Bringing flood resilience into practice: the FREEMAN project

The recent shift in flood risk management concedes that floods cannot be prevented but the impacts on and vulnerability of the risk prone communities can be reduced. Beyond mere structural defence, an integrated risk management approach deploys a diversified set of measures that moderate the economic and social drivers of risk and improve risk governance. In this context, the concept of resilience gains on importance despite the many challenges that obstruct its implementation in management practice. This paper contributes to tackling these challenges and elaborates on opportunities and bottlenecks to bring resilience into practice based on a review of the flood risk management in three case studies in Europe: Flanders (Belgium), Niedersachsen (Germany) and Calabria (Italy). The paper summarizes insights gained on three components of resilience being – institutional interplay, flood management tools and risk communication. The work that has lead to this paper is done under the FREEMAN project (flood resilience enhancement and management), funded under the 2nd CRUE ERA-Net Funding Initiative.

► Scope of work: institutional interplay, flood management tools, risk communication.
► How can resilience be complementary to traditional structural measures?
► Measures increasing flood resilience influence community awareness and preparedness.