Author(s)

B. J. Dewals, E. Giron, J. Ernst, W. Hecq & M. Pirotton

Abstract

In order to protect our societies from damaging impacts of climate change (floods, heat waves, droughts etc), the most cost-effective adaptation measures must be selected among a wide range of options (including structural and nonstructural protection measures). The Belgian national project \“ADAPT” aims to provide guidance for this choice by developing a decision-support tool for the selection of protection measures against increased risk resulting from climate change, and more specifically from floods. This tool is based on a combination of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and multicriteria analysis (MA), taking into consideration hydraulic, economic, social and ecological indicators. In order to demonstrate its efficiency, the method is applied in the two main Belgian river basins (Meuse and Scheldt). Within this global framework, the present paper covers the description of the hydraulic modelling component and the economic approach, focusing on their interactions, for the case of the Meuse Basin (river Ourthe). The hydraulic simulations are performed with the two-dimensional numerical model WOLF 2D, which is developed at the University of Liege. High resolution Digital Elevation Models are exploited, enabling the representation of streets, buildings and parcels individually. In parallel, for past flood events, a relationship is established between simulated local water depths and actual damage costs, enabling the development and validation of suitable damage functions. Keywords: climate change, hydrodynamic modelling, damage function, finite volume, digital elevation model, decision support.

Keywords

climate change, hydrodynamic modelling, damage function, finite volume, digital elevation model, decision support.