The recent floods continue to stimulate interesting discussion about how we interact with nature in Australia’s floodplains

Over recent months we have continued to look at issues surrounding flooding and the way we interact with our natural landscapes in Australia, especially in urban areas.

A lot of interesting discussion has been generated by the 2022 floods, so I thought we’d share some interesting articles for some summer reading, listening and reflection.

First up, this November article in The Conversation by Paul Humphries and Keller Kopf, explores the importance of floods to floodplains, and the ecological explosion that unfolds in their wake. You can also read this article by clicking on the image below.

Paul went on to be interviewed by Amanda Vanstone on Counterpoint, an ABC Radio National program, where they discussed this topic in some detail. To make things extra simple for you, we have extracted the relevant 10 minute segment from the hour-long program, which you can listen to on the player below.

Moving along, and as the floodwaters have progressed downstream along the Murray River, there have also been some valuable perspectives shared that take a bigger picture view. Two of these perspectives, which appeared late last year on the ABC News website, are shared below. There are no easy answers, but I hope you find this some interesting and stimulating food for thought:

Mark Bachmann