Best practices in flood risk management

About

A two-day workshop on best practices in planning and preparation of flood protection projects was held in Brussels on 17-18 September 2013.

The meeting was attended by roughly 50 participants from Member States' authorities, representatives of the European Commission and JASPERS partners.   

The objective of this interactive workshop was to raise awareness on the principles and good practices for the sound planning, development and preparation of flood protection projects, taking into account Flood directive requirements and integrated solutions. The workshop covered concrete examples from the 2007-2013 funding period, including those that received JASPERS support, and an interactive discussion on selected case studies.

Target audience

The main target audience of the workshop were relevant authorities in Member States dealing with the planning, preparation and implementation of Flood Risk Management projects in the current and new financing perspective 2014-2020.

Objectives

The workshop was organised into two main sessions:

A first session on Flood Directive requirements and best practices in Flood Risk Management planning, which covered relevant directives' requirements (Flood Maps and Risk Management Plans) and highlighted good practice principles of project planning at river basin level, including using upstream water retention, restoration of natural flood plains and non-structural measures. The session also focused on the importance of technical tools such as integrated flood modelling further and how these should form the basis for investment identification, prioritisation and development.

A second session focused on the presentation of selected project case studies as a basis to discuss opportunities to incorporate best practices in the sector.

The discussions focused, amongst others, on the appropriateness of the presented flood measures and the design of the technical solution, and the application of multi-purpose project approaches, integrating other objectives such as drought prevention, ecological improvements and agricultural and green practices.

Presentations of the case studies were followed by an interactive session and lively debate, including interesting exchange of experiences among participants.