Improving flood risk analysis for effectively supporting the implementation of flood risk management plans: The case study of “Serio” Valley

The EU Flood Directive 2007/60 requires the assessment and delineation of flood risk maps. The latter should provide the required knowledge for the development of flood risk management plans (FRMPs), that should deal with all features of risk management: e.g. preparation, protection and prevention, comprising also the phase of the flood forecasting and warning systems, in addition to the emergency management. The risk maps, delineated through the expert-drive qualitative (EDQ) approach currently adopted in several European countries, such as Italy, fail to represent the information base that needed by stakeholders for selecting the suitable objectives and designing the appropriate mitigation actions for flood risk management. In the EDQ approach, the flood hazard and the potential damage degree maps are combined by means of a matrix to obtain a qualitative flood risk map. However, the performance of the risk matrix is not usually rigorous validated and, therefore, presents limits, such as subjective and not careful explained interpretation of rating and poor resolution, (due to range compression), that can produce errors in comparative ranking of risk areas. In this context, this paper proposes the FloodRisk approach that aims to improve the efficacy of flood risk map overcoming the limits of EDQ approach in supplying the knowledge base that allow to analyze costs and benefits of potential mitigation measures. However, the proposed approach is also able to involve the citizens in the flood management process, enhancing their awareness. An application of FloodRisk procedure is showed on a pilot case in “Serio” Valley, (North Italy), and its strengths and limits, in terms of additional efforts required in its application compared with EDQ procedure, have been discussed focusing on the efficacy of the outcomes provided for the fulfillment of FRMPs. The results have demonstrated the ability of FloodRisk, respect to EDQ approach, to distinguish successfully different levels of vulnerability of exposure elements, thanks to the use of asset value and depth-damage curves, that allows a suitably evaluation of the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies. In this light, a successfully application of a cost-benefit analysis of FloodRisk approach on a portfolio of alternative mitigation actions, (i.e. structural and non-structural measurements), has been demonstrated on the proposed study case. However, FloodRisk requires additional information, e.g. water depths assessment and assets values, and it needs a proper analysis and communication of the uncertainty in its results. Although they still exist limitations that impede, at present, the FloodRisk application without an adequate understanding and a critical consideration of the hazard, exposure and vulnerability characteristics of the study area, considerations are supplied on how the utilization of this approach can be maximized in the light of the next flood risk maps revision due by December 2019.     

Analyzing flood risk and related impacts to urban communities in central Vietnam

This study aims at understanding flood risks and their impact on a community, in order to enhance communities’ resilience and adaptive capacity to these threats. It also investigates the possibility of looking at and handling risk from a resilience point of view. Therefore, while a conventional risk management process is employed in this study, social, physical, economic, and institutional dimensions of resilience are also included in order to grasp the extent of risks and the ways in which communities face, cope with, and recover from flooding. Findings showed that there was no significant difference in the perception of flood risk among household heads educated up to secondary school level, suggesting that they believe floods are purely natural events. Those with a higher level of education (high school and above) (82.7 % of respondents) were aware that flood disasters are the result of hazard and vulnerability combined. In addition, social dynamics were apparently strengthened by such disasters, which resulted in cohesion and mutual help following floods in some wards. Also, households with more sources of income and more savings appear to recover faster than others after a flooding event. With regard to governance and networks, greater efforts have to be made by local institutions to ensure basic functioning during and after disaster events and to invest more into risk reduction activities. However, further studies need to be conducted to clarify the understanding of the impact flood disasters have on the environment and community lives and livelihoods in general, as traditional coping strategies, although still practical, no longer suffice in the face of changes in climate and environment.     

基于GIS的长沙市洪涝灾害风险动态评估

运用GIS技术的空间分析与建模功能构建洪涝灾害风险评估模型,以长沙市地理基础数据、遥感数据、气象水文、社会统计数据为基础,从洪涝灾害的危险性、暴露性、敏感性三个角度出发,对长沙市洪灾风险进行动态评价.结果表明：与1994年相比,2010年长沙市洪灾敏感性有所增加,暴露性上升,洪灾风险增大;从空间分布上看,长沙市区及望城区由于地势平坦,湘江干流贯穿其中,加之经济发达,因而洪灾风险较高;而西部的宁乡县和东部的浏阳市洪灾风险较低;提出了有针对性的防洪措施.该评价结果与实际情况相符,可为洪灾风险管理与决策提供科学依据.     

