Governance Strategies for Improving Flood Resilience in the Face of Climate Change
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results: Key Governance Strategies for Enhancing Flood Resilience
3.1. Diversification of Flood Risk Management Approaches, Taking into Account the Physical and Institutional Context
3.2. Alignment of Flood Risk Management Approaches to Overcome Fragmentation
- Recovery schemes to compensate victims of a flood event, e.g., through private insurance schemes (possibly in cooperation with the nation state) or the activation of a public fund, can enhance the success of the risk prevention and mitigation strategies and vice versa [26]. Compensation and insurance schemes may incentivize or dis-incentivize citizens and public authorities to undertake flood risk reduction and promote the implementation of property-level measures through risk differentiation, structured premium increases or premium benefits, or resilient reinstatement. For instance, the French system is lauded for its comprehensive recovery scheme through the CAT-NAT (‘Natural Disaster’ (CATastrophe NATurelle in French) fund, however it was found that this scheme forms a dis-incentive for taking preventative measures [17,27], hampering ongoing efforts to strengthen flood prevention approaches by limiting urban development in flood prone areas. On the other hand, in England, experience has been gained with risk-based insurance premiums, which in some cases have been complemented with premium reductions in case property owners take mitigating measures. In this situation, recovery schemes serve as an incentive for strengthening flood risk prevention and mitigation [14]. Hence, policy instruments that are used in one strategy in a specific country cannot be applied in another jurisdiction without looking at the overall picture of the several strategies and the policy instruments that are related to them [28].
- By analogy, effective flood emergency management requires tailor-made spatial planning policies and probabilistic decision-making processes to improve the effectiveness of evacuation [26]. For instance, the effective evacuation of citizens out of flood-prone areas puts requirements on spatial preconditions such as the presence of elevated evacuation routes and the realization of shelters. In some cases, existing spatial configurations make horizontal evacuation impossible and necessitate the realization of plans for vertical evaluation. This is the case for several low-lying areas in The Netherlands [29].
3.3. Increased Involvement of Private Actors, Including Businesses, NGOs, and Citizens in Addition to Strong Public Involvement
3.4. Adequate Formal Rules that Balance Legal Certainty and Flexibility
3.5. The Assurance of Sufficient Resources
3.6. Appropriate Normative Principles for Dealing with Distributional Effects
4. Discussion and Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Mode | Characteristics |
---|---|
1. Flood risk prevention | |
Prevention measures aim to decrease the exposure of people/property etc. via methods that prohibit or discourage development in areas that are at risk of flooding (e.g., spatial planning, re-allotment policy, expropriation policy etc.). The main focus of this approach is on “keeping people away from water” by only building outside flood-prone areas. This is a pro-active strategy that focuses both on probability reduction (if people do not live in flood-prone areas, then it is unlikely that they will get flooded) and the consequences of flooding (an area may still be flooded, however in the absence of large-scale urban developments, the consequences are relatively small). | |
2. Flood defense | |
Flood defense measures aim to decrease the probability of flooding areas through infrastructural works, such as dikes, dams, embankments and weirs, mostly referred to as “flood defense” or “structural measures” through options that increase the capacity of existing channels for water conveyance (natural or man-made) to increase the space for water (laterally or vertically) or the creation of new spaces for water retention outside of the area to be defended. In brief, the focus is on “keeping water away from people”. | |
3. Flood risk mitigation | |
Flood risk mitigation focuses on decreasing the consequences of floods through measures inside the vulnerable area. Consequences can be moderated by a smart design of the flood-prone area. Measures include smart spatial ordering inside urban areas, water retention within the protected area, or (regulations for) flood-proof building. Flood risk mitigation thus includes all measures to flood-proof the built environment as well as measures to retain or store water. | |
4. Flood preparation | |
Consequences of floods can also be alleviated by preparing for a flood event. Measures include developing flood forecasting and warning systems, as well as preparing disaster management and evacuation plans. | |
5. Flood recovery | |
This approach facilitates an effective recovery after a flood event. Measures include reconstruction or rebuilding plans (that may also provide a window of opportunity for making the new buildings more flood-proof or relocate these to safer areas) as well as compensation or insurance systems. |
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Driessen, P.P.J.; Hegger, D.L.T.; Kundzewicz, Z.W.; Van Rijswick, H.F.M.W.; Crabbé, A.; Larrue, C.; Matczak, P.; Pettersson, M.; Priest, S.; Suykens, C.; et al. Governance Strategies for Improving Flood Resilience in the Face of Climate Change. Water 2018, 10, 1595. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10111595
Driessen PPJ, Hegger DLT, Kundzewicz ZW, Van Rijswick HFMW, Crabbé A, Larrue C, Matczak P, Pettersson M, Priest S, Suykens C, et al. Governance Strategies for Improving Flood Resilience in the Face of Climate Change. Water. 2018; 10(11):1595. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10111595
Chicago/Turabian StyleDriessen, Peter P. J., Dries L. T. Hegger, Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz, Helena F. M. W. Van Rijswick, Ann Crabbé, Corinne Larrue, Piotr Matczak, Maria Pettersson, Sally Priest, Cathy Suykens, and et al. 2018. "Governance Strategies for Improving Flood Resilience in the Face of Climate Change" Water 10, no. 11: 1595. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10111595