Sir, – Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is right to highlight the role of land management in reducing flooding risk (“Farmers could be paid for land to ‘slow down’ flood water, Eamon Ryan says”, October 21st). Woodlands and hedgerows can significantly reduce peak water flows by several mechanisms, including increasing water infiltration and storage in soil.
Farmer led research from Aberystwyth University has shown a reduction of peak flood magnitude in the order of 40 per cent through the planting of trees and hedgerows. While the new CAP farm payment systems (2023-2027) offer some incentives to new hedge planting, these are insufficient and they fail to adequately incentivise the retention and improvement of our existing mature hedgerows.
National flood defence schemes must include greater use of nature-based solutions including increased upstream vegetation if we are to avoid further catastrophic flooding events as suffered last week in Cork. – Yours, etc,
DR ALAN MOORE,
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(Secretary) Hedgerows Ireland,
Co Tipperary.