The effectiveness of flood risk communication strategies and the influence of social networks—Insights from an agent-based model

Flood risk management is becoming increasingly important, because more people are settling in flood-prone areas, and flood risk is increasing in many regions due to extreme weather events associated with climate change. It has been proposed that appropriately designed flood risk communication campaigns can stimulate floodplain inhabitants to prepare for flooding, and encourage adaptation to climate change. However, such campaigns do not always result in the desired action, and the effectiveness of communication in raising flood risk awareness and improving flood preparedness has hardly been studied. We evaluate different flood risk communication strategies, using an agent-based modelling approach, which is especially suitable for examining the effect of communication on each individual, and how flood risk communication can propagate through an individual’s social network. Our modelling results show that tailored, people-centred, flood risk communication can be significantly more effective than the common approach of top-down government communication, even when tailored communication reaches fewer individuals. Furthermore, communication on how to protect against floods, in addition to providing information about flood risk, is much more effective than the traditional strategy of communicating only about flood risk. Another main finding is that a person’s social network can have a significant effect on whether or not individuals take protective action. This leads to the recommendation that flood risk communication should aim at exploiting this natural amplifying effect of social networks, for instance, through the use of social media.     

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.     

Climate change vulnerability assessments as catalysts for social learning: four case studies in south-eastern Australia

Technical assessments of vulnerability and/or risk are increasingly being undertaken to assess the impacts of climate change. Underlying this is the belief that they will bring clarity to questions regarding the scale of institutional investments required, plausible adaptation policies and measures, and the timing of their implementation. Despite the perceived importance of technical assessments in 'evidence-based' decision environments, assessments cannot be undertaken independent of values and politics, nor are they capable of eliminating the uncertainty that clouds decision-making on climate adaptation As such, assessments can trigger as many questions as they answer, leaving practitioners and stakeholders to question their value. This paper explores the value of vulnerability/risk assessments in climate change adaptation planning processes as a catalyst for learning in four case studies in Southeastern Australia. Data were collected using qualitative interviews with stakeholders involved in the assessments and analysed using a social learning framework. This analysis revealed that detailed and tangible strategies or actions often do not emerge directly from technical assessments. However, it also revealed that the assessments became important platforms for social learning. In providing these platforms, assessments present opportunities to question initial assumptions, explore multiple framings of an issue, generate new information, and galvanise support for collective actions. This study highlights the need for more explicit recognition and understanding of the important role social learning plays in climate change vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning more broadly.     

Differential Impacts of Flood Hazards Among the Street Children,the Urban Poor and Residents of Wealthy Neighborhoods in Metro Manila,Philippines

This paper presents thedifferential impacts of flood hazards amongstreet children, the urban poor andresidents of wealthy neighborhoods in MetroManila, Philippines. It argues that beingpoor is not the only reason why certainsectors are more vulnerable to floods orany environmental hazards – spatialisolation and lack of participation indecision making intensify their presentand future vulnerability, as well. Archival research, interviews, focusedgroup discussion, participant observationand surveys of populations at risk areemployed to delineate the flood experiencesand coping strategies of street childrenand residents of poor urban settlements andwealthy neighborhoods in Metro Manila atthe household and community levels. Theconcept of entitlement, the ContextualHazards Model, and the Access Model areused in the data analysis andinterpretation. Several policyrecommendations on hazard management anddisaster mitigation are identified toreduce flood losses in Metro Manila.     

