Tame the water or let it flow? New Zealand grapples with how to protect its braided rivers

Intervention for farming and flood risk changes the unique systems as communities grapple with how to live alongside the vital waterways When British settlers started building Christchurch city 170 years ago, they largely ignored the nearby Waimakariri River, which twists from the South Island’s alps towards the eastern shore. But rain and glacial shifts compelled the braided river – a globally rare form of river with many woven channels – to take on a new shape, occasionally flooding land and depositing tonnes of shingle in its wake. Continue reading...

Original source: Guardian