Program on the Environment

The Taquari River Valley in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, experienced severe flooding in 2024, highlighting the region’s vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Plural Land Use Planning Consulting is involved in post-disaster redevelopment efforts and is exploring ecosystem-based approaches to reduce future flood risk. As a land use planning intern at Plural, I developed methods to support feasibility studies for nature-based flood management solutions.
My work focused on identifying priority intervention areas for three strategies: riparian restoration, retention basins, and constructed wetlands. Using the Suitability Modeler in ArcGIS Pro, I integrated land cover data from MapBiomas with Plural’s internal datasets. Key variables included distance to drainage networks, land cover type, slope, and elevation. The analysis revealed that the southern portion of the valley contains the most suitable conditions for implementing these solutions, indicating strong potential to improve flood management and overall landscape resilience.
Results also show that agriculture is the dominant land cover within the flood-prone areas, reflecting the extent of human influence on the landscape. This creates an opportunity to strategically transition certain agricultural areas toward nature-based solutions. By targeting locations that contribute most to runoff, erosion, and pollutant transport, these interventions can reduce flood risk while improving water quality.
More broadly, this approach reframes land use planning as part of a preventive public health strategy. By mitigating the impacts of major flooding events, reducing exposure to contaminated water, and enhancing ecosystem services, nature-based solutions can play a critical role in protecting both environmental and community health.