The vulnerability of Australian rural communities to climate variability and change: Part I—Conceptualising and measuring vulnerability

Vulnerability is a term frequently used to describe the potential threat to rural communities posed by climate variability and change. Despite growing use of the term, analytical measures of vulnerability that are useful for prioritising and evaluating policy responses are yet to evolve. Demand for research capable of prioritising adaptation responses has evolved rapidly with an increasing awareness of climate change and its potential impacts on rural communities. Research into the climate-related vulnerability of Australian rural communities is only just beginning to emerge. Current research is dominated by hazard/impact modelling, drawing on a heritage of managing the risks posed by seasonal climate variability. There is a natural tendency to use the same risk management approach to understand the emergent nature of vulnerability. In this paper, we explore the consequences for policy advice of imperfectly examining vulnerability through the lens of an impact/hazard modelling approach to risk management. In a second paper in this series, we show how hazard/impact modelling can be complemented with more holistic measures of adaptive capacity to provide quantitative insights into the vulnerability of Australian rural communities to climate variability and change.     

River flood risk and adaptation in Europe—assessment of the present status

Flood disasters have had a devastating effect worldwide over the past century, both in terms of human suffering and material losses. The study of these events and development of more effective adaptation and mitigation policies has become a priority, both in Europe and other parts of the globe. This paper detects and presents the spatial distribution of river flood risks in Europe. The methodology we developed involves an assessment of three key risk components: exposure, vulnerability and hazard. A topography-based flood hazard map of Europe, identifying low-lying areas adjacent to rivers, is presented and used to identify risk, together with land-use data and damage-stage relationship for different land uses. The study covers river flood risk for the entire European continent. This methodology can be used to determine the level of future risk, using the estimations on Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability from specific climate and economic development models. Annual average flood damage is estimated for European regions, in absolute monetary terms and in % of regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The results highlight regions where the threat to the economy from river flood hazard is of major concern.     

Estimating changes in flood risks and benefits of non-structural adaptation strategies - a case study from Tyrol,Austria

Flood damage has increased significantly and is expected to rise further in many parts of the world. For assessing potential changes in flood risk, this paper presents an integrated model chain quantifying flood hazards and losses while considering climate and land use changes. In the case study region, risk estimates for the present and the near future illustrate that changes in flood risk by 2030 are relatively low compared to historic periods. While the impact of climate change on the flood hazard and risk by 2030 is slight or negligible, strong urbanisation associated with economic growth contributes to a remarkable increase in flood risk. Therefore, it is recommended to frequently consider land use scenarios and economic developments when assessing future flood risks. Further, an adapted and sustainable risk management is necessary to encounter rising flood losses, in which non-structural measures are becoming more and more important. The case study demonstrates that adaptation by non-structural measures such as stricter land use regulations or enhancement of private precaution is capable of reducing flood risk by around 30 %. Ignoring flood risks, in contrast, always leads to further increasing losses—with our assumptions by 17 %. These findings underline that private precaution and land use regulation could be taken into account as low cost adaptation strategies to global climate change in many flood prone areas. Since such measures reduce flood risk regardless of climate or land use changes, they can also be recommended as no-regret measures.     

太湖蓝藻水华灾害风险分区评估方法研究

通过对太湖蓝藻水华灾害风险分析,构建太湖蓝藻水华风险评估指标体系,结合风险评估概念,建立太湖蓝藻水华灾害风险评估方法.在此基础上,以2008年为基准年,结合太湖9个分区,评估各湖区蓝藻水华灾害危险性、易损性、脆弱性和综合风险.结果表明,综合风险最大的区域集中在太湖的北部,尤其作为水源地的贡湖风险最大,为重度风险;竺山湖、梅梁湾和西部沿岸由于其危险性较大,而总体风险较大,为中度风险;其他湖区风险较小,胥湖、南部沿岸和大太湖为轻度风险;太湖的东南部湖区箭湖东茭咀和东太湖由于水体富营养化程度较低,植物覆盖率较高,蓝藻水华发生危险性较小,综合风险指数较小,为轻微风险.     

