The EU floods directive in Sweden: opportunities for integrated and participatory flood risk planning

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Hedelin
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Floods Directive ◽  
Eu Floods Directive ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Risk Planning

scholarly journals Obligation or Innovation: Can the EU Floods Directive Be Seen as a Tipping Point Towards More Resilient Flood Risk Management? A Case Study from Vorarlberg, Austria

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Rauter ◽  
Thomas Thaler ◽  
Marie-Sophie Attems ◽  
Sven Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
System Change ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
Floods Directive ◽  
Eu Floods Directive ◽  
The Eu

Environmental change is subject to discussion among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers. As increasing threats to both environment and society are on the agenda, alternative management approaches are gaining importance. This paper focuses on the influence of policy changes on flood risk management. There is evidence that shifts in settlement patterns and population growth might influence the dynamics of flood damage and loss. There is increased pressure to intensify land use, but also to keep free spaces for hazard mitigation and adaptation. In this paper, we focus on new regulative and management approaches associated with the implementation of the European (EU) Floods Directive in Austria. The concept of tipping points, which are defined as turning points for system change, has been applied. Based on semi-structured interviews we evaluate whether or not the implementation of the EU Floods Directive has triggered a system change in flood risk management. Our results show that triggers for change are past flood events and a general need for action rather than the implementation of the directive itself. Changes related to the EU Floods Directive are likely to happen in the long-term; however, these cannot yet be determined. The main challenges are associated with transparency and communication between policymakers and the affected society. So far, the requirements of the first policy cycle of the directive have been fulfilled. The second policy cycle will show further outcomes and potential needs.

scholarly journals Flood risk management in Italy: challenges and opportunities for the implementation of the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC)

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2883-2890 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mysiak ◽  
F. Testella ◽  
M. Bonaiuto ◽  
G. Carrus ◽  
S. De Dominicis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Risk Prevention ◽  
Risk Governance ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Floods Directive ◽  
Eu Floods Directive ◽  
The Eu

Abstract. Italy's recent history is punctuated with devastating flood disasters claiming high death toll and causing vast but underestimated economic, social and environmental damage. The responses to major flood and landslide disasters such as the Polesine (1951), Vajont (1963), Firenze (1966), Valtelina (1987), Piedmont (1994), Crotone (1996), Sarno (1998), Soverato (2000), and Piedmont (2000) events have contributed to shaping the country's flood risk governance. Insufficient resources and capacity, slow implementation of the (at that time) novel risk prevention and protection framework, embodied in the law 183/89 of 18 May 1989, increased the reliance on the response and recovery operations of the civil protection. As a result, the importance of the Civil Protection Mechanism and the relative body of norms and regulation developed rapidly in the 1990s. In the aftermath of the Sarno (1998) and Soverato (2000) disasters, the Department for Civil Protection (DCP) installed a network of advanced early warning and alerting centres, the cornerstones of Italy's preparedness for natural hazards and a best practice worth following. However, deep convective clouds, not uncommon in Italy, producing intense rainfall and rapidly developing localised floods still lead to considerable damage and loss of life that can only be reduced by stepping up the risk prevention efforts. The implementation of the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) provides an opportunity to revise the model of flood risk governance and confront the shortcomings encountered during more than 20 yr of organised flood risk management. This brief communication offers joint recommendations towards this end from three projects funded by the 2nd CRUE ERA-NET (http://www.crue-eranet.net/) Funding Initiative: FREEMAN, IMRA and URFlood.

scholarly journals The EU Floods Directive trickling down: tracing the ideas of integrated and participatory flood risk management in Sweden

Water Policy ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Hedelin
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Floods Directive ◽  
Eu Floods Directive ◽  
The Eu

This study examines how the EU Floods Directive – an extensive and innovative legislative instrument for integrated and participatory flood risk planning in all EU member states – influences local flood risk management in one member state, Sweden. The study identifies that: many municipalities have received new knowledge; cross-sectoral organisational structures for water and flood risk issues at the local level are being formed or strengthened; and the flood risk issue has been elevated up the political agenda. There are also however clear signs that a number of other fundamental issues are not being adequately addressed in the complex institutional setting that results from the directive's implementation. These issues are undoubtedly obstructing the development of a more integrated and participatory flood risk management system. Of key importance here are questions relating to how roles and mandates are communicated and adopted, the lack of coordination between the Floods Directive and the Water Framework Directive, and the inadequate involvement of the municipal level and other stakeholders. Practical recommendations on how to redirect development towards more positive outcomes in these areas are thus formulated.

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