The EU Floods Directive Stakeholders involvement for

The EU Floods Directive – Stakeholders involvement for flood management WGF 12 16 -17 October, 2012 Dr. Mary-Jeanne ADLER, Project manager

WG F Thematic Workshop on Stakeholder involvement in flood risk management 17 -19 April, 2012 Bucharest Parliament House, Nicolae Balcescu Hall (back-to-back WGF 11) • Preparatory Questionnaires, • Key Session Presentations & Posters • Groups of discussions, Round tables

20 answers to preparatory questionnaires I. Questionnaire outcomes

Technical flood protection Flood-adapted building Risk prevention Preparation of emergency management and prevention of hazards Natural water retention preventative behaviour PREVENTION Preventative land management Evaluation PFRA Information Flood event Population &Stakeholders resilience reconstruction aid REGENERATION Mapping& FRMP Flood Management COPING Defence Assistence for the affected

Questionnaires: The palette of stakeholders involvement in flood risk management Art 4 – on the role of public information on the PFRA and Art 7. in the flood risk management to reduce flood risk

Questionnaires: Stakeholder involvement techniques

Questionnaires: Main topic during the consultation process Art 10. 1 – the role of publicly available information, such as maps and plans

Questionnaires: Opinions concerning the multilevel approach on developing stakeholder capacity Art 7. – on the role of stakeholder involvement and communication in the flood risk management to reduce flood risk

Questionnaires: The best roles played by different stakeholders in decision-making processes

Questionnaires: Expected reasons for stakeholders’ involvement in the decision making processes Art 9. 3 – on involving different sectors of interested parties in the preparation of flood risk management plans

Questionnaires: Expected benefits due to stakeholders’ involvement Art 9. 3 – on involving different sectors of interested parties in the preparation of flood risk management plans

Questionnaires: Actions required to ensure successful implementation of the flood risk management plans Art 9. 3 – on involving different sectors of interested parties in the preparation of flood risk management plans

Art 9. 3 – on involving different sectors of interested parties in the preparation of flood risk management plans Questionnaires: Important sectors to discuss with during the consultation process Art 9. 3 – on involving different sectors of interested parties in the preparation of flood risk management plans

II. Workshop planning/main outputs

Activation + participation in all stages of FRM Participation issues PFRA / potentiell Risk areas (Art. 4 + 5 FRM-Dir. ) 22. 12. 2011 Flood Hazard Maps (Art. 6 (1) - 4 FRM-Dir. ) 22. 12. 2013 Flood Risk Maps / Receptors / Users Human Health Environ- Cultural Economic ment Heritage Values 22. 12. 2013 (Art. 6 Abs. 5 FRM-Dir) Risk Management Plans 22. 12. 2015 (Art. 7 HWRM-RL) Information / verification / consensus Input for maps: lokal knowledge, receptors, risk assessment, verification Identification of measures, take over responsibility, agreement on measures Final agreement on FRM-Plan

Stakeholders involvement in flood risk management Workshop Structure Sessions: • SESSION 1: INTERNATIONAL BASINS AND STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT / DANUBE FLOOD RISK MAPPING PROJECT – A BASIS FOR A SAFER PLACE –Ghe. Constantin, Maria Brattenmark • SESSION 2: FLOOD MAPPING - INPUT FROM AND DISSEMINATION TO THE PUBLIC AND STAKEHOLDERS - Mark Adamson, Andre Wahrli – involving the local population in the preparation of flood hazard and flood risk maps – what the general public is interested in – WISE

Stakeholders involvement in flood risk management Workshop Structure • SESSION 3: PREPARATION AND IMPLEMENTING FRMP – INVOLVEMENT OF THE PUBLIC AND LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS - William van Berkel, Gierk Meike – Best practices and lessons learnt for: • Stakeholders involvement in flood risk management plans • The use of Multi Criteria Analysis for setting objectives and selecting measures • Secure broad-based support for the successful implementation of revitalisation measures in FRMP

Stakeholders involvement in flood risk management Workshop Structure • SESSION 4: WORKING WITH INSTITUTIONAL STAKEHOLDERS AND OTHER SECTORS, IN PARTICULAR ON LAND USE- : Giuseppina Monacelli, Rudolf Harvich – Round table 1: Best practice on how to involve other sectors in flood risk management (e. g. spatial planning, energy sector, finance possibilities) – Dr Michaela Popovici – Round table 2: Developing land use planning for better flood risk management by involving landowners and other interested parties - Rudolf Harvich

