Rivers have been diminished, simplified, and degraded globally by the concentration of agriculture, transportation, and development in valley bottoms over decades and centuries, substantially limiting their ecological health and value. More recently, climate change is steadily increasing stress on aging traditional, gray infrastructure.
Recent trends in river management present an opportunity to address both the ecological degradation and climate stress. In this article from Science Direct, senior program officer Peter Skidmore and co-author Joseph Wheaton explore how focusing on riverscapes as critical natural infrastructure can serve as ecosystem-based adaptation to improve resilience to climate change and restore river ecosystem health.
