Feb 12, 2025
Beavers help with climate adaptation - Saxon-Czech research project "BIBOB" launched under the leadership of TU Dresden
By building dams, beavers change the hydrological and hydraulic conditions in smaller watercourses.
The TUD Dresden University of Technology (TUD), together with partners from Germany and the Czech Republic, is launching the innovative and practice-oriented[TH1] research project "BIBOB" to investigate the role of beavers in climate adaptation. The project is supported by the EU program Interreg Saxony-Czech Republic 2021-2027 with a grant of 871,764.90 euros.
Beavers are fascinating animals that also play an important role in environmental and water protection. Their activities can help to stabilize the water balance in landscapes, increase biodiversity and strengthen resilience to the challenges of climate change. The effects of climate change are clearly noticeable in the border region between Saxony and the Czech Republic. Here, landscapes and ecosystems are struggling with changing weather conditions that lead to flooding and increasingly also to pronounced periods of drought and devastating forest fires. These changes not only have an impact on nature, but also on the people who live in these areas.
By building dams, beavers sometimes drastically change the hydrological and hydraulic conditions in smaller watercourses. Beaver dams thus help to store water both above and below ground and release it more evenly, so that the effects of flooding and drought can be mitigated.
For authorities and municipalities, however, beaver activities are also increasingly associated with challenges, as the animals' activities can also lead to unwanted flooding or undermining.
Municipalities and environmental authorities currently lack clear information and arguments to make informed decisions on whether beaver dams should be retained or whether adaptation measures are necessary.
In the BIBOB project, the cooperation between Czech and German universities and practice partners therefore aims to quantify the positive contributions of beaver dams to the reduction of environmental risks and to develop concrete and practical recommendations for the management of these dams.
Teilnehmer zur Kick-Off-Veranstaltung im Sitzungszimmer der Fakultät Bauingenieurwesen.
The kick-off event for the project recently took place at TU Dresden and was accompanied by an excursion to the study area. The first public workshop on the project, in which other institutions and citizens can also participate, is scheduled for June 2025. Information on the progress of the project will be provided on an ongoing basis on the project website.
