Developing partnership approaches for flood risk management: implementation of inter-local co-operations in Austria

This article relates how catchment-wide partnership agreements have been used in approaching flood risk management in Austria. Upstream–downstream co-operations are clearly influenced by a number of factors, where the combination of these interdependences can create specific conditions that alter the opportunity for effective governance arrangements in a local scheme approach. We present the motivations and drivers of the creation of inter-local co-operations in flood risk management, focusing especially on the main barriers and challenges. Although a partnership approach may be seen as an ‘optimal’ solution for flood risk management, in practice there are many limitations and barriers to establishing these collaborations.     

Cross-sector collaboration within Dutch flood risk governance: historical analysis of external triggers

ABSTRACT

This article synthesizes the literature on Dutch flood risk governance to analyze how external conditions shaped past and present dynamics of cross-sector collaboration for integrated flood risk management in the Netherlands. It traces the extent to which policy and legal frameworks, socio-economic circumstances, political realities, power relations and conflict situations have influenced attempts at collaboration between flood safety, spatial planning, environmental protection and other sectors. Despite the growing interdependences, existing power relations between the sectors are characterized by the dominance of the water sector. Hence, cross-sector collaboration can develop as long as it does not compromise flood safety.     

Democratic Legitimacy of New Forms of Water Management in the Netherlands

Due to changes in the Dutch flood management paradigm, governance practices have been shifting from technocratic and state-oriented towards more collaborative governance approaches in which many governmental actors, together with private and societal actors, search out integral solutions. This shift has had an impact on how water management is legitimized. This paper evaluates two water governance processes that reflect the new management paradigm in different ways, and analyzes how these changing paradigms influence the democratic legitimacy of water governance. It is concluded that the extent to which the new paradigm is implemented influences the way in which democratic legitimacy is organized. It is also shown that new forms of democratic legitimacy do not replace existing ones but rather contribute to hybrid and contextualized forms of legitimacy.     

长江流域片中小河流治理成效及存在问题

结合长江流域片中小河流现状、治理的必要性和近年来规划实施情况,总结了中小河流治理成效,从投资计划安排与资金配套、工程进度等方面梳理分析了当前中小河流治理存在的主要问题。为进一步加快推进中小河流系统治理,着力提高中小河流防洪减灾能力,补齐流域防洪减灾体系短板,提出了加快灾后重建、加大投资力度等下一步工作建议,可为中小河流进一步治理提供借鉴。     

The political ontology of collaborative water governance

This article examines the various definitions of, and analytical approaches to, collaborative water governance (CWG). While the concept’s usage has increased over the past decade, there lacks any deep engagement with the concept of the political at the heart of CWG. This article argues that contemporary approaches to CWG risk emptying the concept of its utility and coherence. Correcting this deficiency requires a focus on the social and ideational constructions of water. This will strengthen future collaborative water arrangements and enable deeper appreciation of the ways the political makes and remakes what is possible in water governance.     

加强水旱灾害管理的战略需求与治水方略的探讨

本文通过对现今防洪抗旱减灾形势的分析,总结了国外推进水旱灾害管理的主要特点与趋向,提出我国加强水旱灾害管理的战略需求,并从我国基本国情出发探讨了适应我国国情的治水方略.研究认为,我国的治水方略必须克服期望靠短期高投入一举消除水患的倾向,以及克服盲目照搬他国"最新理念"的倾向;在治水方略的制定与技术方案的选择上,必须因地制宜,既要遵循自然规律,也要顺应经济社会的发展规律.最后提出,治水方略的调整应综合考虑防洪抗旱与环境保育的需求;水旱灾害风险管理需把握适度,要重点关注减灾管理.     

金华江流域防洪评价与治理体系创新研究

由于受到降水规模的影响,降低了金华江流域的抵御灾害能力和灾后恢复能力,为此进行了金华江流域防洪评价与治理体系创新研究。本文通过完善防洪部门的相关职能和明晰各部门职能边界,提高防灾教育服务供给效率和完善社区内防灾教育,使金华江流域治理水平与治理教育能力得到提高。该研究为金华江流域防洪评价与治理体系提出了创新策略,提高了金华江流域的抵御灾害能力和灾后恢复能力。     

Recurrent Governance Challenges in the Implementation and Alignment of Flood Risk Management Strategies: a Review

In Europe increasing flood risks challenge societies to diversify their Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs). Such a diversification implies that actors not only focus on flood defence, but also and simultaneously on flood risk prevention, mitigation, preparation and recovery. There is much literature on the implementation of specific strategies and measures as well as on flood risk governance more generally. What is lacking, though, is a clear overview of the complex set of governance challenges which may result from a diversification and alignment of FRM strategies. This paper aims to address this knowledge gap. It elaborates on potential processes and mechanisms for coordinating the activities and capacities of actors that are involved on different levels and in different sectors of flood risk governance, both concerning the implementation of individual strategies and the coordination of the overall set of strategies. It identifies eight overall coordination mechanisms that have proven to be useful in this respect.     

Predicting Flood Hazard Indices in Torrential or Flashy River Basins and Catchments

Flood hazard maps are one of the main components of any flood risk management strategy. It is predicted that the degree of flood risk is going to significantly increase in the future due to climatic and environmental changes, and hence it is increasingly important that state-of-the-art methods are implemented for assessing human stability in floodwaters. Therefore, this paper focuses on proposing more accurate and detailed guidelines for predicting flood hazard indices in small and steep river basins or catchments, prone to the occurrence of flash flooding. The results obtained in this study indicate that for river basins with an average bed gradient greater than 1% (i.e. torrential or flashy river basins or catchments), then the flood hazard indices should be predicted using criteria which are based on the physical interpretation of the processes that affect the human stability in floodwaters, i.e. mechanics based and experimentally calibrated flood hazard assessment methods.     

Polycentrism and pitfalls: the formation of water users forums in the Kikuletwa catchment,Tanzania

Catchment forums have to address the reality that river catchments typically cover several administrative districts and have overlapping arrangements of state-led and locally created institutions. Institutional nesting has been proposed to integrate local arrangements. However, the creation of a polycentric or nested governance system raises questions of coordination. This paper describes and analyzes the process of creating a catchment forum in the Kikuletwa catchment in Tanzania. Resolving the problem of administrative boundaries and institutional fit while integrating customary arrangements with the state-led governance structure requires careful analysis of local structures.