Green-blue strategies, essential for a liveable environment

Reduce water stress and increase biodiversity

According to the World Resources Institute, Belgium is in the highest category of drought stress. We spend at least 80% of our available water resources on an annual basis. In such conditions, even a brief drought can cause problems, with consequences for nature, households, agriculture, and industry.

Our experts take a sustainable and innovative approach with nature-based solutions to protect wet and valuable habitats and increase biodiversity. This means, among other things:

• Filling non-functional drains
• Installing weirs
• Scouring old farmland
• Restoring flood plains
• Making peatlands and wetlands resilient

Integral, multidisciplinary solutions at every scale

Working in nature presents its challenges. It is a fragile environment where we want to minimise any negative impact of the interventions. Sweco has diverse expertise in-house. Ecologists, groundwater specialists, surface water experts, soil experts , experts in natural water purification, hydraulic engineering, landscaping, and agriculture offer integrated and multidisciplinary solutions throughout all phases of a project.

• Site inventory: you receive a complete and detailed site survey based on soil and water samples, monitoring well pipe measurements, site surveys, inventory of local fauna and flora, and desktop inventory including GIS data.
• Vision of desired ecology: we develop an integrated and robust vision, including desired ecological and hydrological conditions, based on the inventory, site visits, and discussions with various stakeholders.
• Design: our design converts the vision into a realisable plan that enhances the environment while respecting current and future natural values.
• Permits: our experts guide you through the complex process, delivering a complete and well-supported file, urban planning, for nature tests and EIA.
• Implementation: we assist you during the necessary (restoration) measures in the field to successfully implement the design.

We look at a project at every scale: macro, meso, micro. Our solutions and designs look beyond project boundaries and fit into the entire water and ecological system. Moreover, due to numerous references all over Belgium, including Blue Deal projects, our experts have excellent regional knowledge, which helps them understand the system. Then we refine to the detail level for a broad solution without gaps.

Strengthening ecosystem services with supported solutions

Green-blue projects often have a complex context, with many sensitivities – both substantive and societal. Sweco is strongly committed to participation and stakeholder management to align both facets, reconcile conflicting interests, and create clarity. We mediate between local governments, residents, farmers, and wildlife organisations for optimal ecohydrological design that enhances the area’s ecosystem services, such as:

• Water buffering
• Drought stress protection
• Cooling down the environment
• Providing a home for important fauna and flora species
• Carbon retention in peat deposits

Not to mention a place where we can all unwind mentally and physically.

Contact us to work together to create green-blue networks that future-proof our living environment in increasingly extreme weather conditions.

Related Expertises