Integrated Coastal Flood Risk Management as a Means to Build Resilient Communities

Abstract

There is a clear trend in the increase of damages and loss of lives and livelihoods in coastal areas as a result of rapid increase in coastal populations, and overall socio-economic development in coastal regions resulting in an increase in vulnerability of populations exposed to coastal floods and exposed infrastructure. Coastal flooding as a result of i.e. storm surges are difficult to predict and cannot be prevented, however there are means to apply integrated flood risk management approaches aiming to reduce the impact of coastal floods. A measure of the effectiveness of such approaches is the awareness and response of coastal communities to coastal flood risks. The paper introduces best practices and methods to lower coastal flood risk at the level of provinces, districts and the community level. This includes advances in coastal flood forecasting and early warning practices, improvement of institutional preparedness and integrated flood management practices as well as measures at the community level aiming to strengthen their resilience to coastal floods. The paper provides a showcase for the historical development and achievements to pave ways for the eventual implementation of a pilot project on integrated flood risk management in coastal areas in central Viet Nam.