Monitoring and Evaluation – Natural Flood Management Projects (WWNP)
Organisation: Various
Location: National
Type: Templates
Monitoring and evaluation needs to be a part of initial project planning. It can help to secure future funding and engage local communities. This section provides links to guidance, training material, tools, templates and case studies that can help you to develop a monitoring plan. A draft guide ‘Monitoring and Evaluating the DEFRA funded Natural Flood Management Projects‘ has been developed by the Environment Agency and CaBA to support the Defra £15M program of NFM projects. The guide will be improved in 18/19 as we get feedback from community groups and partnerships who are using it.
The monitoring of WWNP projects generally takes one of 2 approaches:
- ‘Detailed’ approach. This looks at the extent of the effects of local-scale flow changes and or catchment-scale flow changes on flood risk.
- ‘Lighter touch’ approach. This looks at how, where and when a measure is working; whether the effects of a measure can be used to inform modelling studies; and how the measures perform in non-flood and low flow conditions.
Templates and tools
Monitoring of NFM projects and schemes is necessary to:
- Demonstrate success
- Learn from mistakes
- Know when adaptive management is needed
- Inform funders, partners and local stakeholders of how the projects has worked
- Fill known research gaps
Below are some templates and tools that can help you develop a CaBA monitoring plan for NFM projects.
Monitoring Planner
The Monitoring planner is a worksheet developed by the River Restoration Centre to help guide you through the process of planning a collaborative monitoring strategy and setting to evaluate projects in your catchment. A worked example for an NFM project will be added soon.
Monitoring Decision Flow Chart
Used in conjunction with the monitoring planner above, the 2-part Monitoring Decision Flow Chart included in the Environment Agency’s Evidence Directory, can help you to establish the extent of monitoring that may be necessary and feasible in the project catchment.
Practical River Restoration Appraisal Guidance
Guidance on monitoring protocols, and how to plan the right things to monitor to demonstrate success for river restoration projects.
River Restoration Factsheets
These free to download factsheets provide an overview of things to consider when planning, implementing and evaluating river restoration projects.