Adaptation to the Impacts of Climate Extremes in Central Europe: A Case Study in a Rural Area in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Abstract:The primary objective of this paper is to analyse households' adaptation measures to the impacts of repeated extreme weather events, specifically floods, which belong amongst the most serious manifestation of ongoing climate change in Europe. The case study focuses on a rural area in the north-east part of the Czech Republic, in the catchment basin of the Bečva River. A total of 605 households were addressed within the framework of the questionnaire survey. On the basis of the conducted research, we determined that the total amount of adaptation measures adopted by those dwelling in residential homes within the investigated catchment area was relatively low. In contrast, however, one of the most important adaptation measures-house elevation-was applied by 46.94% of the houses (up to 1 m) and by 21.16% houses (elevated more than 1 m) respectively. We also found that the amount and scope of adaptation measures realized by households were influenced by certain socio-demographic factors of the inhabitants. The most statistically significant factors included households with more residents or families OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 12759 with more children living in the household, as well as those with a higher level of education. Flood experience, the level of damage, and individual flood risk perception also played an important role.

What determines flood risk perception? A review of factors of flood risk perception and relations between its basic elements

“…clear relation, ''±'' unclear relation, ''-'' no relation (information) on the level of preparedness are contradictory. On the one hand, the literature confirms the positive relationship between previous experiences of flooding and the level of the application of individual mitigating means (Grothmann and Reusswig 2006;Takao et al 2004;Biernacki et al 2009;Siegrist and Gutscher 2008;Lamond et al 2009;Slovic et al 2004;Terpstra 2011;Kreibich et al 2011;Stojanov et al 2015;Thistlethwaite et al 2018). On the other hand, the correlation and regression values indicated are often low or medium (Grothmann and Reusswig 2006;Siegrist and Gutscher 2006;Thieken et al 2007;Miceli et al 2008;Lindell and Hwang 2008).…”

“…Duží et al (2014) Various research methods, often related to the chosen research purpose, were used to asses flood risk perception in the selected works. They included: a telephone survey (Becker et al 2013;Grothmann and Reusswig 2006;Działek et al 2014), structured telephone interviews (Działek et al 2013b), in-depth interviews (Działek et al 2014), a questionnaire survey (Armas and Avram 2009;Kellens et al 2011;Raaijmakers et al 2008), ''door-to-door'' interviews/questionnaire (Duží et al 2014;Stojanov et al 2015), Table 1 continued…”

“…It also needs to be emphasised that diverse statistical methods to estimate the impact of particular factors on flood risk perception and to find relations between awareness, worry and preparedness were applied. In most cases those were: correlation analysis (Kellens et al 2011;Kreibich et al 2005;Lindell and Hwang 2008;Miceli et al 2008;Takao et al 2004;Thieken et al 2006Thieken et al , 2007Grothmann and Reusswig 2006;Knocke and Kolivras 2007;Miceli et al 2008), a Chi squared test (Werritty et al 2007;Bradford et al 2012), independent samples t-tests (Bradford et al 2012), one-way analysis of variance ANOVA (Armas and Avram 2009;Bradford et al 2012;Pagneux et al 2011), regression analysis (Kellens et al 2011;Duží et al 2014;Lindell and Hwang 2008;Siegrist and Gutscher 2006;Grothmann and Reusswig 2006;Miceli et al 2008;Stojanov et al 2015). They were also conducted at different times from the last flood, or from the last improvements in flood protection.…”

How demographic developments determine the management of hydrometeorological hazard risks in rural communities: The linkages between demographic and natural hazards research

“…Others argue that a lack of resources affects poor(er) people's preparedness and adaptive capacity. They are often not able to prepare their households adequately (e.g., structural maintenance and mitigation initiatives; Fatemi et al, ; see also Grothmann & Reusswig ; Koks et al, ; Lee, ; McLeman, ; Shijin & Dahe, ; Stojanov et al ; Thistlethwaite et al ), cannot afford insurance (Birkmann et al, ; Fekete, ; Fothergill & Peek, ; Koks et al, ; Shah et al, ; Steinführer & Kuhlicke, ), or abandon prescribed or necessary actions to mitigate the effects of hazardous events because they lack a sense of personal control over potential outcomes of those measures (Fothergill & Peek, ). Further publications argue that household's socioeconomic conditions determine evacuation decision‐making (Ahsan et al, ; Donner & Rodriguez, ).…”

Thermal Storage Systems Assessment for Energy Sustainability in Housing Units

“…The recent increase in energy and sustainability research also reflects the recent growth of knowledge generated around the globe, both academically and industrially speaking. For instance, the number of wind and solar technology patents has increased by 20% and 15%, respectively, on a global basis since 2000 [2][3][4].…”