AMICE

The transnational Meuse catchment spreads over four countries, France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. As a flood-prone area, the banks of the Meuse river represent a vulnerable territory, with major stakes related to the people and industries settled in this transnational drainage basin. Within 2050 or 2100, the catchments likely to be strongly impacted by climate change – just like most hydrological systems – with possibly bigger floods occurring more often, and concomitantly, more severe droughts. It is therefore necessary to define strategies of adaptation and to take preventive actions, in order to be properly prepared for crisis. In this context, the AMICE Project (Adaptation of the Meuse to the Impact of Climate Evolution) is a transnational project, gathering 17 partners, which aims to investigate the current and future hydrological behaviour of the basin, and to determine the expected floods characteristics along with the flood-water management actions which have to be undertaken. It thus provides the opportunity to use common scenarios, tools and methods at a transnational level, to share the obtained results and to strengthen the cooperation between stakeholders in the Meuse basin.

Adaptation to climate change does not merely rely on water protection measures. One of the key pillars of any adaptation strategy is the anticipation of crisis situations: how to react to future extreme events in the most appropriate way. Since the Meuse basin is a transnational area, it becomes necessary to develop and to encourage a cooperation as large as possible between the different stakeholders in the territory. The AMICE exercise was ambitious and large-scale with regards to setup and expectations. This intent therefore ensured that a tremendous amount of learning experiences and positive points have been accumulated in the field of information exchange and cooperation. It was indeed the opportunity for crisis managers from the three neighbouring States to gain awareness on the benefits of transnational information sharing. Some of it is already included in the daily procedures, such as hydrometric data. However, forecast professionals and crisis managers would appreciate to go further with cooperation. At the same time, they realized that during a crisis, each stakeholder is focused on the management of the stressful situation, which makes sharing uneasy though wished for. Communication towards the press was another objective for each partner during all phases of the exercise.