Thames Estuary 2100 Adaptation Pathway Project

A drone-eye view across Steart Marshes in Somerset with blue skies and sun shining off the water.


Background

1.42 million people and residential property worth £321 billion are at risk from rising sea levels across the Thames Estuary.

The tidal defences include the Thames Barrier, 8 other major barriers, over 330km of fixed walls and embankments and hundreds of other flood defences assets.

We now know that upgrading these tidal flood defences will take significantly longer and some defences need to be raised earlier than previously thought. We need to act now to manage future tidal flood risk and create a climate resilient Thames Estuary. We cannot do this alone. Organisations, landowners, and communities all have a part to play in ensuring we build resilient communities for future generations.


What is the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan?

Launched in 2012, the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan(External link) was the first adaptive flood risk management strategy of its kind. This ‘adaptation pathways’ approach is now being applied internationally. It has shaped the ambition of the National Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy and is being further developed through the projects in the £8m Adaptation Pathways Programme.

The Plan adopts an adaptation pathways approach to tackle uncertainty in how the climate will change in the future. It sets out how we can adapt to rising sea levels and collaborate on place-making plans, using the Riverside Strategy Approach. This will allow future flood defences to be designed according to local visions. It will deliver greater benefits for local communities, drive future defence upgrades to protect the estuary and create a resilient, thriving Thames Estuary.


How is the Adaptation Pathway Programme helping to deliver the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan?

We will be using a portion of APP funding (£2.5m) for a package of work that will support us and our partners to make a step-change in how we implement the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan and fill the gaps that we’ve already identified.  This APP-funded work is part of the overall TE2100 programme and will work alongside other programmes in the TE2100 portfolio.

Successful implementation of the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan requires several additional studies, strategies, and projects to be developed. The APP will enable us to improve our understanding of how climate change may affect our flood defences and investigate how we can improve our tidal forecasting and modelling. We encourage partners to collaborate with us on the approach to raising, to improve their awareness and understanding of the adaptation pathways approach in the Estuary and why we are using it in the TE2100 Plan.

The work will help us to identify gaps in data, ensuring everyone is using the best, most recent information available and identifying the most effective way to store and use it. We will also gather data on areas at greater risk of flooding and areas of social deprivation, and the potential for impacts of implementing the Plan being experienced differently in different areas. We can adjust our ways of working accordingly to ensure that delivery of the TE2100 Plan does not negatively impact these areas.


Where can I find out more information?

For more information on the Thames Estuary 2100 Adaptation Pathway please contact: ThamesEstuary2100@environment-agency.gov.uk(External link)

For more information on Thames Estuary 2100 please click here(External link).


Pathway to successful adaptation

(External link)

With partners, we developed the Adaptation Pathways Starter Pack(External link) to help colleagues and partners understand adaptation pathways.

The pack sets out the basic concepts, principles and key elements of the adaptation pathway approach, using the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan as a case study. It consists of 2 presentations and a series of factsheets to explain different elements of the approach. You can find the pack on SharePoint here(External link) or on the London Climate Change Partnership website(External link). Our YouTube video below explains how the approach works in the Thames Estuary:




Background

1.42 million people and residential property worth £321 billion are at risk from rising sea levels across the Thames Estuary.

The tidal defences include the Thames Barrier, 8 other major barriers, over 330km of fixed walls and embankments and hundreds of other flood defences assets.

We now know that upgrading these tidal flood defences will take significantly longer and some defences need to be raised earlier than previously thought. We need to act now to manage future tidal flood risk and create a climate resilient Thames Estuary. We cannot do this alone. Organisations, landowners, and communities all have a part to play in ensuring we build resilient communities for future generations.


What is the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan?

Launched in 2012, the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan(External link) was the first adaptive flood risk management strategy of its kind. This ‘adaptation pathways’ approach is now being applied internationally. It has shaped the ambition of the National Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy and is being further developed through the projects in the £8m Adaptation Pathways Programme.

The Plan adopts an adaptation pathways approach to tackle uncertainty in how the climate will change in the future. It sets out how we can adapt to rising sea levels and collaborate on place-making plans, using the Riverside Strategy Approach. This will allow future flood defences to be designed according to local visions. It will deliver greater benefits for local communities, drive future defence upgrades to protect the estuary and create a resilient, thriving Thames Estuary.


How is the Adaptation Pathway Programme helping to deliver the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan?

We will be using a portion of APP funding (£2.5m) for a package of work that will support us and our partners to make a step-change in how we implement the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan and fill the gaps that we’ve already identified.  This APP-funded work is part of the overall TE2100 programme and will work alongside other programmes in the TE2100 portfolio.

Successful implementation of the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan requires several additional studies, strategies, and projects to be developed. The APP will enable us to improve our understanding of how climate change may affect our flood defences and investigate how we can improve our tidal forecasting and modelling. We encourage partners to collaborate with us on the approach to raising, to improve their awareness and understanding of the adaptation pathways approach in the Estuary and why we are using it in the TE2100 Plan.

The work will help us to identify gaps in data, ensuring everyone is using the best, most recent information available and identifying the most effective way to store and use it. We will also gather data on areas at greater risk of flooding and areas of social deprivation, and the potential for impacts of implementing the Plan being experienced differently in different areas. We can adjust our ways of working accordingly to ensure that delivery of the TE2100 Plan does not negatively impact these areas.


Where can I find out more information?

For more information on the Thames Estuary 2100 Adaptation Pathway please contact: ThamesEstuary2100@environment-agency.gov.uk(External link)

For more information on Thames Estuary 2100 please click here(External link).


Pathway to successful adaptation

(External link)

With partners, we developed the Adaptation Pathways Starter Pack(External link) to help colleagues and partners understand adaptation pathways.

The pack sets out the basic concepts, principles and key elements of the adaptation pathway approach, using the Thames Estuary 2100 Plan as a case study. It consists of 2 presentations and a series of factsheets to explain different elements of the approach. You can find the pack on SharePoint here(External link) or on the London Climate Change Partnership website(External link). Our YouTube video below explains how the approach works in the Thames Estuary:



Page last updated: 22 Feb 2024, 01:41 PM