Floods: Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies for Human Health

WHO 

Within a European-Commission funded project (EVK2-2000-00070), WHO and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine organized a workshop to identify health risks associated with floods in the WHO European Region, explore projections of the implications of climate change for the risk of floods, and assess strategies to adapt to or prevent these implications in order to reduce the health risks. The participants recommended that:

• emphasis be shifted from disaster response to risk management, including the improvement of flood forecasting and warning systems, the addition of health protection as a goal and consideration of how climate change may increase or decrease flood hazards;
• environmental impact assessments include health risks from flooding as an issue;
• assessments be made of communities’ capacity to respond to and manage flooding and its effects on health;
• governments support monitoring of and research on the health impact of all categories of flooding; and
• coordination be promoted among disciplines, policy-makers and international organizations.

Taxonomy

• Integrated Water Management
• Integrated Water Management
• Water Resource Management
• Flood management
• Flood damage
• Water Resources Management
• Flood Risk Management