Frédéric Grelot – Economist, UMR G-eau, INRAE, member of the ACB/AMC working group(testimonial from the “30 years of research for flood prevention” dossier – 2022)
“Since 2007, following on from my thesis, I have been involved in developing the national framework for the economic evaluation of flood management projects, particularly for protective structures. With my colleagues at G-eau, we have helped to develop skills that were previously lacking in France, compared with the UK and the USA, for example. The challenge was to be able to calculate the amount of damage avoided thanks to the projects envisaged and to qualify the uncertainties of the economic analysis indicators. On the basis of what experts had to say, we developed “turnkey” models, known as “damage functions”, for housing, economic activities and cultivated land. These models are recommended by the DGPR as part of the cost-benefit analysis for PAPI-approved projects. We have also been providing training in this area since 2011. The economic evaluation of floods is stimulating, because we have to cross many disciplines: agronomy, geography, hydrology, sociology, psychology… and extend our understanding of the flood-territory link”.
Testimonial from our thematic dossier
Thematic dossier
30 years of research into flood prevention
The risk of flooding is the leading natural hazard in France in terms of impact and extent. As experts in water-related risks, six INRAE scientific teams are helping to implement flood prevention policy. They are working on tools and methods for forecasting and preventing this risk, which are presented in this dossier.
