Benefits

Restoration efforts, such as adjusting levee positions, lowering floodplain elevations or installing culverts, are expected to activate floodplains and promote hydrologic connectivity. This activation is essential for improving spawning habitat availability for various fish species (Navodaru et al., 2005). Additionally, these measures bring extra benefits, including better retention of nutrients and suspended solids that are important to the soil quality of floodplains (Schneider, 2002; Suciu et al., 2002).

Most main levees in the Mekong are natural, so adjusting them may not be desirable or feasible. Adjusting their height might be an option, but this is of course dependent on adjustments to the floodplains behind them. Installing culverts may be an option in those cases, is period inundation is desired.

Expanding the width of the active river corridor through these actions increases the river's available "process space" (Ciotti et al., 2021). This approach aids in forming dynamic river-wetland corridors, contributing significantly to the overall functionality, biodiversity, and resilience of river systems (Wohl et al., 2021).

The resulting expanded area opens up new possibilities for community land-use practices, with flood-based livelihood strategy currently being implemented by WWF.