Floods have caused substantial economic damage in recent years in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The costs of the 2002 Elbe flood alone exceeded 10 billion Euro. Thirty experts from science and public administration gathered at the Federal Environment Agency in Berlin on 10 May 2005 to discuss the role of economic instruments for flood management and the economic assessment of flood management strategies. In his lecture, Benjamin Görlach presented some selected examples of flood management in Europe and discussed the use of economic appraisal tools in the different countries.

The lecture comprised some main results of the project Economic Evaluation of Flood Management Measures, which Ecologic carried out together with the French International Office for Water on behalf of the European Commission, DG Environment.