Stakeholders involvement in flood risk management Workshop Structure • SESSION 5: AWARENESS - THE ROLE OF PUBLIC AND STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT FOR PREPAREDNESS AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE Barbro Naslund, Szentivanyi – Flood emergency situations management plans preparation and further use -– stakeholders involvement and public participation – Emergency response plans – stakeholders involvement and public participation • SESSION 6 : TRANSBOUNDARY ASPECTS OF STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT- Philip Weller /ICPDR, Adrian Schmidt-Breton/ISKR • SESSION 7: NEXT STEPS AND NEEDED ACTIONS – Maria Brättemark, Mark Adamson

Stakeholders involvement in flood risk management Workshop Presentations • Volume of abstracts – 55 abstracts were accepted for presentations and posters – 42 presentations – 13 posters • • 5 breakout sessions for discussions 2 round tables 204 participants Workshop Proceedings, including 34 papers

Stakeholders involvement in flood risk management Workshop • The thematic workshop “Stakeholder Involvement in Flood Risk Management” was a successful event in terms of participation and interest shown by the participants during the presentations, posters sessions and discussions. This actually proved that indeed the public and stakeholders engagement process needs careful design and subsequent evaluation, and is a topical issue in flood control and prevention activities. • It is necessary to have clarity of objectives, vision and outcomes of the engagement activities, tailored to the specific audience and the challenges addressed. • The discussions at the workshop demonstrated that for achieving an effective flood risk management, it is important to build up of a realistic picture of the people, property, environment, cultural heritage and economic activity which is at risk. This will help us to create trust between different stakeholders involved, and to ensure an earlier and full planning of the communication and engagement process.

Stakeholders involvement outcomes • The thematic workshop was a learning experience, in sharing knowledge and practice, and highlighting the good examples of good practices implemented throughout Europe. The workshop papers, posters and discussion identified that appropriate public and stakeholder communication and engagement is very important in their involvement in flood risk management. This is required by the Floods Directive (Art 10) and has the benefits for us in the professional community, of – improving what we do, by bringing local knowledge and experience to bear – providing awareness, understanding, acceptance, better up-take or use, and ownership of what we do among or end-users or those affected, – building trust and understanding of us, and of what we do, and – establishing confidence that we are being fair and transparent in our actions and decisions.

Stakeholders involvement outcomes • Effective flood risk management needs public involvement: - Placing greater responsibility on the general public is likely to be ineffective without new partnerships and synergies between citizens and public institutions. – Flood risk management is a great challenge for practitioners, policymakers and researchers who increasingly are required to talk to and with the people at risk and, perhaps most importantly, to listen to them if the actual outcome is to include them in decision-making processes and overall risk governance

Stakeholders involvement conclusions • The main conclusions are grouped in three subsections – covering the – “who”, – “what” and – “how” of public and stakeholder involvement.

WHO? • The stakeholders will vary with the national organisation and governance structures in the Member States but will include: – a range of public authorities, national regional, local level – Municipality administration and spatial planning – the end-users such as civil protection and infrastructure services – particular interest groups such as business organizations, NGOs, environmental interests and so on • The “public” is the aggregation of very many separate individuals, differentiated by background, experience, interests and many other factors

How? • The papers and presentations at the workshop have illustrated a wide range of engagement and communication methods in practice; these included: s – takeholders meetings and workshops, – private or bilateral meetings with stakeholders, – one to one meetings with members of the public, – focus groups and questionnaires, – websites, – newsletters, and – school education campaigns. We need to make use of whichever of these methods singly or in combination is the most suitable for our audience

How? • The most innovative methods lie in their ability to involve the general public in what would otherwise be very technical matters remote from their everyday experience. • A critical factor is the ability to condense such technical information into easy-to-understand principles or formats, which catch peoples’ attention. • The use of new technologies such as social media or animations and 3 D visualizations are useful methods trying to explain and communicate with people about who is at risk, what the risk is and what they can do about it • communication and engagement on flood risk issues requires a partnership between those with specialist technical knowledge of flood risk and those with expertise in the social dimensions of public and stakeholder involvement

What? – Although Article 10 of the Floods Directive requires that Member States shall encourage active involvement of interested parties in the production, review and updating of the flood risk management plans; examples were presented during thematic workshop of the benefits of stakeholder and public involvement in other aspects and phases of flood risk management. – The presentations and discussions at the workshop it is evident that stakeholder and public involvement has been undertaken in many flood risk management activities within Member States and through cooperation on transnational basins, in particular the Danube basin. Thus there is substantial, relevant experience to draw upon when undertaking actions under Article 10 of the Floods Directive.

