Nature-Based Solutions

The most promising restoration approaches work with rather than against natural processes. After decades of channelization and concretization, engineers rediscover what rivers knew all along—meanders slow floods, wetlands filter pollution, riparian forests cool water.

The Loire leads this revolution. The "Loire Vivante" (Living Loire) movement successfully fought mega-dam projects in the 1980s, arguing for management that respects the river's wild nature. Today, Loire restoration removes obsolete dams, reconnects floodplains, allows natural flooding that recharges groundwater.

"We're un-engineering the river," explains project manager Sylvie Rousseau. "Not abandoning management but making it subtle, adaptive. Medieval farmers knew to plant certain crops in flood zones. We're relearning their wisdom, adding modern science."