Governing flood risk management: towards flood resilience

Abstract

Flooding is an urgent societal problem with recent flood disasters leading to loss of life, livelihoods and significant damages to homes, businesses and infrastructure. Flood events are predicted to increase in frequency and intensity in the future due to climate-induced changes and human decisions in developing cities and towns. Traditional approaches to managing floods are being reconsidered and incorporated within more holistic resilience approaches that necessitate the involvement of a broader range of stakeholders with diverse expertise, all of which is part of the shift from 'government' to 'governance' within flood risk management. This chapter focuses on unpacking the governance concept and applying it to flood risk management. It has relevance for flood risk areas internationally and draws from European examples with an emphasis on the United Kingdom. Approaches to dealing with the issue of flooding, stakeholder roles and interactions, and critical considerations in governing for flood resilience are all discussed. The chapter ends by reflecting on the growing need for future flood risk management governance to combine flood resilience together with sustainable transformations as a future-oriented approach to deal with flooding and other pressing issues facing societies.