European Flood Legislation Attempting Risk Management

European Flood Legislation Attempting Risk Management



   
April 2007 -   A law to manage 
flood risks across Europe is one step closer to being passed 
after an agreement was reached this week between the European 
Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. Climate change is 
expected to lead to more intense rainfall and to
 a rise in sea 
levels. As a consequence, floods risks are likely to increase 
across Europe. 
The European Parliament Wednesday adopted a set of compromise 
amendments that were agreed with the Council of Ministers on 
the assessment and management of flood risks. 
The harmonized approach to flood risk management was 
negotiated under the German EU Presidency, which is in place 
from January 1 to June 30, 2007. 
Environmental groups criticized the European Parliament for 
failing to implement the sustainable management of floods, 
saying the compromise stopped short of promoting an approach 
that works with natural Defenses like wetlands,
 floodplains 
and riverbank woodlands. In August 2002 a 100-year flood
 inundated Dresden, Germany. A 
week of continuous heavy rains flooded low-lying areas, towns 
and cities in eight countries. 
Since 1998, floods in Europe have caused some 700 deaths, the 
displacement of about half a million people and at least €25 
billion in insured economic losses. 
The European Commission reacted to the severe floods of 2002 
by calling in 2004 for EU legislation on flood risk 
management. 
To prevent and limit floods and their damaging effects on 
human health, the environment, infrastructure and property, 
the law, known as a directive, was proposed in 2006 by the 
Commission. 
Although floods are a natural phenomenon, and cannot be 
entirely prevented, a coherent, long-term strategy for flood 
risk management can reverse the trend towards increased damage 
from floods, said the Commission, the executive branch of the 
EU government. 
The new law will require the 27 EU member states to identify 
the river basins and associated coastal areas that are subject 
to flood risk. They must draw up flood risk maps and 
management plans for those zones. 
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel welcomed the 
agreement. "This decision avoids a conciliation procedure and 
establishes the conditions needed for the EU regulations to 
enter into force before the end of this year," he said. 
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel 
"Flood control is a joint and urgent problem for all the 
member states and close cooperation is vital, especially on 
account of the many transboundary rivers," said Gabriel, who 
now holds the chairmanship of the EU Environment Council. 
The directive adopted by the EU Parliament on flood risk 
management requires that national governments take three steps 
- a preliminary evaluation of flood risks and the 
identification of risk areas by the end of 2011, the mapping 
of hazards and risks in these areas by the end of 2013 and, 
based on this, the elaboration of plans of measures for 
reducing flood risks by the end of 2015. 
For all three stages, the law provides for intenvironment newsive 
transboundary consultation and coordination, and requires that 
the public be involved and informed. 
In specifying targets and measures, the law allows member 
states flexibility in order to take into account the different 
conditions and local needs in the various river basins. 
Gabriel said the law will not jeopardize programs of action 
developed in Germany in recent years following the disastrous 
flooding along the Rhine, Oder, Elbe and Danube rivers. Maps 
and management plans already in existence will be recognized 
if they comply with the provisions of the new law. 
The European Environmental Bureau, representing 143 member 
organizations in 31 countries; Friends of the Earth Europe; 
and the global conservation group WWF said the new law is 
wrong for still condoning the use of manufactured concrete 
structures to constrain flooding. 
River Wear in flood in County Durham, northeast England. 
August 2004. 
Christian Schweer from Friends of the Earth Europe said, "As 
climate change increases the risk of floods, and water and 
land keep being used with insufficient consideration for 
natural ecosystems, it is likely that severe floods will hit 
Europe more frequently. Sustainable use of the whole river 
basin - particularly preserving and restoring floodplains - is 
the only efficient way to manage flood risks, while building 
concrete barriers to constrain rivers is short-sighted and 
expenvironment newsive." 
According to the environmental NGOs, the compromise will lead 
to difficulties in combining the provisions included in the 
Floods Directive and the Water Framework Directive - the 
cornerstone of EU water policy. 
Pieter de Pous from the European Environmental Bureau said, 
"Now the EU will end up with two parallel and possibly 
conflicting planning and reporting processes for the Floods 
Directive and the Water Framework Directive, increasing 
bureaucracy and waste administrative and public resources." 
But European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the 
directive makes flood management a key part of river basin 
management. "It will place more emphasis on non-structural 
measures like using natural flood plains as retention areas 
for water during floods," he said. 
"Flood risk and the associated economic damage are likely to 
increase in Europe in the coming decades," Dimas said. "Even 
if we are successful in limiting global warming to two degrees 
Celsius, climate change will have serious impacts in Europe 
and elsewhere. The best way to reduce the costs of adapting to 
climate change is to take early action. The Flood Directive 
will help the European Union to do so." 

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