衡阳市早稻洪涝灾害风险区划研究

依托GIS技术,采用自然灾害风险评价的理论和方法,建立早稻洪涝灾害风险评价模型,研究了衡阳市早稻洪涝灾害风险等级。结果表明:综合分析早稻洪涝灾害的致灾因子危险性、孕灾环境敏感性、承灾体易损性和防灾减灾能力,绘制了衡阳市早稻洪涝灾害综合风险区划图,并分析了衡阳市早稻洪涝灾害风险区划的空间分布规律和特点。衡东县早稻洪涝灾害风险等级最高,祁东县早稻洪涝灾害综合风险等级最低。     

Development and verification of new evaluation indicators for chemical management in corporations to meet WSSD goals

During the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), it was agreed that adequate chemical management based on risk assessment should be achieved by 2020. To achieve the WSSD goals, it is important to evaluate and enhance the voluntary activities of corporations because they are the main agents dealing with chemical management. To this end, we developed new evaluation indicators that were combined with the SCP Axes (Science Axis - evaluation of the scientific basis; Capacity Axis - evaluation of the abilities of personnel and organizations; and the Performance Axis - evaluation of results of activities and information disclosure to the community, etc.) and 4 elements (hazard assessment, exposure assessment, risk assessment, and risk management). We administered surveys to Japanese corporations from 2006 to 2008 to verify the developed indicators. The survey results showed that the activities concerning chemical management were very different across corporations for each industry category and that the hazard assessment improved, reflecting a vigorous social movement that included legal obligations. Therefore, the new evaluation indicators possessed high resolution and precisely grasped the changes in corporate activities. We found that these indicators provided an effective way to understand corporate activities designed to meet the goals of the WSSD.     

Slum dwellers response to flooding events in the megacities of India

Megacities in developing countries are rapidly transforming places. Under the impetus of global change processes and consequent transformations at the environmental, social, cultural, political and economical scales; factors causing disasters and losses are changing every day. These changes are also altering society’s ability to respond to hazard events. This paper examines the response of slum dwellers who are the most vulnerable and marginal section of urban population and often located in places with high hazard risk with less or no means to reduce the impact of flood events. Marginal population groups in megacities suffer the negative consequences of large scale global change processes and do not benefit from the risk mitigation strategies adopted by city authorities. The paper therefore argues that people living in informal settlements instead have to employ a combination of structural means and complex networks of assistance to recover from floods. Based on the results deduced from data collected with the help of household surveys in the slums of Mumbai, the study demonstrates the types of coping strategies used by slum dwellers and the changing characteristics of these mechanisms under the influence of global change processes in megacities. Furthermore, results show that capacity to respond is not equally distributed among slum dwellers due to underlying socio cultural divisions and emerging economic and political constraints. The paper concludes that to address existing discrepancies in urban societies and within slum settlements, flood mitigation strategies will have to be (1) more inclusive of marginal population (2) sensitive to the limitations and scope of old and new social structures and (3) incorporate innovative networks of support to deal with the consequences of global change.     

Assessing risk and adaptation options to fires and windstorms in European forestry

Risks can generally be described as the combination of hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Using this framework, we evaluated the historical and future development of risk of fire and wind damage in European forestry at the national level. Fire risk is expected to increase, mainly as a consequence of an increase in fire hazard, defined as the Fire Weather Index in summer. Exposure, defined as forest area, is expected to increase slightly as a consequence of active afforestation and abandonment of marginal agricultural areas. Adaptation options to fire risk should therefore aim to decrease the vulnerability, where a change in tree species from conifers to broadleaves had most effect. Risk for wind damage in forests is expected to increase mainly as a consequence of increase in exposure (total growing stock) and vulnerability (defined by age class and tree species distribution). Projections of future wind climate indicate an increase in hazard (storminess) mainly over Western Europe. Adaptation options should aim to limit the increase in exposure and vulnerability. Only an increase in harvest level can stop the current build-up of growing stock, while at the same time it will lower vulnerability through the reduction of the share of old and vulnerable stands. Changing species from conifers to broadleaves helps to reduce vulnerability as well. Lowering vulnerability by decreasing the rotation length is only effective in combination with a high demand for wood. Due to data limitations, no forecast of future fire area or damaged timber amount by storms was possible.     

