What is the problem?
The objective in flood management is to maximize the efficiency of the use of flood-prone land and to maximize the economic productivity of this land, after the costs of flood damages and flood alleviation are taken into account. There are thus two interrelated issues: should development intensity on the flood-prone land be increased; and is it desirable to intervene to reduce flood losses? Counterintuitively, rising flood losses can consequently be a sign of increased economic efficiency (Green et al., 1993), as well as simply the consequence of economic growth.
The desirability of intensifying development on flood-prone land depends upon the costs, financial and environmental, of development elsewhere. Where these are high, then it can be efficient to encourage development on flood-prone land. In many countries, development can take place nowhere except on flood-prone land. In delta areas, such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh, there is essentially no other...
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Green, C. (1998). Flood hazard management. In: Encyclopedia of Hydrology and Lakes. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4497-6_87
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