Hidrológiai Közlöny, 2017 (97. évfolyam)
2017 / 3. szám - MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS - FLOOD PROTECTION EXPERIENCES AND COOPERATION IN THE DANUBE RIVER BASIN - Harsányi Gábor: Integrated Heavy Rain Risk Management in Central Europe - RAINMAN project summary
64 • Forecast and warning: Developing and implementing innovative forecasting and warning systems. • Solutions for risk and damage reduction: Cataloguing available measures and approaches to reduce heavy rain risks and developing new and innovative measures. The result of the project will be a sustainable change at all levels of the public sector. The experiences and the new tools will be implemented in different sectors (e.g. local businesses, agriculture, cities and rural areas). Competence will be increased by workshops, trainings and educational measures. Furthermore, policy makers at regional, national and EU-level will be involved in and targeted for compiling recommendations for the integration of pluvial flood risks into the implementation process of the EU floods directive. The developed tools and strategies go beyond the existing practice of all involved partner regions, as no transnational, strategic vision to handle risks from heavy rain events has existed so far. Local solutions and available best-practice experiences will be taken into account and developed further. THE MAIN OBJECTIVES AND STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT The main objective of the project is to improve integrated management competence for the reduction of environmental risks of heavy rain events in order to reduce the losses in the natural and built environment (including the economy, human life, environmental resources and cultural heritage). The project aims to create transnational, integrated management tools for heavy rain risks and to raise the respective management competence of the participating countries. The objectives will be reached by developing, testing and implementing transferable solutions to assess, map and manage the risks. This will be done together with relevant stakeholders from different governance levels, who will jointly work on improving the competence of the public and private sectors to handle heavy rain risks. Moreover, the project will provide an important input on how to handle heavy rain risks in the framework of the EU floods directive. The project contributes to the specific programme objective to improve integrated environmental management competence in the sector of integrated risk management and to integrate these with different planning sectors and civil protection. The project answers the challenges of increasing risks and damages from heavy rain events in Central Europe. It develops and implements innovative and transferable tools and measures to reduce risks from heavy rain events by building competence for the management of heavy rain risks at all levels of the public sector as well as parts of the private sector. This will ensure better management of the increasing risks both locally and at national as well as European level. Consequently, with improved management and preventive solutions, less damage will occur in housing and infrastructure, providing a stronger and more reliable basis for the sustainable use and economic development of environmental resources. The main result of the project will be improved competence to manage environmental risks by integrating risk assessment and mitigation into complex environmental management tools. The project will improve the competence of the public sector (municipalities and regions) to better handle heavy rain risks by developing tools, pilot implementations and trainings. This is comprised by the following outputs: • Solutions for risk and damage reduction in a toolbox consisting of a joint and transferable method to assess and map heavy rain risks and risk areas in Central Europe and implemented innovative forecasting and warning systems for municipalities and regions. • A catalogue of best practice examples of available and newly developed, innovative measures and approaches to reduce heavy rain risks. • Joint recommendations for the integration of heavy rain risks in flood risk management planning. • Joint strategy to raise the awareness of heavy rain risks in Central Europe. Hidrológiai Közlöny (Hungarian Journal of Hydrology) 2017. 97. évf. 3. sz. Figure 2. Overview of the project structure Altogether 4 tools, 9 pilot actions, 9 meetings and 2 action plans will be designed and implemented within the project. These will contribute to the expected results and specific objectives of the programme. The project results will enable the public sector on different governance levels to better manage the increasing risks of heavy rain
