Global emergency: What's your contribution?

Abstract

We all strive for a better future, so why are we so slow to face one of the greatest threats of our time—climate. Some of us have already witnessed more frequent or more extreme flooding, with an increased precipitation intensity, or more violent consequences as a result of a changes in sea level and storm conditions. It is well documented that by adapting now we may be able to keep the global temperature rise under 2°C this century (https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement, 2019) and this may then reduce the need for extreme resilience. As we are nearly 1°C above the pre-industrial baseline already (World Meteorological Organization, 2018), perhaps we should act a little faster? Supporting the majority of this “wish list” is the ability to test and understand different scenarios, for which mapping and modelling is often relied upon. In this issue of the Journal of Flood Risk Management, one of the papers considers the triggers used on flow routes, to maximise the potential for improving mitigation (Saleh et al., 2018). Pereira et al. (2018) have looked to improve modelling methods in urban flooding and Valentin et al. (Valentin, Parés, Russo, & Martínez-Gomariz, 2018) have concentrated on the modelling of grated inlets to improve flow. Contaminated sediment movement within flow has been well studied over the years; however, Chang, Allen, Morse, and Mainali (2018) challenge some of the more common assumptions when looking at some of the characteristics and concentrations. Two papers consider the modelling of deforestation and afforestation in turn, providing evidence of just how consequential this can be (Hajian, Dykes, & Cavanagh, 2018; Dittrich, Ball, Wreford, Moran, & Spray, 2018). Lorente (2018) undertakes comprehensive modelling to take into account challenging (gaps and errors) data from previous event records. Finally, there is a focus on the impact to society, a paper that focuses on community adaptation by understanding resilience (Chowdhooree, Sloan, & Dawes, 2018) and another that considers which weather types relate to most damage claims (Schroeer & Tye, 2018). Each and every country will have its own tailored approach to reducing flood risk in this time of global climate emergency. The best solutions will allow adaptive approaches for the future. The evidence provided in this journal, to underpin these approaches, has never been more important.