Welcome to the summer edition of our quarterly newsletter, CREW NEWS! In this edition we are shining a spotlight on some of our recently published projects, highlighting a successful project workshop and hearing from our Director, Rachel Helliwell.
We'd love to hear what you'd be interested in reading in future issues of CREW NEWS.
A recently published project funded by the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) has shown that Scotland’s coastal habitats, such as kelp forests and seagrass beds, could play a bigger role in protecting communities from flooding and erosion.
Restoring river woodlands, trees and forests alongside rivers, streams and lochs, is gaining momentum across Scotland. These habitats are vital for improving water quality, reducing flood and drought risks, supporting biodiversity, and boosting community wellbeing. Yet over half of Scotland’s riverbanks are in poor condition, and efforts to restore them still face major challenges.
River woodlands (RW) play a crucial role in protecting river ecosystems, for example by reducing flooding, storing carbon, filtering pollution, and benefiting local communities. However, nearly 55% of surveyed riverbank in Scotland show poor RW health. This highlights a need for RW restoration. While RW initiatives like Riverwoods are gaining traction, scaling them up remains challenging. In 2022, Riverwoods conducted a review of existing research on RW benefits, identifying 60 key knowledge gaps.
Coastal flooding and erosion are increasing problems around the Scottish coastline resulting from climatic changes such as increased storm frequency and intensity, as well as rising sea levels. These pose risks to human life, infrastructure and properties, with negative consequences for the national economy.
Gaining a greater understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning could support better prediction, communication, and management of flood risks across Scotland over the coming years is a key priority.
Type of project: Capacity Building Project.
Overview: This project will conduct an evidence synthesis to assess the current state of knowledge of how investments in protecting and improving natural capital influence the state of the water environment. The synthesis will also explore the wider benefits these investments provide for nature, climate adaptation, public health, net zero targets and agriculture.
Project Status: Project in progress
Project lead: SRUC
Welcome to our new quarterly CREW newsletter, CREW NEWS!
In this spring edition we’re reminding you of our current calls for proposals, highlighting completed projects and feeding back from our project evaluation forms. As it’s our first edition we’ve also included a refresher on ‘who we are and what we do’ and there’s a letter from our comms officer detailing some favourite moments from her first year in post.
We’d love to hear what you’d be interested in reading in future issues of CREW NEWS.
CREW Code: CRW2023_02
Theme: Hydrological Extremes Coasts and Risk Management
Project status: Project complete. Click here to visit the publication page to view the project outputs.
Type of project: Capacity Building
Lead research team: The James Hutton Institute
Theme: Hydrological Extremes, Coasts and Risk Management
Project status: Project complete. Click here to visit the publication page to view the project outputs.
Type of project: Capacity Building Project
Lead research team: SRUC