Stakeholders involvement observations • Many of the projects and actions presented at the workshop were focussed on detailed hydrological simulations and topographic modelling to estimate flood extents and risks. Such technical assessments are critical to developing and understanding the performance and interaction of components in a flood risk management plan. It is essential to create public trust of such models; their use to aid communication and stakeholder engagement will require careful planning and interpretation. • Although the Thematic Workshop was convened to consider public and stakeholder involvement in flood risk management plans, it was evident that there were valuable opportunities for broader engagement of the public on flood risk issues. It was noted that in Sweden a programme of creating awareness and preparedness from a range of natural hazards had been established through working with schools for the 16 to 19 age group.

Stakeholders involvement observations • When considering the communication of flood risk issues to the public community, it is necessary to be aware that, as in general environmental issues, the perception of flood problems depends on many individual and collective human factors, for example, the attitude and behaviour in times of crisis, and, the system of values, preferences, and beliefs of all involved (both the public and the decision makers). • International cooperation within river basins is strongly advocated in several European directives, but a real joint approach across (inter)national borders is not common practice and hampered by practical and legal obstructions. Nevertheless, examples of preparation of common maps and plans with good cross-border institutional cooperation were presented at the workshop. Such maps and plans can assist in public engagement on cross-border issues.

Stakeholders involvement observations – Flood management measures are closely linked to land use management. In most cases, they reinforce each other. The technique of scenario sketching is one that is applicable to land use planning and flood prevention measures. Such scenarios are useful tools for public and stakeholder dialogue. Where possible combine plan making as much as possible; there are economic benefits to be accomplished through combining flood prevention measures, land use planning and nature conservation plans if possible.

Stakeholders involvement conclusions • A critical requirement for effective involvement of stakeholders and the public in flood risk management is creating trust between all parties in the communication and engagement processes. • All engagement and public involvement activities should be transparent, open and based upon accessible data and sound evidence. • There are benefits from involving both technical experts on flooding and public communication professionals in a partnership approach for involvement and engagement initiatives.

Stakeholders involvement conclusions • All engagement actions should have a clear objective and plan including whether information is being sought or being transmitted and which issues are open for comment and debate. The engagement plan should include how to follow up and communicate the results • Early engagement is critical to achieving “buy-in” from all affected stakeholders, but establishing this can prove difficult if project timescales are such that processes are delivered over several years. It is therefore important to find innovative ways to maintain interest.

Stakeholders involvement conclusions • Engagement actions should use clear non-technical language that is readily understood by the target group. The use of maps, graphics and images etc can greatly aid communication between flood “experts” and others – professionals, stakeholders and the public • It is important to listen to stakeholders and the public, to capture their comments, and, to have an open and transparent process to consider their comments. • Since the “public” is heterogeneous, several channels of communicating messages are required to reach diverse as wide a range of recipients as possible.

Stakeholders involvement conclusions • The public, stakeholders and local communities can provide useful information on flood risk, particularly on detail at a local level. Flood risk communications should be two-way between the public and the responsible agencies. The role of feedback loops in the system will not only allow local knowledge of the risk to be considered a resource to be included in flood risk and incident management plans but will also serve to increase trust levels between stakeholders. • Problem definition can take time, but it is still necessary to raise awareness at an early stage. This is particularly important when introducing or implementing softer flood mitigation measures.

Stakeholders involvement recommendations • It is recommended that a handbook of good practices with case studies is prepared on stakeholder and public involvement in flood risk management. This might be undertaken as a specific action by a sub-group of WG-F or commissioned as a service contract by DG Environment

FLOODRISK TEAM thanks to all collaborators for this happy end!