Language of Risk - FLOODsite

FLOODsite Language of Risk 2 nd Ed.
Contract No:GOCE-CT-2004-505420
The British government policy – as set out for consultation (Defra, 2004) describes in its vision
“The concept of sustainable development will be firmly rooted in all flood risk management and
coastal erosion decisions and operations. Full account will be taken of the social, environmental and
economic pillars of sustainable development, and our arrangements will be transparent enough to
allow our customers and stakeholders to perceive that this is the case. Account will also continue to be
taken of long-term drivers such as climate change. Decisions will reflect the uncertainty surrounding
a number of key drivers and will where appropriate take a precautionary approach. Decisions will be
based on the best available evidence and science.”
The Scottish Environment LINK forum (2007) proposed the following definition of sustainable flood
management:
Sustainable flood management embodies a shift from our predominantly piecemeal and reactive
approach to flood management towards a catchment-based approach that takes account of long-term
social and economic factors and uses natural processes and natural systems to slow down and store
water. Sustainable flood management includes a package of measures that together aim to reduce the
risk of flooding and minimise the economic, environmental and social costs of flooding. This includes
both structural and non-structural measures, such as natural flood management, hard engineering
where necessary, flood risk mapping, flood warning, preparedness, education, and emergency
response.
In the Executive Summary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Flooding and Flood Management
Inquiry (2007), the following discussion of sustainable flood management is given:
The overall objective is to deliver a resilient response to flooding in which:
• social needs (enhance community benefit, with fair outcomes for everyone),
• environmental needs (protecting and working with the environment, with respect for all species,
habitats, landscapes and built heritage) and
• economic needs (deliver resilience at affordable cost with fair economic outcomes and the
protection of local jobs and wealth)
are balanced
The Scottish Executive (2008) consultation on “The Future of Flood Risk Management in Scotland”
defines sustainable flood management as follows:
“Sustainable flood management provides the maximum possible social and economic resilience*
against flooding**, by protecting and working with the environment, in a way which is fair and
affordable both now and in the future.”
* ‘Resilience’ means: ‘ability to recover quickly and easily’: The Scottish Government uses it to deliver the
‘four As’: Awareness + Avoidance + Alleviation + Assistance.
** Flooding means all types of flooding: surface water run-off (pluvial), sewer, river, groundwater, estuarine
and coastal.
In the first edition of the Language of Risk a definition based on Samuels (2000) was suggested rather
than one deriving from draft policy discussions in a single EU member state. The IRMA-SPONGE
definition is for a “strategy” rather than the activity or process. The definition was recommended to be
broader than just linking to Integrated Water Resource Management. The word “appropriate” was
been added to the final part of the definition to reflect the possibility of different criteria being applied
in different countries and at different times. The initial use of “Flood defence” has been broadened to
“flood risk management”. This led to the following definition
“Sustainable flood risk management involves:
• ensuring quality of life by reducing flood damages but being prepared for floods
• mitigating the impact of risk management measures on ecological systems at a variety of spatial
and temporal scales
T32_04_01_ FLOODsite_Language_of_Risk_D32_2_v5_2_P1 30 April 2009
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