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Usefulness and limitations of global flood risk models

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 712–715 (2015)Cite this article

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Global flood risk models were developed to identify risk hotspots in a world with increasing flood occurrence. Here we assess the ability and limitations of the current models and suggest what is needed moving forward.

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Figure 1: Example hazard data from a global flood model, overlaid on impervious surface area (ISA) data27 as an indicator of exposure.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by a VENI grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (grant no. 863.11.011). The findings are drawn from workshops and discussions between users and modellers at the Understanding Risk Forum in London, 2014, the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, 2015, and the Global Flood Partnership annual meeting in Boulder, 2015. We thank the participants of these events for their valuable contributions. The Uganda Red Cross forecast-based financing pilot is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The World Bank Caribbean Risk Information Programme (www.charim.net) is financed by the European Union-funded ACP-EU Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Program and managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1081HV, The Netherlands

    Philip J. Ward, Brenden Jongman, Sanne Muis & Erin Coughlan de Perez

  2. Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, World Bank Group, 20433, Washington DC, USA

    Brenden Jongman & Alanna Simpson

  3. European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, 21027, Italy

    Peter Salamon & Tom De Groeve

  4. University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK

    Paul Bates & Mark A. Trigg

  5. SSBN Flood Risk Solutions, Cardiff, CF10 4AZ, UK

    Paul Bates

  6. Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, The Hague, 2521 CV, The Netherlands

    Erin Coughlan de Perez

  7. International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University, New York, 10964, New York, USA

    Erin Coughlan de Perez

  8. CIMA Research Foundation, Savona, 17100, Italy

    Roberto Rudari

  9. Deltares, Delft, 2629 HV, The Netherlands

    Hessel C. Winsemius

Authors
  1. Philip J. Ward
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  2. Brenden Jongman
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  9. Roberto Rudari
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  11. Hessel C. Winsemius
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philip J. Ward.

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Ward, P., Jongman, B., Salamon, P. et al. Usefulness and limitations of global flood risk models. Nature Clim Change 5, 712–715 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2742

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