MOVE – Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability Assessment in Europe
Background and Goals
The MOVE project deals with the development of indicators based on methods and concepts of vulnerability assessment to natural hazards in Europe. It is to be developed for a different scales and a danger independent framework, which makes aspects of the physical, environmental, economic, social, cultural and institutional vulnerability to various natural hazards at different scales detected. On the other hand be on - relying developed in this generic framework, different methods for the detection of vulnerability and tested in pilot regions. The methods take into account flooding, heat waves, droughts, landslides and mudslides, earthquakes, forest fires and storms.
MOVE intends to
- create knowledge, frameworks and methods for the assessment of vulnerability to natural hazards in Europe.
- use indices and indicators to help improve societal and environmental resilience placing emphasis on clear, capable measurement and accounting for uncertainties.
- identify gaps in existing methodologies.
- produce a conceptual framework that is independent of scale and hazard type.
- analyze physical, technical, environmental, economic, social, cultural and institutional vulnerability measured for specific hazards and at different geographical scales.
- study floods, temperature extremes, droughts, landslides, earthquakes, wildfires and storms.
MOVE will make use of case studies throughout Europe: Methodologies will be tested in case study regions for vulnerable elements and appropriate hazard types. Case studies will enable the availability and quality of existing data to be examines at sub-national and local scales. The seven MOVE case studies will integrate methods of estimating potential economic damage and social vulnerability.
MOVE will involve stakeholders: Stakeholders will be consulted systematically in order to understand their needs and enable MOVE to draw attention to the practical value of its methodologies. The generic framework, data analysis and applicability tests will result in a standard approach to vulnerability assessment in Europe.
Content time
toResearch area/region
Country
- Germany
- Great Britain
- Italy
- Austria
- Portugal
- Spain
Region of implementation (all German federal states)
- Northrhine-Westphalia
Natural spatial classification
- West German lowland bay
Spatial resolution
seven case studies;
case studie in Germany: Köln/Bonn
Steps in the process of adaptation to climate change
Step 1: Understand and describe climate change
Approach and results
No climate scenarios are used: the focus is the analysis of natural hazards, which can however be affected by climate change.
Parameter (climate signals)
- River flooding
- Heat waves
- Storm
- Dry periods
Further Parameters
Floods, heat waves, droughts, storms, temperature extremes
Step 2a: Identify and assess risks - climate effects and impact
Approach and results
Climate impacts on water management and water resources will be considered, such as
- Limitations of vessel traffic and the resulting economic losses,
- groundwater storage and implications for drinking water supply and
- frequency of flooding.
Step 2b: Identify and assess risks - Vulnerability, risks and chances
Approach and results
Vulnerability reflects susceptibility, the intrinsic predisposition to harm, or in other words the conditions that facilitate damage. It is vitally important to understand how vulnerability is distributed and generated, and how it builds up. Carefully selected processes of identification, measurement and assessment will ensure that stakeholders, such as people who are responsible for the prevention and management of risk (disaster managers, urban planners and others) are made aware of it and are provided with adequate frameworks and instruments to assess and measure it. Thus the products of MOVE will help stakeholders understand the problem of vulnerability and will provide a means of guiding the decision-making process at different levels of public administration.
Overall, these dimensions provide the initial basis for a holistic and integrative perspective on vulnerability to natural hazards in European cities and regions. Some aspects have to be addressed with specific methods and modelling approaches. Physical and economic vulnerabilities must be addressed using probabilistic and deterministic approaches associated with damage scenarios and potential economic impacts: social and cultural vulnerability will be assessed with reference to demographic, institutional and cultural aspects defined by indicators, population data, statistics and qualitative judgements, which will be based also on new data generated through interviews and surveys.
Participants
Funding / Financing
European Commission: under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development
Project management
University of Florence, Italy
Cooperation/Partners
BRGM French geological Survey, Frankreich (www.brgm.fr)
Centre for Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, Österreich (www.zgis.at)
EURAC (European Acedemy, Institute of Applied Remote Sensing), Italien (www.eurac.edu)
Atlas Innoglobe TervezÖ es Syolgaltato Kft., Ungarn (www.atlasco.hu)
King's College, University of London, UK (www.kcl.ac.uk)
Norwegian Geotechnical institute (NGI), Norwegen (www.ngi.no)
Rupprecht Consult Forschung und Beratung GmbH, Deutschland (www.rupprecht-consult.eu);
CIMNE, International Centre for Numarical Methods in Engineering, Barcelona, Spanien, (www.cimne.upc.es);
United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security, Deutschland, (www.ehs.unu.edu);
Dortmund University of Technology, Deutschland (www.tu-dortmund.de);
University of Oporto, Faculty of Arts, Portugal (www.letras.up.pt);
University of Vienna, Österreich (www.univie.ac.at/en/);
MOVE take into account results of the following projects on vulnerability of Europe: RISK-EU, LESSLOSS and RAMFLOOD"
Contact
University of Florence (UNIFI)
Piazza di San Marco 4
50121 Firenze
