Recent years have seen a massive increase in climate-related hazards: flooding, drought, landslides and other land instability such as sinkholes, erosion, and subsidence. We used to call these natural hazards, but the term is out of date because they are not entirely ‘natural’ anymore but enhanced by climate change.
Despite their cross-border, even broad regional impact across Europe, geohazard risk mitigation is still largely a national issue. But even at national level, regulations to mitigate geohazard risk are fragmentary or absent. However, awareness of the need for European-scale risk mitigation measures is growing.