Increasing the resilience of flooding in south-east England
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- The overall objective of the case study is to help overcome institutional barriers to multi-sector collaboration for climate change adaptation and flood risk management in Kent, says Christine Wissink Case study Manager at KCC.
As lead local flood authority, the KCC has an integral role in strategic management of flood risk and infrastructure development. They are also lead partner in the STAR2C (Short Term Adaptation for Long Term Resilience to Climate Change) interreg project that aims to overcome the ‘implementation gap’ currently faced in delivering local action to build adaptation capacity by establishing holistic, innovative and transferable solutions to climate change. KCC is also a key partner in another interreg project; H2O: Source2Seas, which aims to implement evidence-based natural flood and drought management to help reduce the impacts of flooding, drought and pollution.
Although these efforts encourage a holistic approach, there remain institutional barriers that limit multi-sector collaboration and therefore the effectiveness of policies and interventions. Something that the case study in C5a project will be addressing. - We aim to overcome institutional barriers to multi-sector collaboration by developing the Cloud-to-Coast concept with core stakeholders working across our STAR2Cs and H2O activities along with key selected stakeholders at the national level working on, or aligned with, the projects’ climate change adaptation focus, says Christine.
Workshops during 2021
In the upcoming months workshops with stakeholders to develop the C2C approach are planned, online or in person is yet to be determined. - We have yet to carry out the workshops, so our work so far has focused on finalizing the stakeholder analysis and preparing the workshop structure and format, says Christine.
- We have been unable to bring people together in person to discuss and develop the C2C approach and this has inhibited our engagement with stakeholders. We were hoping to be able to carry out the workshop in person in the first quarter of 2021 but this is now looking increasingly unlikely due to the second wave of Covid-19. However, we and our stakeholders are now much more accustomed and adept at using virtual platforms to conduct meetings and workshops so we are confident that we will be able to develop the case study online with positive results and findings, she finishes.