The vulnerability of Australian rural communities to climate variability and change: Part II—Integrating impacts with adaptive capacity

In the first paper in this series [Nelson, R., Kokic, P., Crimp, S., Martin, P., Meinke, H., Howden, S.M. (2010, this issue)], we concluded that hazard/impact modelling needs to be integrated with holistic measures of adaptive capacity in order to provide policy-relevant insights into the multiple and emergent dimensions of vulnerability. In this paper, we combine hazard/impact modelling with an holistic measure of adaptive capacity to analyse the vulnerability of Australian rural communities to climate variability and change. Bioeconomic modelling was used to model the exposure and sensitivity of Australian rural communities to climate variability and change. Rural livelihoods analysis was used as a conceptual framework to construct a composite index of adaptive capacity using farm survey data. We then show how this integrated measure of vulnerability provides policy-relevant insights into the constraints and options for building adaptive capacity in rural communities. In the process, we show that relying on hazard/impact modelling alone can lead to entirely erroneous conclusions about the vulnerability of rural communities, with potential to significantly misdirect policy intervention. We provide a preliminary assessment of which Australian rural communities are vulnerable to climate variability and change, and reveal a complex set of interacting environmental, economic and social factors contributing to vulnerability.     

黄河流域土壤侵蚀潜在风险及其转化分析

作者在前期研究中,基于流域最小图斑的划分,提出了土壤侵蚀快速评估方法,并在黄河流域的应用中取得了较满意的效果。论文以黄河流域土壤侵蚀强度的评估结果为基础,评估了流域土壤侵蚀的脆弱性。以抗侵蚀年限表征流域土壤侵蚀潜在危险度,结合土壤侵蚀脆弱性分析了流域土壤侵蚀潜在风险。通过与土壤侵蚀强度的对比,指出在流域水土保持和生态保护中,同时考虑土壤侵蚀强度和水土流失潜在风险才能作出更合理的决策。最后,分析了黄河流域中游土壤侵蚀风险向下游洪水风险的转化关系,指出黄河中游高产沙区土壤侵蚀风险转化为下游更高的洪水风险,在泥沙灾害研究中应关注灾害的链式反应。     

饮马河流域水环境综合风险时空分布

为评价饮马河流域水环境综合风险,从水环境风险的危险性、暴露性、脆弱性及区域治理能力4个方面构建了饮马河流域水环境综合风险评估体系.选取2000年、2005年、2010年和2015年的水环境数据进行分析,采用水环境污染风险指数法和层次分析法对饮马河流域水环境综合风险进行评估,并绘制了各年度饮马河流域的风险空间分布图,分析了饮马河流域水环境风险空间变化特征.结果表明:2000—2015年,各危险性指标的量化值不断减小;暴露性指标中,耕地面积不断扩大,工业企业个数不断增加,人口密度变化不明显;各脆弱性指标的量化值不断减小;水环境区域治理能力各指标的量化值不断增大.研究显示,2000—2015年,流域内水环境危险性和脆弱性不断降低,暴露性和区域治理能力逐渐升高,水环境风险逐渐降低;其中,长春市一直处于水环境高风险水平,伊通县一直处于低风险水平.      

河流水环境污染风险模糊综合评价模型

综合考虑水环境污染的脆弱性和受污染水体对人体健康的危害性, 建立了河流水环污染风险模糊综合评价模型.运用模糊语言,将脆弱性和危害性均分为6个等级,并根据F统计法和专家咨询法确定脆弱性和危害性的模糊隶属函数.由模糊综合评价得出河流水环境污染的风险水平.将该评价模型应用到湘江14个断面的水环境风险评价中,直观地表达各个断面污染风险水平,为湘江水资源管理和优先控制断面的选取提供新思路和新方法.     

上海市环境污染事故风险受体脆弱性评价研究

从环境风险受体敏感性和适应力两方面构建了脆弱性概念模型,在此基础上,考虑社会经济脆弱性和生态系统脆弱性,选取14个指标构建了上海市环境污染事故风险受体综合脆弱性评价指标体系.研究结果表明：上海市中心城区社会脆弱性较高,而崇明岛、南汇、奉贤的社会经济脆弱性最低;黄浦江上游水源保护区、崇明岛东滩湿地生态系统脆弱性较高,浦东...