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Abstract: Floodplains in Europe are heavily impacted by human intervention and often disconnected from the main river channel. Restoring lateral hydraulic connectivity between wetlands, fringe habitats and riparian land with the adjacent river channel is extremely important to maintain natural functioning of floodplain wetlands. However, there is no simple solution to restoring and rehabilitating rivers and their floodplains, particularly in terms of long-term sustainability. Floodplains are often the most fertile and productive part of the landscape, in terms of both agricultural production and natural ecosystems. Restoration projects must be able to balance conflicting needs and interests. Flood management is one of the most powerful drivers of developing strategies for floodplain restoration. Appropriate restoration management of floodplains is vital for the conservation of unique bio-diverse systems and for sustainable agricultural productivity. By developing strategies that better incorporate floodplain restoration in the context of the basin scale, it will become more feasible to develop the most effective restoration actions for a specific river type and location. Within this context we must not forget that successful natural resource management is much more than developing good science; it requires working with landowners, meeting deadlines, securing funding, supervising staff, and cooperating with politicians. Furthermore, the benefits of floodplain restoration must be equally demonstrated for multiple purposes including a range of ecosystem services. This paper explores the various interactions associated with floodplain dynamics. Through case studies it explores the various approaches that have been taken across Europe to forward the restoration of these fragile and important ecosystems and embeds these in the context of current European environmental policy and directives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although many of today's ecological, climatic and socio-economic problems seem unprecedented, similar events have occurred in the past. As such, historic periods of climatic and economic volatility can be used as a way of developing frameworks for analyzing today's predicament. Western Europe's “middle ages” (circa 11–14th century) may be one such case. By the 12th century, medieval Europe had shifted from the subsistence agrarian economy that emerged following the collapse of the Roman Empire to one where spatially dispersed trade in agricultural commodities helped support a complex society that devoted considerable resources to cultural works. This shift was facilitated by new institutional arrangements centred on monastic orders that provided access to both new agricultural and food processing technologies as well as trade routes. These institutional arrangements contributed to population growth and land clearing. All of these factors increased the wealth of society but also concentrated this wealth in a small number of communities that were dependent on an ever-increasing and exploited hinterland for resources. Ultimately, this created a tightly coupled continent-wide subsistence system that was vulnerable to the weather, economic and disease shocks of the 14th century when Europe's population declined by perhaps 50%. In exploring this history, the goal of this paper is to draw on a diverse theoretical body of literature (that includes resiliency theory, landscape ecology, political science and ecological economics) to develop a series of hypotheses about how large-scale complex civilizations can become vulnerable to climate change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper reviews definitions and uses of the Driving Forces–Pressures–State–Impacts–Responses (DPSIR) framework and argues that it is a relevant tool for structuring communication between scientists and end-users of environmental information, while it is inappropriate as an analytical tool. An apparently deterministic ‘causal’ description of environmental issues inevitably downplays the uncertainty and multiple dimensions of causality inherent in complex environmental and socio-economic systems. Consequently, the paper complements and reframes ‘DPSIR’ using a complex system methodology based on the distinction between four ‘spheres’ of sustainability (environmental, economic, social and political) and the analysis of their functioning and relationships. The pair-wise interface aspects are characterised through investigation of the ‘demands’ and ‘supply’ of each sphere relative to the others. Within the resulting conceptual framework, each of the five D, P, S, I and R concepts are specified, for application in integrative analysis of relationships between policy, society, economy and biodiversity in one of the world's largest European integrated research projects on biodiversity (ALARM). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Water supply and reuse through non-conventional water resources can significantly decrease the stress on natural water resources. Decentralized systems can help not only to alleviate issues of water security in arid areas, but also to create a sustainable framework within a circular economy. Although these small-scale innovative technologies are able to achieve ready-to-use, high quality of recovered/treated water on-site, the loop cannot be closed in most cases due to legislative barriers. Similarly, the end-use of sewage sludge after treatment in decentralized systems still lacks specific regulations that limit its valorization. This work analyzes the current policy and legislations related to water supply, wastewater treatment, water reuse and resource valorization within the context of decentralized state-of-the-art technologies applied in rural areas. The drawbacks in the current EU legislation that set barriers to close water-related loops in European countries are highlighted. A regulatory fitness check was applied to each type of loop to identify the key factors to accomplish the legislative compliance, and financing pathways were further evaluated at the EU level. As a possible solution, further development of an innovation deal approach is recommended to address the environmental, regulatory and financial gaps in water management through an integrated framework, providing ad-hoc policies and prescriptions for sustainable reuse of all water resources. • Regulatory fitness check was applied to closed water loops to identify legislative and financing barriers. • Current EU legislatives do not provide ad-hoc guidelines to decentralized systems. • No general barriers were detected for the reuse of reclaimed water in the EU legislation. • Serious limitations exist on drinking water production from non-conventional water resources. • Major constraints were determined for EC-marked compost for organic farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]