Does Anyone Have an Example of Privately Financed Floodplain Restoration?
In my experience, most of the river and floodplain restoration projects I've seen involve taxpayer/public funds.
I'm curious to find out if there might be examples where private sources of capital have contributed to a floodplain restoration project.
One example might be an insurance company that has a lower risk of flood claims coming in after the project is completed. While the gains might be marginal, a large scale floodplain restoration project could increase baseflows which in turn might lead to a tangible monetary benefit to either a hydropower company or a water supplier. Finally, while there are several variables that would have to be just right, conceivably a farmer with crops in the restored floodplain might have higher yields after a flood occurs.
The attached file is the write-up I did for a course I took on Coursera. My idea is just that, an idea. I'm curious to hear feedback and perhaps other ideas to have private capital partially fund a floodplain restoration project.