Thread by @James__Shooter

As heavy rainfall continues across the country, bringing a 'red' warning (danger to life) to parts of Scotland - it's glaringly obvious that restoring nature is no longer just a nice thing to do - but an essential defence for dealing with future extreme events. Here's how 👇 1/7

Reforesting our uplands 🌳

Where appropriate, this slows the flow of water coming off our hills into the valleys and glens below. Every needle, leaf, branch and root interupts water heading downwards.

Rewetting & revegetating our peatlands 💦

By blocking historic drains and allowing sphagnum to spread, our peatlands can store huge quantities of water from being released from the hills.

Allow floodplains to function naturally 🌊

Giving more space for water to spill out onto better protects downstream communities from flood events.

Insh Marshes, pictured here, at full capacity can hold 35 million cubic metres of water - that's 1400 olympic swimming pools.

Reviving rivers 🛶

Another important tool in making space for water. Remeandering artificially straightened channels & bringing in wetlands to the watercourse all deters that rapid rush heading downstream in an instant.

Bring in the beavers 🦫.

These industrious rodents & their dam building capabilities help to hold back water in various pools along the tributaries of smaller rivers. At a catchment scale their effects multiply and reduce the amount of water entering bigger channels.

Make use of SuDS 🏙️

Nature based solutions aren't just for the countryside. It's going to be vitally important to merge these systems into urban environments. These Sustainable Drainage Systems can be utilised across towns and cities to help store excess water.