WG1 Environmental conditions

A comprehensive understanding of the effects of land use and land management on local and catchment-scale hydrology is needed to support programs of measures, which make use of private land to reduce downstream flood risk. The hydrologic and hydraulic expertise underlying grey infrastructure solutions for local-scale flood risk reduction is thoroughly documented and well understood. However, this expertise is incompletely integrated with the knowledge base on green infrastructures for water retention and flood risk reduction. Furthermore, a unified framework supporting local-scale decision-making about green and grey infrastructure potential for flood risk reduction is lacking. More critically, our understanding of the aggregate impact of local-scale land use decisions on catchment-scale flood risk is fragmented and in large part lacking.

Tasks of WG1 are:

• synthesise current knowledge on green and grey infrastructure for local-scale flood risk reduction
• identify knowledge gaps concerning hydrologic and hydraulic consequences of local-scale land management on catchment-scale flood risk reduction
• develop a more comprehensive understanding of the role of land use on flood risk and the potential for enhancing retention capacity for different spatial scales ranging from individual property parcels to large catchments
• develop the evidence base needed to support decision makers responsible for flood risk management
• provide guidance related to hydrologic and hydraulic best practices for flooding of private land so as to reduce downstream flood risk
• Organize regional workshops to share information between practitioners