Achievements and outcomes of project activities

Coastal defence strategies
Coastal areas and their natural resources have had a strategic role to play in meeting the needs and aspirations of current and future European populations. In turn, spatial development strategies have a role in meeting these needs and aspirations.

COMbined Functions in COASTal Defence Zones (COMCOAST) developed various options for flood risk management. The central focus was on land use and spatial planning of areas behind embankments.

A similar issue was addressed by the project Common Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Storm Floods in Coastal Lowlands (ComRisk) which involved coastal defence authorities from six countries. The project aimed at improving risk management for coastal flood prone areas and facilitated nine studies in specific aspects of coastal risk management. The coastal defence authorities produced a policy paper with recommendations to improve coastal risk management. The project ran under the auspices of the North Sea Coastal Managers Group (NSCMG). This network consists of high-level coastal risk managers and officers from authorities around the North Sea.

ComRisk successfully intensified this exchange of information with the result that Sustainable Coastal Risk Management in 2050 (SafeCoast) was organised with a view to continue more intensive networking. The project focused on the promotion of transfer of knowledge and collected in excess of 355 downloadable documents and more than 85 news updates from the five North Sea countries involved in the project. The documents and news updates were all concerned with coastal flood and erosion risk management, and were made available on the SafeCoast’s internet site. With over 70,000 visitors in three years, the SafeCoast internet site became an information exchange platform for research, policy and management.This exchange of information was especially important as a way of sharing best practice regarding the implementation of the EU Floods Directive (2007) and EU recommendations on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (2002).

Another project, European Solutions by Co-operation and Planning in Emergencies for Coastal Flooding (ESCAPE) focused on improving contingency plans, increasing public awareness, developing systems for monitoring high water, and developing evacuation plans. Linked to these issues were the pilot sessions of the Highwater Information System, a decision support system for evacuations in disaster areas, which created an innovative approach to contingency planning. .

Flood protection and risk management
Flood Plain Land Use Optimising Workable Sustainability (FLOWS) focused on the incorporation of flood risk management into spatial planning policy and practice (including the emerging EU Flood Directive) and future investment decisions. The project aimed to improve the sustainability of development in flood risk areas by working with both the technical and the social aspects of flood risk information and its integration into decision support systems for spatial planning.

Studies of new methods to integrate coastal defence with the needs of nature protection were the main emphasis for the project Flood Risk Management in Estuaries: Sustainable New Land Use in Flood Control Areas (FRaME). Large-scale investment was an essential part of the FRaME project. This included the study and preparation of, as well as contribution towards the construction of flood control areas and new land uses.

Harmonised River Basins Strategies North Sea (Harbasins) emphasised the importance of the ecosystem in the integration of ecological, economic and social demands in specific management areas, such as estuaries or larger coastal areas like the Wadden Sea. Coastal zones in the European Union are regarded as ecological entities, which encompass catchment areas of several different river basins. An important impact of the Harbasins project was the recognition and importance of the exchange of results and synchronization of reporting timetables of other organisations and networks, such as OSPAR and HELCOM.

Safety and risk management
Increased transnational co-operation through practical action was the focus of the Development of storm resistant landscapes through regional co-operation, adopted management and risk communication (STORMRISK). This project concerned storm felling in forest landscapes following wind damage. The main aim was to integrate and make available the knowledge and experience already developed over many years. The main outcome was the creation of a digital spatial program to predict the impact on forests of winds throughout the North Sea Region. It is directly accessible on the web, is a user-friendly program, and is of direct value for end-users such as landowners and forest managers. The project tested two programs WINDA and ForestGALE to see how well they could predict the vulnerability of areas to storm. The tests had a 70-90% success rate. Equipped with this type of information about their own forests and landscapes, forest managers and landowners can now create their own Stormrisk analyses to identify high risk areas.

Another project, which has produced immediate benefits, was the Safety at Sea (S@S) project. It significantly worked towards reducing the probability and impact of incidents and accidents in the North Sea. Through a number of demonstration projects and cross-country activities, harmonised risk management strategies, methods and terminology, i.e. a common framework for risk assessment and strategy development were developed as key results.

In this context, safer sea operations, improved traffic management and enhanced risk assessment have been achieved through, for example, combining AIS (Automatic Identification System) data with a tool for risk assessment of navigational safety, by developing harmonised methodology and guidelines for emergency preparedness and by establishing improved decision support for Marine Rescue Coordination Centres. Thereby, the project demonstrated strong transnational elements as the need of working in cooperation with the other partner countries was a vital precondition for the concrete and joint outcomes and their implementation. The issues worked on related closely to the North Sea, which was a common expanse shared by all the seven countries.

Lasting legacy for the North Sea Region through the projects' achievements

The attention that projects in this theme have attracted goes far beyond the original planned activities and demonstrates their success.Long-term effects have been achieved especially in relation to policy shaping. As an example the SafeCoast project posed the question ‘How will we manage our North Sea coasts in 2050’? In its study of transnational coastal flood risk assessment, a uniform method was implemented to assess flood risk in the North Sea Basin. This study contributed towards raising awareness of flood risk in flood prone areas in the North Sea Basin and served as a reference framework for the implementation process of the EU Floods Directive.

In addition, results of the FLOWS project clearly influenced flood management policy-making on the national level in all countries involved with the project. The results have been used for planning activities and for making future decisions about improved sustainability of development in fluvial areas at risk of flooding. An example may be seen in the U.K. for example where spatial planners prepared the ground for a government policy – Planning Policy Guidance for Development and Flood Risk in part by using the results of FLOWS.

Projects did more than contribute to future policy; some also influenced and encouraged additional investment with focus on developing and implementing stand-alone solutions in regions. More than £ 6 million was invested in green tourism and visitor projects in the North Lincolnshire area as a direct result of the FRaME project’s Alkborough flats demonstration activity.