USACE Engineering With Nature program recognized with international award

VICKSBURG, Miss. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering With Nature (EWN) program was recently recognized by the U.K. Environment Agency.

The EWN program’s “International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management (NNBF)” received the U.K. Environment Agency’s Flood and Coast Excellence Award for International Excellence.

“The NNBF Guidelines are the next step toward revolutionary infrastructure development — a set of real-world guidelines to help familiarize us with what was once novel,” said Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, USACE Commanding General and 55th Chief of Engineers for USACE.

NNBF provide cost-effective, self-sustaining alternatives to traditionally engineered flood management while offering additional benefits to ecosystems and communities. These guidelines enable organizations worldwide to apply best practices for NNBF in coastal and inland systems. They cover a range of nature-based features in coastal and fluvial environments, along with topics that apply to nature-base solutions more broadly.

The 1,000-page publication is the culmination of five years of collaboration among 77 cross-sector organizations spanning 10 countries on four continents.

“The strength of these approaches in delivering solutions is shown by the techniques described in these guidelines,” said Ms. Caroline Douglass, U.K. Environment Agency executive director for Flood and Coastal Risk Management. “The guidelines provide the opportunity to learn from other global experts and have influenced the Environment Agency’s vision for a ready and resilient response to flooding and climate change in the United Kingdom.”

The International Excellence Award recognizes world-class practices and approaches to managing flooding and coastal erosion that are not currently mainstream in the UK. The award also recognizes outstanding international leadership, including emerging international thought and world-leading research on flood and coastal risk management issues, technical excellence in delivering flood risk management and managing coastal change and effective partnerships, engagement or shared learning between countries.