The Catchment Based Approach (CABA) project, created and funded by the Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Environment Agency (EA) region, is intended to primarily provide EA staff and partners with information to support flood risk management activities through the application of nature based solutions, alongside traditional flood risk management approaches. The focus of the project on nature based solutions will also provide information on the benefits of delivering such flood risk management activities.
Building on best available science from sources such as the Working With Natural Processes Evidence Directory, national guidance on natural capital valuation, and local knowledge and expertise provided by the EA and other delivery partners with support from a NFM guide (NFM - Flood Risk Management). The outputs are intended to help inform development of environmental plans, investment programmes, projects, and for landowners it may help inform decision making on their land holdings and potential funding open to them.
The tools and outputs use datasets that are readily shareable, accessible to all who want to use them. They also show where collective effort could best be used in a given location, thereby highlighting areas for potential collaboration between landowners/managers and environmental bodies and groups.
Development of the Devon and Cornwall NFM Studio web-mapping platform takes the outputs of the CABA project and provides it in a post processed simplified series of spatial maps to inform decision making on delivering nature based solutions.
The catchments overview dashboard provides a catchment scale overview of all the outputs for the project. This includes a series of metric outputs developed on the project including the Opportunity and Hydrology metrics. Each metric (Hydrology and Opportunity) is subdivided into multiple measure types to enable different types of NFM to be assessed spatially. The measure types assessed cover broad scale catchment functions; infiltration; catchment storage and in-channel attenuation.