Summary and conclusions

Potential impacts of climate change/variability on regional (or local) precipitation patterns and, subsequently, the hydrology of individual river basins have received a growing attention. This research concentrates on the Meuse river, one of the largest river basins in northwestern Europe. The Meuse river is an almost entirely rain-fed river and has a discharge regime characterised by floods occurring during winter and low flows occurring during summer and autumn. Recent floods in the Meuse river have increased the public&s;s concern about the risk of flooding and have also stimulated discussions about the possible effects of climate variability/change and land use change in the river basin. This research contributes to a better understanding of the hydrological response of the Meuse river basin to climate variability (preferably used in the present thesis) and land use change.