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Europe’s flooding shows why the green transition must be driven by people-power
By:   []
Date: None

Perhaps more shocking than the deadly floods that continue to ravage parts of Europe is that local residents were caught completely unawares, despite predictions from advanced weather-tracking systems days before.

The sad reality is that many of the deaths in Germany and Belgium were surely preventable. They were not the result solely of the floods, but also of the “monumental failure of the system” to respond to them. In Germany, the richest country in Europe, where were the alarm bells, the urgency, the action?

Stories of piecemeal and inadequate systems predominate – digital communication tools that broke down as phone signals cut out, delayed evacuations, local authorities surprised by the speed of the flood, siren systems neglected since the end of the Cold War. But what use are 150 notifications sent out by the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance if they do not result in coordinated, timely action on the ground? Or a warning app that no one downloads? A picture emerges of a disaster-response system operating without engagement and consultation with ordinary citizens.

As the confirmed death count rises, investigations into what went wrong, and what can be learned must follow. Comparisons will be made with last week’s deadly flooding in China's Henan province and the flash floods in London and south-east England, which caused tube stations and hospitals to close. What is clear is that the origins of these disasters lie long before the first signs of the flood were spotted by a satellite. Two wider issues lie behind this recent round of death and destruction, both of which go far beyond the flooded countries.

The first is our leaders’ failure to recognise that this is a crisis. While researchers have yet to analyse the factors that contributed to the catastrophe, climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. We have not halted the negative human impacts on the environment, which are driving a complex, dynamic process of environmental destabilisation – the age of environmental breakdown.

[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/europes-flooding-shows-why-the-green-transition-must-be-driven-by-people-power/
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