Consortium on Climate-proof flood risk management

The design of adaptation responses to flood risks requires insight in the effectiveness of individual adaptation measures, such as flexible structures to control water levels and measures to reduce wave attacks. The main aim of this consortium is to perform an in-depth interdisciplinary assessment of these innovative types of measures. The research programme will:

• WP1 questions whether a system of flexible structures is sufficiently reliable in a setting of river branches and estuaries with multiple openings to the sea, threatened by both rising sea levels and increased river discharges. It takes the Rijnmond area as case study and compares it with the Thames estuary (London) and the Elbe estuary (Hamburg)
• WP2 questions the management of coastal dunes under the pressure of a rising sea level and possible changing storm regime. It focuses on the Wadden Islands, which provide a protective barrier to the Wadden Sea and its hinterland
• WP3 aims to provide tools for deciding on which type of ‘fail-free’ embankment to opt for in various settings. It will wrap together the wealth of new knowledge and insights from research and practical experience. It builds on case studies from different locations and assesses the contribution of robust multi-functional flood defenses to risk reduction at the scale level of entire dike-ring areas
• WP4 will improve the knowledge about the effectiveness and possibilities of putting a halt to the increase of economic damage potentials. It investigates the efficacy of flood risk zoning and associated building codes in areas with flood protection and without
• WP5 s’ key question is how foreign adaptation policies deal with uncertainties of climate change rate. It investigates the pros and cons of insurance arrangements and assesses damage reduction measures for individual property
• WP6 addresses the fundamental issues of how to deal with uncertainties and how to co-create societal value in FRM. More specifically it investigates what robustness means in relation to resilience, resistence, vulnerability, risk, etc., It also questions what additional requirements the present landscape character poses to designers of new flood defenses, both for countryside environments  and urban environments/ (harbor) cities

The consortium partners