Quantifying the effects of nature-based solutions in reducing risks from hydrometeorological hazards: examples from Europe

Shah, M. A. R. et al. (2023) Quantifying the effects of nature-based solutions in reducing risks from hydrometeorological hazards: examples from Europe. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 93, 103771. (doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103771)

Abstract

The combination of climate change and social and ecological factors will increase risks societies face from hydrometeorological hazards (HMH). Reducing these risks is typically achieved through the deployment of engineered (or grey) infrastructure but increasingly, nature-based solutions (NBS) are being considered. Most risk assessment frameworks do not allow capturing well the role NBS can play in addressing all components of risk, i.e., the hazard characteristics and the exposure and vulnerability of social-ecological systems. Recently, the Vulnerability and Risk assessment framework developed to allow the assessment of risks in the context of NBS implementation (VR-NBS framework) was proposed. Here, we carry out the first implementation of this framework using five case study areas in Europe which are exposed to various HMH. Our results show that we can demonstrate the effect NBS have in terms of risk reduction and that this can be achieved by using a flexible library of indicators that allows to capture the specificities of each case study hazard, social and ecological circumstances. The approach appears to be more effective for larger case study areas, but further testing is required in a broader variety of contexts.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. It was funded by and carried out within the framework of OPERANDUM (OPEn-air laboRAtories for Nature baseD solUtions to Manage hydro-meteo risks) project (Grant no. 776848) and PHUSICOS project (Grant no. 776681).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Renaud, Professor Fabrice and Xu, Dr Jiren
• Authors: Shah, M. A. R., Xu, J., Carisi, F., De Paola, F., Di Sabatino, S., Domeneghetti, A., Gerundo, C., Gonzalez-Ollauri, A., Nadim, F., Petruccelli, N., Polderman, A., Pugliese, F., Pulvirenti, B., Ruggieri, P., Speranza, G., Toth, E., Zieher, T., and Renaud, F. G.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Journal Name: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2212-4209
• ISSN (Online): 2212-4209
• Published Online: 25 May 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 93:103771
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
304264		OPERANDUM	Fabrice Renaud	European Commission (EC)	N/A	IS - Interdisciplinary Studies