Cultural practices in European riverine floodplains: formation, typology, co-decline of biocultural diversity, and emerging drivers of conservation and sustainable management

Floodplain wetlands in riverine environments are characterized by rhythmic hydrological changes, which re-structure physical habitat, change between aquatic and dry life conditions, reset successions, and facilitate the respective food chains and/or migration/drift of nutrients and organisms. Since the earliest days of humankind, these floodplains were sought-after places for humans to settle, use natural resources directly or indirectly, to learn from nature. and even to venerate nature in spiritual relationships. The fast industrial and commercial developments of the past centuries have caused a decrease in the valuation of wetlands by humans, going along with the cutting-off of the natural hydrological regime by dikes and dams and their large-scale transformation into permanent dry land. This paper delivers a review on (i) Driving forces that form biocultural diversity in river floodplains, (ii) Typology of cultural activities in river floodplains, (iii) Today’s co-decline/extinction of biocultural diversity in river floodplains, and (iv) Cultural practices as inspiration for future conservation and sustainable development in Europe. Rather than presenting cultural practices in the form of a “Red list”, we want to highlight that they are actually a tool to rediscover, evolve, or create new cultural linkages with rivers and their floodplains and to help to take action to better respect, protect, restore, or to newly create these floodplains. Cultural practices can be studied in a similar way to more-than-human species traits, including their cultural activities. Biological and cultural diversity in floodplains is threatened by similar drivers. Cultural diversity can deliver important incentives for floodplain management.