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Risk-Informed Management of European River Basins pp 1–18Cite as

Introduction: The Need for Risk-Informed River Basin Management

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Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 29))

Abstract

As the pressures from both anthropogenic and natural causes on environmental systems increase, it is no longer effective or efficient to deal with one issue at a time, since solving a singular problem often causes damaging impacts on other environmental compartments or in other places. We must consider the consequences of our actions on all parts of the environment in an integrated way and configure these actions to cope with an uncertain future. These challenges demand a different approach in order to achieve actual improvement of the ecological quality of our river basins and thus sustain the goods and services they provide for the well-being of society. Risk-informed management is this new approach. It involves the integrated application of three key principles: be well informed, manage adaptively and take a participatory approach. This chapter introduces this risk-informed management approach as it was developed in the European Commission funded project RISKBASE and provides an introduction to rest of this book where the key principles are explained and underpinned in detail.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See for more info: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/flood_risk/index.htm

  2. 2.

    For detailed information see: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/index_en.html

  3. 3.

    See for more info: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/index_en.htm

  4. 4.

    See IEAM, 2009, Vol. 5, No 1, pp 2–126: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ieam.v5.1/issuetoc

  5. 5.

    See http://www.eugris.info

  6. 6.

    Note: throughout this book—besides the term ‘river basin’—also the term ‘catchment’ is sometimes used. Both terms are regarded more or less synonym in this book. However, often a catchment is perceived smaller in scale than a river basin. A river basin or catchment can be subdivided in sub-basins or sub-catchments

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Acknowledgements

The fundament for this book was laid in the RISKBASE project and thus first of all we—the authors of this introduction chapter—greatly acknowledge the European Commission for having funded this project. Furthermore, this book could be realised because we received very valuable input of numerous people—unfortunately too many to mention them all individually (and thus risking to unintended forget one or more)—who participated and contributed to the events organised by RISKBASE. However, the most crucial for getting this book done was the commitment and patience of the many (co-)authors who wrote the book chapters and who adapted their chapters following the suggestions of the book editors.

A GREAT THANK YOU to all of you and we wish the readers of this book enjoyable reading!

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deltares, 85467, NL-3508 AL, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Jos Brils

  2. Department of Environmental Chemistry, Spanish Council of for Scientific Research (CSIC) Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Jordi Girona 18-26, Barcelona, Spain

    Damià Barceló

  3. University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna Peter-Jordan-Str. 82, 1190, Vienna, Austria

    Winfried Blum

  4. Department Effect-Directed Analysis, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Werner Brack

  5. Catchment Science Centre, The Kroto Research Institute, The University of Sheffield, Broad Lane, Sheffield, S3 7HQ, UK

    Bob Harris

  6. Umweltbundesamt GmbH, Spittelauer Lände 5, AT-1090, Wien, Austria

    Dietmar Müller-Grabherr

  7. Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), 3, avenue Claude Guillemin, FR-45060, Orléans cedex 2, France

    Philippe Négrel

  8. School of Engineering and Natural Sciences—Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland, Sæmundargötu 2, 101, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Vala Ragnarsdottir

  9. Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Section Earth Sciences and Economics, Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Wim Salomons & Jan E. Vermaat

  10. TNO, Strategy and Policy, 49, 2600 AA, Delft, The Netherlands

    Adriaan Slob

  11. DECHEMA e. V. Chemische Technik Forschungsförderung und Tagungen, Theodor-Heuss-Allee 25, 60486, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Track

  12. Amsteldijk Zuid 167, 1189 VM, Amstelveen, The Netherlands

    Joop Vegter

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  1. Jos Brils
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  2. Damià Barceló
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  13. Jan E. Vermaat
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jos Brils .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Deltares, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Jos Brils

  2. Department of Effect-Directed Analysis, UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany

    Werner Brack

  3. Umweltbundesamt GmbH, Wien, Austria

    Dietmar Müller-Grabherr

  4. Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Mini, Orléans cedex 2, France

    Philippe Négrel

  5. Inst. Environmental Studies, Free University Amsterdam Fac. Earth & Life Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Jan E. Vermaat

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Brils, J. et al. (2014). Introduction: The Need for Risk-Informed River Basin Management. In: Brils, J., Brack, W., Müller-Grabherr, D., Négrel, P., Vermaat, J. (eds) Risk-Informed Management of European River Basins. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 29. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38598-8_1

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