Towards climate-change proof flood risk management

Exploration of innovative measures for the Netherlands' adaptation policy inspired by experiences from abroad:

This interim report adds to the vast pool of knowledge on the subject of climate-change proof flood risk management and co-operate with the many research groups involved with low-lying deltaic areas. It tries to reconcile two competing definitions of flood risk by explicitly distinguishing exposure as a separate constituent of flood risk and follows this distinction in the structuring of chapters in which it successively goes into measures and instruments.

The report proposes a critical revision of the present Netherlands’ flood risk management policy and practice as well as a thorough investigation of possible innovative measures, and presents results on: (i) load reduction - storm surge barriers, room for rivers, wave attenuation; (ii) flood protection - embankments and dunes; (iii) measures to reduce exposure; (iv) vulnerability reduction; and (v) towards comprehensive flood risk management strategies.