ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: More than 13,000 hectares of land in the Rhone Plain upstream from Lake Geneva are currently susceptible to flooding, including a high-density development zone covering an area of around 1,000 hectares. There are plans to invest more than 1 billion euros until 2030 in order to protect the Rhone Plain against hundred-year floods, and the agglomeration against thousand-year floods. The construction work will take several decades, and during this period a suitable response is to be made to the legitimate urgent calls for flood protection measures so that the development of the region can proceed without increasing the degree of risk. In order to secure the necessary level of acceptance for this major project, rapidly implementable structural measures, adapted land use planning and transparent communication about the degree of risk, will be essential.
