scholarly journals POTENTIAL FLOOD IMPACT ON NATURAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT IN RIGA

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena MALAHOVA ◽  
Daina VASIĻEVSKA ◽  
Karlis KETNERS
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Risk Prevention ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Socioeconomic Environment ◽  
The Right

Flood risk management is the process of data and information gathering, risk analysis and evaluation, appraisal of options, and making, implementing and reviewing decisions to reduce, control, accept or redistribute the flood risks. It is a continuous process of analysis, adjustment and adaptation of policies and actions taken to reduce the flood risk. Preventive measures and timely, reasonable flood risk prevention measures can help reduce the risk of floods and caused damages. In addition, protection against floods is primarily necessary for populated areas, especially when it comes to densely populated areas, since floods may affect a large number of citizens and their property thereby causing enormous material damage not only to the inhabitants of these territories but also to business infrastructure, respectively, it can result in significant material and socioeconomic losses. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the flood risk management theoretical and practical aspects, identify the potential impact of floods on natural and socioeconomic environment, as well as to show the usefulness of flood risk reduction measures. To reach this aim, the following tasks must be fulfilled: to give the definitions of flooding and flood risk and briefly characterise the flooding and flood risk in Latvia; to study and characterize the flood risk management legal and institutional aspects; to carry out an analytical overview of the flood risk assessment on right bank of the Daugava River in Riga; to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of flood risk prevention measures on the right bank of the Daugava in Riga.

scholarly journals The Value of Citizen Science for Flood Risk Reduction: Cost-benefit Analysis of a Citizen Observatory in the Brenta-Bacchiglione Catchment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Ferri ◽  
Uta Wehn ◽  
Linda See ◽  
Martina Monego ◽  
Steffen Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Eu Directive

Abstract. Citizen observatories are a relatively recent form of citizen science. As part of the flood risk management strategy of the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment, a citizen observatory for flood risk management has been proposed and is currently being implemented. Citizens are involved through monitoring water levels and obstructions and providing other relevant information through mobile apps, where the data are assimilated with other sensor data in a hydrological-hydraulic model used in early warning. A cost benefit analysis of the citizen observatory was undertaken to demonstrate the value of this approach in monetary terms. Although not yet fully operational, the citizen observatory is assumed to decrease the social vulnerability of the flood risk. By calculating the hazard, exposure and vulnerability of three flood scenarios (required for flood risk management planning by the EU Directive on Flood Risk Management) with and without the proposed citizen observatory, it is possible to evaluate the benefits in terms of the average annual avoided damage costs. Although currently a hypothetical exercise, the results showed a reduction in avoided damage of 45 % compared to a business as usual scenario. Thus, linking citizen science with hydrological modelling, and to raise awareness of flood hazards, has great potential in reducing future flood risk in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment. Moreover, such approaches are easily transferable to other catchments.

scholarly journals The value of citizen science for flood risk reduction: cost–benefit analysis of a citizen observatory in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 5781-5798
Author(s):  
Michele Ferri ◽  
Uta Wehn ◽  
Linda See ◽  
Martina Monego ◽  
Steffen Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Eu Directive

Abstract. Citizen observatories are a relatively recent form of citizen science. As part of the flood risk management strategy of the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment, a citizen observatory for flood risk management has been proposed and is currently being implemented. Citizens are involved through monitoring water levels and obstructions and providing other relevant information through mobile apps, where the data are assimilated with other sensor data in a hydrological–hydraulic model used in early warning. A cost–benefit analysis of the citizen observatory was undertaken to demonstrate the value of this approach in monetary terms. Although not yet fully operational, the citizen observatory is assumed to decrease the social vulnerability of the flood risk. By calculating the hazard, exposure and vulnerability of three flood scenarios (required for flood risk management planning by the EU Directive on Flood Risk Management) with and without the proposed citizen observatory, it is possible to evaluate the benefits in terms of the average annual avoided damage costs. Although currently a hypothetical exercise, the results showed a reduction in avoided damage of 45 % compared to a business as usual scenario. Thus, linking citizen science and citizen observatories with hydrological modelling to raise awareness of flood hazards and to facilitate two-way communication between citizens and local authorities has great potential in reducing future flood risk in the Brenta-Bacchiglione catchment. Moreover, such approaches are easily transferable to other catchments.

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 role of risk perception in making flood risk management more effective

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 3013-3030 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Buchecker ◽  
G. Salvini ◽  
G. Di Baldassarre ◽  
E. Semenzin ◽  
E. Maidl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Risk Evaluation ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Prevention Measures

Abstract. Over the last few decades, Europe has suffered from a number of severe flood events and, as a result, there has been a growing interest in probing alternative approaches to managing flood risk via prevention measures. A literature review reveals that, although in the last decades risk evaluation has been recognized as key element of risk management, and risk assessment methodologies (including risk analysis and evaluation) have been improved by including social, economic, cultural, historical and political conditions, the theoretical schemes are not yet applied in practice. One main reason for this shortcoming is that risk perception literature is mainly of universal and theoretical nature and cannot provide the necessary details to implement a comprehensive risk evaluation. This paper therefore aims to explore a procedure that allows the inclusion of stakeholders' perceptions of prevention measures in risk assessment. It proposes to adopt methods of risk communication (both one-way and two-way communication) in risk assessment with the final aim of making flood risk management more effective. The proposed procedure not only focuses on the effect of discursive risk communication on risk perception, and on achieving a shared assessment of the prevention alternatives, but also considers the effects of the communication process on perceived uncertainties, accepted risk levels, and trust in the managing institutions. The effectiveness of this combined procedure has been studied and illustrated using the example of the participatory flood prevention assessment process on the Sihl River in Zurich, Switzerland. The main findings of the case study suggest that the proposed procedure performed well, but that it needs some adaptations for it to be applicable in different contexts and to allow a (semi-) quantitative estimation of risk perception to be used as an indicator of adaptive capacity.

