Framework for local management of climate related risks

The framework, developed under NGI's internal R&D project 'GRAM' and Klima2050, outlines a general approach for local climate change adaptation. The approach includes the identification of relevant climate-related hazards for the study area, assessment of how climate-related events affect property and infrastructure, and opportunities for reducing societal impact. Application examples demonstrate how a hazard, vulnerability and risk analysis can be carried out for urban and river flooding, for storm surge and sea level rise, and for landslides including soil and rock slides. In addition, possible risk-reducing measures were described for each hazard type. Multi-hazard, as well as probabilistic approaches for the various hazard types, were also investigated. A general three-level framework for multi-hazard assessment is recommended, where the level of detail increases with the analysis level. Current and future work include preparing frameworks for probabilistic analyzes of several types of natural hazards.

The framework contains the following steps:

  • Identification of relevant climate related hazards

  • Impacts of climate change on property and infrastructure

  • Societal reduction of adverse impacts, climate adaptation

  • Application examples for urban and river flooding, for storm surge and sea level rise and for landslides

County overview showing hazards expected to increase in a future climate (Frauenfelder et al. 2016)

County overview showing hazards expected to increase in a future climate (Frauenfelder et al. 2016)

Scientific basis