Risk-Informed Management of European River Basins

The growing impacts of economic activities and climate change on the conditions of rivers throughout the world, require a new, integrated approach towards river basin management, an approach that can also cope with an uncertain future. In this volume, leading European scientists and representatives of major stakeholder groups present risk-informed management as this new approach, as developed in the European Commission-funded project RISKBASE. It aims to improve the ecological quality of river basins and thus to sustain the goods and services they provide for the benefit of society. Risk-informed management involves the integrated application of three key-principles:

·       Being well informed

·       Managing adaptively

·       Pursuing a participatory approach

The authors explain and underpin these principles in detail, offer inspiring examples from practice and connect them to the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Thisbook is intended for scientists, consultants and practitioners concerned about river basins, world-wide, as well as the drafters and implementers of the WFD River Basin Management Plans.

Introduction: the Need for Risk-Informed River Basin Management.- Soil – Sediment - River Connections: Catchment Processes delivering Pressures to River Catchments.- Status and Causal Pathway Assessments Supporting River Basin Management.- Monitoring Programs, Multiple Stress Analysis and Decision Support for River Basin Management.- Downscaling Scenarios as an Exploratory Tool for River Basin Management – an Introduction.- Informing River Basin Management on Flood and Drought Risks Taking Future Uncertainties into Account.- Future Land Use Patterns in European River Basins: Scenario Trends in Urbanization, Agriculture and Land Use.- Framing the Uncertain Future: Articulating IPCC-SRES Scenarios for European River Basins.- Integrated River Basin Management and Risk Governance.- Ecosystem Services and River Basin Management.- Participatory Approaches and the Role of Facilitative Leadership.- How Spatial Planning Can Connect to River Basin Management.- Improving the Connection BetweenScience and Policy for River Basin Management.- Synthesis and Recommendations Towards Risk-Informed River Basin Management.