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This policy brief highlights the lessons-learned from the RISC-KIT project and provides a number of recommendations addressed to different actors, and relevance to the Sendai Framework and the Floods Directive.
Recent and historic low-frequency, high-impact events have demonstrated the flood risks faced by exposed coastal areas in Europe. Among these events are the 2014 St. Agatha storm in the Adriatic, the 2013 Xavier/St. Nicholas storm in North-West Europe, and the 2010 Xynthia storm in France.
According to the IPCC, these risks to coastal zones are likely to increase in the future as both the hazards (such as sea level rise) and impacts (due to on-going development) increase. This requires a re-evaluation of coastal disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies and a new mix of prevention (e.g. dike protection), mitigation (e.g. limiting construction in flood-prone areas; ecosystem-based solutions) and preparedness (e.g. Early Warning Systems, EWS) measures.
For this reason, applied research is needed to enhance forecasting, prediction, and early warning capabilities; improve the assessment of long-term coastal risk; and optimize the mix of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness measures.
The RISC-KIT project has developed tools and approaches to record historic and recent impact events that can identify coastal areas which are most at risk, provide a set of potential DRR measures, and assess the effectiveness and suitability of these measures. All tools have been demonstrated with end-user input in ten case study sites in Europe.
Perspective / In this perspective, SEI's Janne Parviainen argues that the impacts of Storm Boris show why Europe must rethink its approach to addressing rising flood risks.
Past event / Welcome to an event to explore the rationales, challenges and opportunities for incorporating a source-to-sea perspective when assessing and funding projects.
Past event / Join this event to learn how a better understanding of Nature can help us build resilient economies and achieve sustainable prosperity for all.
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