Key stakeholders are meeting next week in Telford to discuss key issues in resilience and response to flooding and coastal erosion at the Environment Agency’s major 3 day conference Flood & Coast 2016.

Led by the Agency, the event is drawing together local authorities, infrastructure owners, consultancies, contractors, emergency responders, community groups and universities to facilitate the exchange of innovation and best practice across the flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) sector.Alison Baptiste, Director of Strategy & Investment at the Environment Agency and Conference Chairman, said:

 “This winter we have seen record rainfall and river levels bringing widespread flooding and misery to thousands of people’s lives. When we have exceptional weather like this, which impacts so severely on our country, it’s important to review what happened and learn how we can prepare better for the future. “

 “The choice of this year’s theme for Flood & Coast 2016 – risk, resilience and response in a changing climate – offers us an opportunity to do just that; to step back and review every aspect of our business from climate change and forecasting through to effective response and recovery. Discussions at this event will help inform the National Flood Resilience Review and the Cumbria Flood Partnership – to ensure we are directing our resources to protect people most effectively.” 

 The multi-stream conference has 30+ sessions featuring over 120 speakers drawn from the UK, Europe, the US and Australia. Main themes include:

• policy and strategy
• modelling & forecasting
• infrastructure & asset management
• people, property and communities
• incident response
• global climate change.

The 90 exhibitors in the sold-out exhibition represent specialists from across the entire supply chain delivering FCRM technology and solutions, including the leading Environment Agency Water and Environment Management (WEM) framework contractors.

 Also included on the free-to-attend exhibition floor is a dedicated exhibition theatre with a rolling programme of speakers, videos and content, as well as poster presentations related to the main conference sessions.

Waterbriefing is media partner with the Flood and Coast 2016 conference and exhibition in Telford from 23rd-25th February 2016. Click here for more information.