DROP

DROP is a two-year project funded by Fondazione Cariplo under the Safe Territories 2024 scheme, focusing on flood risk management through soft measures. By shifting the emphasis from hazard reduction to helping communities adapt and coexist resiliently with floods, DROP aims to equip decision-makers with innovative tools to prioritise effective, sustainable, and socially accepted flood-risk measures at both regional and local levels.

Eurac Research coordinates the development of a community-based approach to co-design local risk-mitigation solutions, contributes to testing the decision-support system for regional risk management, and co-designs non-structural flood-management measures with the participating communities to support local adaptation policies.

In terms of outputs, DROP will produce practical tools to help communities and decision-makers improve their resilience to floods. These include:

1. An improved vulnerability maps for the case study area;
   
2. A catalogue of non-structural measures and policies for flood resilience;
3. Co-designed community-based soft solutions for flood risk management, developed through participatory processes.
4. A policy brief to guide future non-structural flood-management actions;
5. A calibrated and user-friendly digital decision-support system to help regional authorities choose the most suitable flood risk mitigation measures at the regional level.
6. Establishment of a Community of Practice among municipalities, stakeholders, and residents to share knowledge and strengthen flood-resilience efforts.