In the winter of 2014, the Finistère area of Brittany in northwestern France was hit with violent storms, bringing torrential rain, heavy wind and flooding. Winter floods in this part of France are common; in 2014, however, the heavy rainfall caused the river to rise to record levels – 2.5 times higher than average – threatening people and infrastructure.
As the storm intensified, 55,000 households across the region lost power, and, as rivers breached their banks, the towns of Quimper, Morlaix and Quimperlé were submerged under as much as one metre of water. Homes and schools were evacuated and city centres were closed.
Pictures of water masses that blur over landscapes and cities are gradually becoming recurring features of the television news as the changing climate brings on more violent weather events. According to the World Bank, floods are the most frequent natural disaster and the one that costs most in terms of human life and material damage. Because of this, governments are increasingly seeing the need to implement solutions for building more resilient communities.
Trade can play an important role in response, recovery and building resilience to natural disasters, particularly through the implementation of technologies that help to reduce emissions and protect livelihoods from the impacts of climate change. Many companies are seeing this trend, and are producing innovative technologies to meet the challenges of the future.
NoFloods, a Danish company, have created a mobile flood protection barrier system to protect people, infrastructure and the environment from the impacts of flooding. When this system was deployed in two towns in Brittany, significant damage was prevented and risk to residents was minimized.
During the Brittany floods, the cities of Redon and Pontivy deployed NoFloods barriers, protecting their infrastructure from damage and their residents from danger. For the local authorities, the benefits were clear: the system is up to 40 times quicker to deploy than sandbags, and it costs roughly the same amount. The NoFloods barriers are also more effective than sandbags, and they can be used again in future crises.
Globally, the economic cost of natural disasters is around $520 billion. The prudence of encouraging and investing in environmentally sound technologies to promote climate resilience is becoming clearer and clearer. UN Environment’s Environment and Trade Hub works with governments around the world to help them identify opportunities for trade in environmental goods and services, open up trade in environmental goods and services, and encourage the diffusion of environmentally sound technologies.
“We know that resilience-building is a key focus of many of our government partners. We believe that trade is key to diffusing the technologies that will help vulnerable countries build their climate resilience,” says Anja von Moltke, head of the Environment and Trade Hub. “Encouraging this sort of innovation also helps to create fair, green jobs and build prosperity.”
Based on the system’s success in managing the floods of 2014, the French Ministry of the Interior has invested in 10km of NoFloods barriers, and the system has been sold globally in five other countries. By reducing unnecessary trade barriers, the provision of and access to vital goods and services, including adaption technologies like NoFloods barriers, can be improved, thus enhancing countries’ ability to build resilience and respond to the effects of climate change.