From 1999 to 2011, the municipality of Timmendorfer Strand in Germany developed and implemented a coastal flood defence strategy using a participatory process. In 1999, a first discussion about an integrated coastal flood defence concept for the community of Timmendorfer Strand started. It was agreed that the concept should be accepted by a large number of stakeholders.
Lisbon is located in Southern Europe, a region that is generally identified as one to be likely affected by droughts if current climate change scenarios do occur. Over the last 40 years, Lisbon geographic area has witnessed an increase in the rainfall variability. Projections up to the end of the century agree that these trends will intensify. Leakage reduction at the distribution network arises as one of the most significant adaptation measures to be implemented.
In 2002, Prague experienced severe flooding with total damage of 24 billion CZK (1 billion euro). This event was recognized as one of the most expensive weather-related disaster in the history of the city with heavy damages on infrastructure, housing and environment. Future climate scenarios predict a change in the number and intensity of extreme events, inter alia, increasing the risk of river flooding. Since the 2002 event, the implementation of flood control measures by Prague municipality substantially speeded up.
The area of the Eferdinger Becken, Upper Austria, is a small area that lies on the Danube. It has no protection against floods with a 100-year return time: the flood-prone area includes about 154 houses that flood regularly. Due to the importance of the retention space for the discharge and the difficult technical feasibility, passive flood protection was considered as more suitable. Homeowners needed to decide on relocation by the end of 2015. The federal and the regional governments compensate citizens 80% of the value of the house if they agree to move.
The Forested Infiltration Area (FIA) is proving to be an effective tool in Northern Italy helping to address water scarcity challenges and/or to achieve environmental benefits over the long term. FIA is a method to recharge groundwater aquifers by channelling surface waters during times of excess into designated areas that have been planted with various species of trees and/or shrubs.
Forests can provide effective protection against rockfalls, landslides and avalanches; their preservation and proper management can maintain these services and functions which assume relevance also in the perspective of adaptation to current extreme events and future climate changes. The Protect Bio method enables the evaluation of these ecosystem services. The method aims to evaluate if technical protective (and expensive) measures (i.e.
Isola Vicentina (Italy) signed the EU’s Mayors Adapt initiative (current Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy) in 2014 and since then started the elaboration process of its Municipal Water Management Plan (MWMP) in order to integrate climate change adaptation into its water management policies. For this purpose, Isola Vicentina Mayor engaged the “Planning Climate Change” research group at the IUAV University of Venice and Green-Dev studio, a local consultancy firm.
Normally a shallow river, the White Cart Water was prone to flash flooding. Its water levels can rise by six metres after just 12 hours of rain, which threatened vulnerable Glasgow suburbs downstream. Public awareness of such flooding risks in the 1980s and 1990s, and projections of more intense periods of rainfall made devising a flood prevention scheme a priority for the Glasgow City Council.
In 2011, as all other large infrastructure providers in UK, Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) was asked by the UK government to submit a climate change adaptation report (also called adaptation strategy). The report included a climate adaptation risk analysis matrix, which has been regularly monitored since then. Besides rain (and consequent flooding) and temperature, fog and changing wind directions were identified as the weather conditions deserving more attention today and also in the future.
Hydropower is an essential part of the energy mix in France, accounting for around 20% of installed capacity. Climate change is projected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events and to accelerate snowmelt, which would result in increased flood risk. Flooding can adversely affect dams causing overtopping, outages, damage to equipment and adverse downstream impacts. It is essential that dam operators take these risks into consideration and implement adaptation measures as needed.