Flood Resilient Areas by Multi-layEred Safety (FRAMES)

Description:

Floods are among the world’s most common and most devastating natural hazards and have affected millions of people in Europe since the beginning of this century. Changes in our climate are increasing the risk of river and coastal flooding because sea levels are rising and rainfall patterns are becoming more extreme. Increasing flood risks call for more innovative approaches to minimize the impacts of such events. Therefore, five countries bordering the North Sea Region, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom, have joint forces in the Interreg North Sea Region project FRAMES.

FRAMES stands for Flood Resilient Areas by Multi-layEred Safety. Traditionally, structural and static solutions were the preferred management option to defend against flooding. However, it is more and more recognized that protection alone will not be enough to make areas climate-resilient. It is also imperative to decrease the effects of flooding and look at spatial planning and disaster management as well. This so-called Multi-Layer Safety (MLS) approach is thus based on three layers: 1) protection, the primary dike system; 2) sustainable spatial planning that decreases the loss should a flood occur; and 3) disaster management, the organizational aspects related to a flood event. The FRAMES project added a fourth layer to this approach: 4) resilient recovery. Together, these four layers can be tailored to local areas in order to minimize flood damage.

Project information

Lead

Province of South Holland

Partners

Kent County Council, United Kingdom
The Rivers Trust, United Kingdom
Universiteit Gent, Belgium
Jade Hochschule - Wilhelmshaven, Oldenburg, Elsfleth, Germany
University of Oldenburg, Germany
Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Watermanagement / Rijkswaterstaat, Netherlands
HZ University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
Provincie Zeeland, Netherlands
Danish Coastal Authority, Denmark

Source of funding

INTERREG VB North Sea