As the Visit Somerset website (www.visitsomerset.co.uk—June 2015) describes:
“The Internationally important Somerset Levels and Moors form a unique patchwork landscape steeped in history and brimming with rare wildlife. Today the area
is mostly grassland and arable with willow grown commercially”. Not surprisingly,
with its rich wildlife, including the largest lowland population of breeding wading
birds, the area is specially protected and supports a number of protected areas.
The quote shows both the important natural value of the area, and the fact that it
currently is and historically has been used for human purposes. However, the area is
vulnerable to both floods and droughts. Climate change is increasing the frequency
and severity of both events.
Water shortages due to prolonged droughts can be quite harmful for the wetlands, particularly habitat and peat loss. Agriculture and villages, however, are more
afraid of flooding. After some years of severe drought in 2010–2012, a lengthy
flood submerged much of the area in the winter of 2013–2014. The peat soils
provide various ecosystem services not only for nature itself, but also for carbon
storage, food production, and the protection of the historic environment. The
impacts of dry periods can create irreversible changes, such as compaction and land
subsidence, which not only decreases the buffer capacity of the land, but also
increases flood risks down the line.
The water authority of Vechtstromen produced analysis that concentrated on the
Twente region. In the region, various nature areas suffer from desiccation in dry
periods. About 90 % of the creeks run (almost) dry in the summer. Much of this
region is dependent on rain and groundwater.
While the area does not have one large designated nature area, it includes many
valuable woods, heather fields and wetlands of various sizes in a mostly small-scale
landscape. For this reason it was considered an official “National Landscape”, and
is, despite the termination of this national policy programme, still considered so by
all regional actors involved.
Due to climate change the annual water balance gets dryer affecting also
groundwater levels. This in turn can influence river discharge while in dry summers
creeks are often fed by groundwater. Not only in streams and their valleys, but also
on higher ground nature will deteriorate with desiccation. The map below shows
both the patchwork of existing nature areas and the areas in dotted green and yellow
where even smaller spots of nature that are mingled with agriculture will be
developed with a priority for nature.
For most of these nature areas desiccation is a serious challenge, but often
nitrogen from air pollution and farming is an even bigger one. The map also shows
some main waterways in the rain and sometimes even groundwater fed creek
system (Fig. 12.1). The development of drought resilience measures with farmers
always has to cope with some distrust that nature development is restricting rather
than codeveloping with farming, which can actually be true in some instances.
The overview in this section shows that most areas involved in the DROP project
do have drought sensitive nature areas, even though their nature and the extent to
which they are threatened by droughts vary. While it is very hard to find data on
drought impacts on Flemish nature areas, given the characteristics of the area it is
12 Cross-cutting Perspective on Nature
233
“The Internationally important Somerset Levels and Moors form a unique patchwork landscape steeped in history and brimming with rare wildlife. Today the area
is mostly grassland and arable with willow grown commercially”. Not surprisingly,
with its rich wildlife, including the largest lowland population of breeding wading
birds, the area is specially protected and supports a number of protected areas.
The quote shows both the important natural value of the area, and the fact that it
currently is and historically has been used for human purposes. However, the area is
vulnerable to both floods and droughts. Climate change is increasing the frequency
and severity of both events.
Water shortages due to prolonged droughts can be quite harmful for the wetlands, particularly habitat and peat loss. Agriculture and villages, however, are more
afraid of flooding. After some years of severe drought in 2010–2012, a lengthy
flood submerged much of the area in the winter of 2013–2014. The peat soils
provide various ecosystem services not only for nature itself, but also for carbon
storage, food production, and the protection of the historic environment. The
impacts of dry periods can create irreversible changes, such as compaction and land
subsidence, which not only decreases the buffer capacity of the land, but also
increases flood risks down the line.
The water authority of Vechtstromen produced analysis that concentrated on the
Twente region. In the region, various nature areas suffer from desiccation in dry
periods. About 90 % of the creeks run (almost) dry in the summer. Much of this
region is dependent on rain and groundwater.
While the area does not have one large designated nature area, it includes many
valuable woods, heather fields and wetlands of various sizes in a mostly small-scale
landscape. For this reason it was considered an official “National Landscape”, and
is, despite the termination of this national policy programme, still considered so by
all regional actors involved.
Due to climate change the annual water balance gets dryer affecting also
groundwater levels. This in turn can influence river discharge while in dry summers
creeks are often fed by groundwater. Not only in streams and their valleys, but also
on higher ground nature will deteriorate with desiccation. The map below shows
both the patchwork of existing nature areas and the areas in dotted green and yellow
where even smaller spots of nature that are mingled with agriculture will be
developed with a priority for nature.
For most of these nature areas desiccation is a serious challenge, but often
nitrogen from air pollution and farming is an even bigger one. The map also shows
some main waterways in the rain and sometimes even groundwater fed creek
system (Fig. 12.1). The development of drought resilience measures with farmers
always has to cope with some distrust that nature development is restricting rather
than codeveloping with farming, which can actually be true in some instances.
The overview in this section shows that most areas involved in the DROP project
do have drought sensitive nature areas, even though their nature and the extent to
which they are threatened by droughts vary. While it is very hard to find data on
drought impacts on Flemish nature areas, given the characteristics of the area it is
12 Cross-cutting Perspective on Nature
233