In May 2025, a new technical guide to support public policy was published for those involved in riverbank management and restoration. Designed as part of a collaboration between INRAE and the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), it suggests practical, tried-and-tested methods for taking effective action to protect riverbanks. The guide promotes nature-based solutions for stabilising and restoring river banks. It describes around ten plant-based engineering techniques using exclusively living plants, without recourse to rigid structural elements such as logs or rip-rap. These include beds of plants and seedlings, layers of branches with offshoots and helophyte fascines.

For each technique, the guide offers clear indications on the conditions of application, precise technical prescriptions and practical procedures for implementation in the field.

It is part of a sustainable management approach, reconciling technical efficiency, economic restraint and benefits for biodiversity.

Photo : S.DeDanieli CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons