Flood risk management in Spatial Planning of Estonian Coastal regions

Adapting to climate change in spatial planning of coastal municipalities needs further development of the resilience approach as well as identifying how it can be practically used in local actions. It is necessary develop coastal management strategies including spatial planning that can be adapted to potential climate change impacts over time. The importance of including flood risk policies in the spatial planning cannot be overstated. While development strategies will be informed by national planning policy such as these guidelines and regional planning guidelines addressed above, they must take all practicable steps to ensure the prior identification of any areas at risk of flooding and flood zones in order to effectively shape the drafting process. The paper is focused on Spatial Planning of Estonian Coastal regions (coastal spatial planning) aimed to decrease risk by decreasing potential damage. Coastal flood risk is defined as a product of probability of event and its effect, measured in terms of damage. Flood risk management requires that consideration be given to coordination with different types of usage from the point of view of spatial planning. In certain situations, new types of usage are required in order to achieve an effective balance between existing interests and new possibilities. The study was guided by two research objectives: - To examine the potential and actual role and impact of the climate change of spatial plans to flood risk management in Estonia, contribution to flood risk management in practice of spatial planning. - To develop recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the contribution of spatial plans to flood risk management. These research questions are answered through studying national, regional and local spatial planning projects in which spatial measures for the reduction of flood risks were developed. These projects are discussed from a spatial planning perspective. The study analyzes in the first the perspectives of spatial planning. The objective is used to analyze the spatial planning by case studies and to increase understanding of practices and conflicts related to the development and implementation of spatial measures. In addition, the spatial planning perspective is used to provide suggestions on how things might be done differently.