Since 1998, floods have caused extensive damage and loss of human life in Europe. The Floods Directive, proposed by the Commission in 2006, is a response to past floods and an effort to limit the fallout from future floods, which are likely to increase in frequency and severity due to more intense rain falls and rising sea levels, which scientists have linked to global warming.
The directive outlines a three-stage strategy to be implemented by Member States:
- Preliminary flood risk assessments of river basins and coastal areas by 2011;
- Flood hazard maps for high risk areas by 2013;
- Flood risk management plans by 2015.
Flood risk management plans are to focus on prevention, protection and preparedness in order to reduce the probability and negative consequences of future floods. For example, flood plains and wetlands are to be restored and future developments in flood prone areas are to be avoided.
In its amendments to the directive, the Parliament added the requirement that flood risk management plans include "measures that work with natural processes such as maintenance and/or restoration of floodplains in order to give back space to the rivers wherever possible."
Environmental NGOs criticised the Parliament for not pushing for tougher restrictions on the use of man-made flood constraints such as concrete structures. They also criticised the Floods Directive because of the risk of possible implementation delays caused by overlap with the 2000 Water Framework Directive, a central pillar of the EU's water policy, which addresses water quality and cross-border river basin management issues. The Commission has stated that consultations for the Floods Directive were conducted in the spirit of creating synergies with the administrative procedures and implementation structures of the Water Framework Directive.
