Sustainable Flood Risk Management: Lesson from Recent Cases

Abstract

Mitigation of flood damage has accompanied the development of human cultures. Flood remains one of the biggest natural hazards threatening the prosperity of modern society. Flood related fatalities and damages continue to increase over the world. Flood research and flood protection policy is currently dominated by a technical world view. The recent decades however foresee the importance of social and socio-economic aspects due to expansive and intensified land use and the rising damage potentials in floodplain areas (Schanze 2002, Messner and Meyer 2005). The lesson from hurricane Katrina presses embracing a sustainable flood risk management strategy, which requires integration of both structural and non-structural measures. An optimal flood risk management can be achieved only by concerted implementing both non-structural and structural measures. Such strategies will contribute to a sustainable flood risk management practice. The core of flood risk management lies in the proper planning and policy design to form an appropriate feedback loops in the engineering and social-economic system. This paper gives an overview about the existing and emerging practice over the world to implement sustainable flood risk management.