Flood risks and environmental vulnerability : exploring the synergies between floodplain restoration, water policies and thematic policies

Nowadays floodplain areas are reduced in size or no longer function as active floodplains, thereby impacting on the delivery of environmental services to local and regional communities and economies. These services include regulating services such as protection against floods or water purification; provisioning services, such as nutrient collection and fertile soil formation; and cultural services, such as recreational, tourism and educational services; transport routes; and finally a secure water supply. Many of Europe's natural floodplains are under pressure: besides land use changes, there are limitations in exactly how water is flowing and where to, reduced storage capacity, water quality and pollution issues, as well as a reduction in the natural support to lower flood waves. What remains of floodplains can be viewed as important for nature conservation and will play a part in the aim to restore at least 15 % of degraded ecosystems and their services by 2020 under the targets of the EU Biodiversity Strategy. Since 2012, a new source of information became available for the European Environment Agency (EEA) following the assessment and mapping of floods in Europe for the 'Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks', better known as the 'Floods Directive'. The EEA's 'Flood risks and environmental vulnerability' report provides an overview of floods since 1980 and the related social, economic and environmental impacts. This report improves the knowledge base on the subject as a European flood impact database had not existed prior to the publication of the EEA report. The report combines the information from the Floods Directive, mainly from the preliminary flood risk assessments, with information from global databases, as well as an analysis of a questionnaire completed by national authorities. The result is a more complete overview of significant floods events and impacts.