Flooding can devastate communities. Sniffer helps to spread good practice that keeps people safe.

Why flood resilience matters

Flooding is a frequent natural hazard in Scotland which, if poorly managed, can have catastrophic impacts on people, businesses, and our natural and built environments. Scotland’s climate is already changing, and this, combined with changes in how we use our land and how we live, has the potential to put more people and property at risk of flooding in the coming decades. Scotland’s annual average rainfall in the last decade (2010-2019) was 9% wetter than the 1961-1990 average, with winters 19% wetter. The changes which we are seeing now are projected to continue and intensify in the future.

Recent high-profile flood events, such as storms Ciara and Dennis, and the 2020 breach of the Union Canal which resulted in significant damage to the Edinburgh-Glasgow rail line have highlighted, with increasing confidence, the magnitude of such risks and the cascading consequences which flooding can bring.

The Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (UKCCRA3) identified that despite action in this area the risk of flooding to people, communities and buildings remains among the most severe risk for Scotland and is the costliest hazard to businesses. Achieving Scotland’s socioeconomic objectives will be increasingly challenging if we do not make our places climate resilient.

The Climate Change Committee warned in Is Scotland Climate Ready? that action on adapting Scotland’s places to climate change hazards such as flooding, has stalled. A transformation is needed in how we approach climate resilience. While climate change is a clear and present threat, this is also an opportunity for us all to create places that are rich in green and blue space, and that support healthy communities and resilient, wellbeing economies.

What is the solution?

Climate change compels us to work together to ensure that Scotland’s places continue to thrive despite the heightened flood risks brought by rising sea levels and more intense and frequent rainstorms. Scotland needs a collaborative, transformative approach to flood risk management and climate change adaptation that centres great placemaking and which deliver benefits for health, wellbeing, resilience, regeneration, net zero, fairness, and biodiversity.

Flooding is a complex challenge, with many influencing factors, but the risks are manageable if we work together. Building on this belief in collaboration, for nearly twenty years Sniffer has supported a range of research and events to promote the effectiveness of a co-operative approach to flood risk management.

How Sniffer helps to build resilience to flooding

Sniffer provides a range of services to the Scottish FRM Community to help encourage and deliver a holistic approach to Flood Risk Management. Chief among these is our annual Flooding Conference, which Sniffer has run since 2007. The conference is the premier event in the Scottish flooding community calendar and regularly attracts more than 250 delegates. Since the pandemic the conference has been held online or as a hybrid event which has extended its reach to more than 600 delegates annually. The most recent conference was held in February 2023 at Perth with live streamed sessions for remote audiences. The conference sessions are now available to view online. You can read more about how our approach has helped the conference to become one of the top policy and practice forums in the country in this case study. 

Header image: Arbroath flooding 2010 Photographs courtesy of D.C.ThomsonCo.Ltd Dundee.