sandoz disaster, Franco-German-Swiss public policies have been committed to the restoration of the Upper Rhine river. At a European level, the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) adopted in February 2020 the Rhine 2040 program which focuses on 4 key objectives: (i) good water quality, (ii) good connectivity between environments and enhanced biodiversity, (iii) control of low water levels and (iv) reduction of flood risks. Along the Upper Rhine (France), the ‘Plan Rhin Vivant’ has been implemented at the end of 2019 providing financial assistance over about 10 years for biodiversity protection, restoration and renaturation actions along the Upper Rhine river on the French side from Basel to Lauterbourg.
Pilot sites will be selected in the RMT and used as open-air laboratories to develop synergies between researchers, river practitioners and students from different disciplines. They would represent a diverse range of different existing actions for robust exchange of experiences. For example, it will include (1) unprecedented actions by gravel augmentation and controlled bank re-erosion in the Old-Rhine river from Kembs to Breisach, (2) side-channel reconnection in the national natural reserves of the City of Strasbourg, (3) adaptive management using in-stream large wood as flow deflector in headwater streams from the Vosges du Nord/Pfälzerwald Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, and (4) passive restoration in peri-urban rivers (e.g. Bruche river).
Key issues and how the observatory will help to tackle them
This living laboratory will develop an interdisciplinary approach to suggest efficient and durable restoration strategies in highly anthropized socio-hydrosystems using new tools and methodological advances.
The living lab specifically will focus on:
- Knowledge production by reconstructing the temporal trajectory of the RMT rivers from one century to several millennia to characterize the natural functioning of the fluvial hydrosystems in link with human activities, notably during floods and droughts.
- Innovative monitoring framework using new technologies (e.g. airborne thermal-infrared, airborne topo-bathymetric LiDAR, satellite images, artificial intelligence, etc.).
- Selection of best indicators to quantify the effects of the restorative actions.
- Decision-aiding and co-producing governance models based on robust participatory processes, so that all stakeholders actively contribute to the success of the restoration projects, and that these projects are adaptive.
- Guidance and support for future initiatives as those of the Rhinau-Taubergiessen transboundary island.