Time for a new recipe for flood risk management in Europe
The EU Floods Directive requires Member States to assess if all water courses and coast lines are at risk from flooding, to map the flood extent and assets and humans at risk in these areas and to take adequate and coordinated measures to reduce this flood risk. Member States will have to adopt Flood Risk Management Plans, the second cycle of plans being due in 2021. Wetlands International supports the European Commission’s call for increased attention to green infrastructure or natural flood management measures in these new plans.
In this briefing, Wetlands International gives recommendations to Member States to focus on nature-based solutions and green infrastructure measures and lists a number of platforms where knowledge on nature-based solutions and case studies can be found. We explain why Member States should refrain from applying old recipes such as extensive grey infrastructure works. Compared to traditional infrastructure, nature-based solutions deliver more jobs per euro, are less expensive, faster to implement, have a lower carbon footprint and are more sustainable in the long run.
Download the briefing below.
Header image © Bart de Jonge on Unsplash