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Purpose – The Foresight Future Flooding (FFF) project researched flood risk in the UK to the year 2100 for central government, using scenarios and a national risk assessment model backed by qualitative analysis from panels of some 45 senior scientists. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of the project, both nationally and internationally.Design/methodology/approach – This paper assesses the impact of the FFF project, both nationally and internationally, using web searches, document analysis, and a questionnaire survey of key actors in the flood risk management policy field.Findings – It was found that the penetration of the project into professionals' consciousness was high in relation to other comparable projects and publications, and its impact on policy – both immediately and continuing – was profound. The FFF initiative did not create policy change, however, but facilitated its legitimation, adding impetus to what was already there, as one element of a part-catalytic and part-incremental process of policy evolution.Research limitations/implications – Special circumstances, internal and external to the project, mean that this cannot be a simple model for matching research to policymakers' needs in the future.Practical implications – Important lessons may be learnt from this project about both the methods of forward-looking foresight-type research, and the way that its results are disseminated to its target audiences.Originality/value – This is an innovative attempt to assess the impact of a new type of foresight project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater flooding has moved up the policy-makers' agenda as a result of the United Kingdom experiencing extensive groundwater flooding in winter 2000/2001. However, there is a lack of appropriate methods and data to support groundwater flood risk assessment. The implications for flood risk assessment of groundwater flooding are outlined using a study of the Chalk aquifer underlying the Pang and Lambourn catchments in Berkshire, UK. Groundwater flooding in the Chalk results from the water table reaching the land surface and producing long-duration surface flows (weeks to months), causing significant disruption to transport infrastructure and households. By analyzing existing data with a farmers' survey, it was found that groundwater flooding consists of a combination of intermittent stream discharge and anomalous springflow. This work shows that there is a significant challenge involved in drawing together data and understanding of groundwater flooding, which includes vital local knowledge, reasonable risk assessment procedures and deterministic modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis on the risk management approaches for coastal areas in Great Britain in 2010. It refers to the adoption of a strategic framework for shoreline management as one of the most important methods that the British government implemented. It highlights the national research programme funded by the government to manage risks of coastal erosion and flooding.

Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) is a challenging process, defined by stakeholder engagement and underpinned by knowledge on the integrated behaviour of coastal systems. While significant advancements in ICZM have been made, a range of difficult and important questions about ‘integration’ remain to be explored. This paper discusses opportunities for addressing such challenges of integration through the application of geographical thinking to understanding and managing coastal environments. It focuses on geographical traditions on systems thinking, the process-based nature of geographic research and geographical contributions to conceptualising place and our relationships to it. Using UK-based case studies the paper explores integration challenges from three different coastal contexts and management perspectives, examining: adaptation through managed realignment in a local community, integrated flood risk management in London and the Thames Estuary and enhancing the ‘socially just’ nature of coastal management. The case-study discussion highlights the importance of ‘geographical thought’ to improving the integrative basis of strategies for managing complex coastal environments. This paper argues that ‘thinking geographically’ is one logical vehicle for increasing our understanding of, and providing solutions to, barriers which limit progress towards greater ‘integration’ in coastal management. Geography is dynamic, plural and based on the recognition that reality is contested and as such geographical ideas could add considerably to emerging cross-disciplinary knowledge on the interactions and interdependencies of behaviours within coastal systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article mentions the 60th anniversary of the River & Coastal Group of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) in Great Britain.