Building resilience: EU-funded projects helping prevent floods

In recent years, torrential precipitation has increased in large parts of Europe, leading to devastating floods, such as the recent floodings that killed more than 200 people in the Valencia region, in Spain, at the end of October and beginning of November 2024. 

Scientists unanimously link these extreme weather events to global warming. Since warmer air can hold more water, rising temperatures are leading to heavier rainfall and extreme floods in some areas, while causing severe draughts in other areas.  

Temperatures in Europe have been rising about twice the global rate since the 1980s, with these extreme weather events likely to become more frequent and more acute.  

The EU is funding research and innovation projects to steer Europe to calmer waters through novel solutions that will improve Europe’s adaptation to the climate crisis and bolster disaster resilience. Several of these projects are funded under Horizon Europe and are managed by the European Research Executive Agency (REA).  

Building resilience through nature-based solutions  

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are cost-effective solutions, inspired and supported by nature, that provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience to water-related climate risks. 

The OPERANDUM project contributed to enhancing resilience in European rural and natural territories by reducing hydro-meteorological risks with the help of open-air laboratories. This happened through co-designing, co-developing, deploying and testing of different innovative NbS. The project also created a platform for NbS promotion and implementation targeted at different user profiles (scientists, business, policy makers, citizens). 

The RECONECT project aims to improve the European reference framework on nature-based solutions (NbS) for hydro-meteorological risk reduction by demonstrating, referencing, upscaling and exploiting large-scale NbS in rural and natural areas. 

Find out more about OPERANDUM and RECONECT.  

Earth observation for disasters in urban environment 

Earth observation plays a crucial role in the forecasting of climate-related disasters by providing accurate, real-time data on various environmental factors. The e-shape project has pioneered a pilot project that uses data from authoritative weather stations, citizen science weather stations, and observations from Copernicus satellites, combined with various forecasting models. Based on that data, the project has developed a prototype of an integrated near-real-time flood monitoring and early warning system to assess flood risks and their potential impact on urban areas and local communities. 

Such a system will be tested and deployed for addressing the prediction of high-impact weather events, such as flashfloods, windstorms, hailstorms, lightning storms, peri urban fires, from their atmospheric onset to the socio-economic impacts. 

Find out more about this pilot project of e-shape. 

Adaptive management of barriers in European rivers 

Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems. We depend on them for hydropower, food production and for drinking water. But in 2015, only half of Europe’s surface water met the target of ‘good ecological status’ as defined by the EU’s Water Framework Directive, partly due to the fragmentation of habitats caused by tens of thousands of dams and weirs, often obsolete, which may represent an obstacle and pose a flood hazard. 

The AMBER  project delivered innovative solutions to river fragmentation in Europe by developing more efficient methods of restoring stream connectivity through adaptive barrier management. 

Find out more about AMBER. 

Engaging communities in environmental protection and climate action 

Citizens and the civil society play a central role in environmental protection and climate action. They are driving the behavioural shift towards a more sustainable lifestyle and development.  

With that in mind, the I-CHANGE  project operates in a set of living labs to raise awareness of the scientific processes underlying climate change. The project aims to impact human behaviour to help minimise human contribution to climate change and extreme climate events.   

Find out more about I-CHANGE. 

Read more 

European Climate Risk Assessment report 2024 

Consequences of climate change 

EU funding for environmental research and innovation projects 

The EU and nature-based solutions