Reducing the flood risk through floodplain restoration along the Danube River and tributaries

During the last decades, Europe suffered major catastrophic floods along the Danube. Therefore the Flood Directive asks for adequate and coordinated measures to reduce flood risk without conflicting WFD objectives. The main objective of the project is improving transnational water management and flood risk prevention while maximizing benefits for biodiversity conservation. The expected change is improved knowledge, among the countries located within Danube River Basin, related to integrative water management through restoration of floodplains, combination of classical and green infrastructure, natural retention measures, involving all related stakeholders. The main activities of the project are: updating the floodplain areas inventory and their ranking using the Floodplain Evaluation Matrix-FEM; assessing, by using the pre-selected pilot areas, of the efficiency of floodplain projects in the Danube District and developing tools for increasing the knowledge and cooperation of experts, practitioners, decision makers and stakeholders on floodplain restoration.
The Project will develop tools contributing to DTP SO2.1: 1) The Danube basin wide floodplain restoration and preservation manual addressed mainly to practitioners; 2) A DRB Sustainable Floodplain management Strategic Guidance summarizing the key findings of the manual targeting a wider audience; 3) A DRB Roadmap comprising agreed next steps towards realizing floodplain projects. The ICPDR which is the major platform for cooperation in flood risk management and river basin management in the DRB, through its experts will be supportive to this project in helping to achieve its goals and also in transferring the outputs. The main project target groups are ministries, river basin authorities, practitioners and stakeholders. The innovative character is given by the application of FEM by all Partner Countries and by developing a general evaluation tool for possible later assessment of floodplain restoration projects.Intensity of cooperation of key actors in the programme area in order to improve transnational water management and flood risk prevention (survey based composite indicator)The project main result will be an improved and sustainable transnational flood risk mitigation management in the Danube River Basin. The concrete measures identified in the frame of the project pilot areas, together with measures related to priority areas will contribute to increasing potential capacities in natural flood retention, to improve retention and flood protection downstream from pilot and future restoration sites and to advancing the DFRMP and DRBM programme of measures. Further, the project result will contribute to an harmonized approach for dealing with floodplain conservation and restoration measures, to a consensus of local stakeholders on priority measures and to a wider public support for integrating flood management with floodplain conservation and restoration.