Perspective: Climate EmergencyFlooding: Britain’s Coastal Towns and Villages Face a Design Challenge to Cope with Climate Emergency

As an island nation, Britain has vulnerable communities that must be prepared for the impact of the climate emergency. And while much has been said about homes at risk from the sea in coastal regions, or those inland subject to river flooding, the UK Committee on Climate Change’s new progress report for 2019 has laid bare the challenge facing them.

According to the committee’s climate change risk assessment it is almost certain that England will have to adapt to at least one meter of sea level rise. Carola Koenig and Philip Collins write in The Conversation that modelling studies have shown that flooding increases exponentially with rising sea levels. So for coastal areas subject to flooding it is not sufficient to increase the height of sea walls in line with sea level rise.

In the Netherlands, for centuries vulnerable to floods due to its low-lying land, a number of new approaches to water management have been adopted over the years in an effort to live with water rather than to fight it. Schemes range from flood-proof homes, including floating homes, to the Room for the River program which entails strategies for planned evacuations, temporary relocation of farmers and villagers, and strategic flooding of polders (reclaimed areas separated by drainage dykes).

In view of the increasing impact of climate change we need to urgently build our resilience to flooding. Flood resilience includes knowing what the risks are and where. We need flexible engineering solutions, including natural flood risk management, as well as ways to help society adapt. We need to make sure we have the right people with the right skills at all levels to address related socio-economic issues, including hard decisions on what to fight to keep, and what can be lost.