Evolution of Strategic Flood Risk Management in Support of Social Justice, Ecosystem Health, and Resilience

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sayers
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
Policy And Planning

Throughout history, flood management practice has evolved in response to flood events. This heuristic approach has yielded some important incremental shifts in both policy and planning (from the need to plan at a catchment scale to the recognition that flooding arises from multiple sources and that defenses, no matter how reliable, fail). Progress, however, has been painfully slow and sporadic, but a new, more strategic, approach is now emerging. A strategic approach does not, however, simply sustain an acceptable level of flood defence. Strategic Flood Risk Management (SFRM) is an approach that relies upon an adaptable portfolio of measures and policies to deliver outcomes that are socially just (when assessed against egalitarian, utilitarian, and Rawlsian principles), contribute positively to ecosystem services, and promote resilience. In doing so, SFRM offers a practical policy and planning framework to transform our understanding of risk and move toward a flood-resilient society. A strategic approach to flood management involves much more than simply reducing the chance of damage through the provision of “strong” structures and recognizes adaptive management as much more than simply “wait and see.” SFRM is inherently risk based and implemented through a continuous process of review and adaptation that seeks to actively manage future uncertainty, a characteristic that sets it apart from the linear flood defense planning paradigm based upon a more certain view of the future. In doing so, SFRM accepts there is no silver bullet to flood issues and that people and economies cannot always be protected from flooding. It accepts flooding as an important ecosystem function and that a legitimate ecosystem service is its contribution to flood risk management. Perhaps most importantly, however, SFRM enables the inherent conflicts as well as opportunities that characterize flood management choices to be openly debated, priorities to be set, and difficult investment choices to be made.

scholarly journals Towards modelling flood protection investment as a coupled human and natural system

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. O'Connell ◽  
G. O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Natural System ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Investment Strategies

Abstract. Due to a number of recent high-profile flood events and the apparent threat from global warming, governments and their agencies are under pressure to make proactive investments to protect people living in floodplains. However, adopting a proactive approach as a universal strategy is not affordable. It has been argued that delaying expensive and essentially irreversible capital decisions could be a prudent strategy in situations with high future uncertainty. This paper firstly uses Monte Carlo simulation to explore the performance of proactive and reactive investment strategies using a rational cost–benefit approach in a natural system with varying levels of persistence/interannual variability in annual maximum floods. It is found that, as persistence increases, there is a change in investment strategy optimality from proactive to reactive. This could have implications for investment strategies under the increasingly variable climate that is expected with global warming. As part of the emerging holistic approaches to flood risk management, there is increasing emphasis on stakeholder participation in determining where and when flood protection investments are made, and so flood risk management is becoming more people-centred. As a consequence, multiple actors are involved in the decision-making process, and the social sciences are assuming an increasingly important role in flood risk management. There is a need for modelling approaches which can couple the natural and human system elements. It is proposed that coupled human and natural system (CHANS) modelling could play an important role in understanding the motivations, actions and influence of citizens and institutions and how these impact on the effective delivery of flood protection investment. A framework for using agent-based modelling of human activities leading to flood investments is outlined, and some of the challenges associated with implementation are discussed.

scholarly journals Towards modelling flood protection investment as a coupled human and natural system

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 8279-8323 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. O'Connell ◽  
G. O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Natural System ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Investment Strategies

Abstract. Due to a number of recent high profile flood events and the apparent threat from global warming, governments and their agencies are under pressure to make proactive investments to protect people living in floodplains. However, adopting a proactive approach as a universal strategy is not affordable. It has been argued that delaying expensive and essentially irreversible capital decisions could be a prudent strategy in situations with high future uncertainty. This paper firstly uses Monte Carlo simulation to explore the performance of proactive and reactive investment strategies using a rational cost-benefit approach in a natural system with varying levels of persistence/interannual variability in Annual Maximum Floods. It is found that, as persistence increases, there is a change in investment strategy optimality from proactive to reactive. This could have implications for investment strategies under the increasingly variable climate that is expected with global warming. As part of the emerging holistic approaches to flood risk management, there is increasing emphasis on stakeholder participation in determining where and when flood protection investments are made, and so flood risk management is becoming more people-centred. As a consequence, multiple actors are involved in the decision-making process, and the social sciences are assuming an increasingly important role in flood risk management. There is a need for modelling approaches which can couple the natural and human system elements. It is proposed that Coupled Human and Natural System (CHANS) modelling could play an important role in understanding the motivations, actions and influence of citizens and institutions and how these impact on the effective delivery of flood protection investment. A framework for using Agent Based Modelling of human activities leading to flood investments is outlined, and some of the challenges associated with implementation are discussed.

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