Flood risk mitigation through river rehabilitation

Rivers are highly sensitive to long-term and intensive human activities on their floodplains, which usually lead to fundamental transformations of fluvial morphology and changes in the character and intensity of flood events. In the last years it has been registered a growing interest at both strategic and operational levels amongst river managers in Europe in developing wetland rehabilitation schemes for flood risk mitigation and biodiversity protection. But the main difficulties in restoring floodplains lie partly in human activities for industrial, agricultural and residential purposes settled on river corridors; certainly, an optimal balance between nature rehabilitation goals and other societal interests, can provide considerable benefits for many actor groups spanning a variety of policy fields. The paper illustrates a sustainable flood mitigation plan in urban context through destroyed floodplain rehabilitation for the Vomano River’s mouth, central Italy.