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Assessing Stability and Dynamics in Flood Risk Governance

An Empirically Illustrated Research Approach

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Abstract

European urban agglomerations face increasing flood risks due to urbanization and the effects of climate change. These risks are addressed at European, national and regional policy levels. A diversification and alignment of Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs) can make vulnerable urban agglomerations more resilient to flooding, but this may require new Flood Risk Governance Arrangements (FRGAs) or changes in existing ones. While much technical knowledge on Flood Risk Management is available, scientific insights into the actual and/or necessary FRGAs so far are rather limited and fragmented. This article addresses this knowledge gap by presenting a research approach for assessing FRGAs. This approach allows for the integration of insights from policy scientists and legal scholars into one coherent framework that can be used to identify Flood Risk Management Strategies and analyse Flood Risk Governance Arrangements. In addition, approaches for explaining and evaluating (shifts in) FRGAs are introduced. The research approach is illustrated by referring to the rise of the Dutch risk-based approach called ‘multi-layered safety’ and more specifically its application in the city of Dordrecht. The article is concluded with an overview of potential next steps, including comparative analyses of FRGAs in different regions. Insights in these FRGAS are crucial to enable the identification of action perspectives for flood risk governance for actors at the level of the EU, its member states, regional authorities, and public-private partnerships.

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Notes

  1. Between 2000 and 2005, Europe suffered more than 100 floods, including nine major flood disasters. Besides economic losses of more than € 35 billion, these floods also caused 155 casualties. Events causing a high number of fatalities were the floods in Romania in 2005 (85 fatalities) and the 1998 disaster in Slovakia (54 fatalities). Large economic losses were caused by floods in the Elbe basin in 2002 (over EUR 20 billion), in Italy, France and the Swiss Alps in 2000 (around EUR 12 billion), and a series of those in the United Kingdom during the summer of 2007 (accumulated losses exceed EUR 4 billion) (Barredo 2007). Also the 2013 floods in central Europe (14 casualties and significant economic damage) and recent flood experiences in the UK demonstrate the actual threat of floods in Europe.

  2. In The Netherlands, primary flood defences have a legally prescribed safety norm expressed in terms of the probability of overtopping, that is the chance that the flood level becomes higher than a certain specified height. The maximum allowed probability of overtopping is currently specified per dike protected area. Throughout The Netherlands, this probability ranges from 1/250 to 1/10,000 and is intended to be lowest in places where the potential consequences of floods are highest (e.g. 1/10,000 in Zuid-Holland).

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Acknowledgments

This paper has been written in the framework of the European Union’s Seventh Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration within the STAR-FLOOD project. This research has received funding from the European Commission under grant agreement no. 308364. We would also like to thank the participants of the STAR-FLOOD consortium workshop in Amsterdam on 12 February 2013 which contributed to a refinement of the approach presented in this paper, Ellen Kelder and Berry Gersonius for their detailed insights on flood risk governance in Dordrecht, Ton Markus for producing the figure illustrating Dordrecht’s vulnerability to flooding as well as Tina New stead for her language corrections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Governance, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, PO Box 80115, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Dries L. T. Hegger, Peter P. J. Driessen & Carel Dieperink

  2. Department Geography, Planning and Environment, Group Political Sciences of the Environment, Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Management Research (IMR), PO Box 9108, 6525 GD, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Mark Wiering

  3. Grontmij Nederland BV, Division Transportation & Mobility, Department of Hydraulic Construction, Team Coastal and Rivers, De Holle Bilt 22, 3732 HM, De Bilt, The Netherlands

    G. T. Tom Raadgever

  4. Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law, Utrecht School of Law, Achter Sint Pieter 200, 3512 HT, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Helena F. M. W. van Rijswick

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  1. Dries L. T. Hegger
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  2. Peter P. J. Driessen
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Correspondence to Dries L. T. Hegger.

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Hegger, D.L.T., Driessen, P.P.J., Dieperink, C. et al. Assessing Stability and Dynamics in Flood Risk Governance. Water Resour Manage 28, 4127–4142 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0732-x

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