Task 7. Engagement and co-design with Q-NFM partners and wider stakeholders
This task is as important as the core modelling Task 4. We need the expertise of our Q-NFM Partners to: (a) prioritise the types of possible NFM interventions to be investigated with modelling; (b) define spatial extents of NFM deployment that are 'realistic' in the Cumbrian and wider setting; (c) to help us present results that have both credibility and meaning for policy makers, the wider CaBA community and the wider public; and (d) help us fully inform partners and other NFM implementing organisations of deployment strategies that deliver optimal flood mitigation benefits.
Specific tasks:
7.1 Co-develop scenarios of NFM extent and preferred location: The co-development of scenarios of NFM extent and preferred location to meet the needs of the diverse stakeholder community in the large test catchments (and nationally) seeks to gain the partner knowledge to produce digital 'NFM Extent Map Set 3' in Task 5. This partner-led task (Task 7.1) is coordinated by subcontractor David Johnson of the Rivers Trust given his extensive experience at organising stakeholder events, and his extensive stakeholder network. David and our partner team will organise a series of workshops specifically to gain the knowledge for NFM 'Extent Map Set 3' during workshops in year 1 and 2 of the project. They will bring a diverse range of local (Cumbria) and national stakeholders from within and beyond the existing partner team (including representatives of the farming community, local flood action groups, local government, local businesses etc.) to these workshops.
7.2 To translate complex scientific results into practice: Our partners will help the Q-NFM investigators translate our complex GLUE results into graphical and mapped results that can be understood by all partners and the wider stakeholder community. We will then engage with a range of communities at risk from flooding and other key stakeholders. This engagement will be led by the Rivers Trust, and achieved with a range of innovative tools developed to present our scientific findings to partners, in part building on our winning entry to the Defra Competition). We propose seven components of our approach that extend the engagement tools of the Rivers Trust that have previously largely focused on water quality, water resources and bio-diversity as part of the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA), namely (1) On line 'story maps'; (2) Training workshops and webinars; (3) Mentoring; (4) Social media; (5) A discussion forum with catchment walks; (6) A NFM knowledge hub (extending the CCM Hub); (7) Co-finance and coordination with existing projects.
Flood conditions at Eggerslack flume 11:18am BST on 4 Oct 2021