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How best to manage flood risk has become a critical focus for policymakers, yet this remains a complex task, with many different requirements. As risk can never be eliminated, it is important to build resilience within communities, so that if a flood does occur, society can absorb and recover from the damage. More importantly, societies should adapt in order to be better prepared for floods in the future. 

However, building resilience is not the only goal of effective flood-risk governance and must be balanced with other demands, such as the need to demonstrate value for public money and efficient use of resources. Other requirements include the need for transparent and accountable decision-making, informed through inclusive and participatory approaches, whereby the views of all stakeholders, including civil society, are considered. 

This study, based on research performed in the EU project ‘STAR-FLOOD’, addresses these competing demands and proposes a framework for evaluating the extent to which flood-risk governance:

1. enhances societal resilience to flooding;
2. demonstrates resource efficiency;
3.  demonstrates legitimacy.

This is developed through several evaluation criteria and benchmarks of success, associated with the process, outcome and impact of flood-risk- governance systems. 

Alexander, M., Priest, S. & Mees, H. (2016). A framework for evaluating flood-risk governance. Environmental Science & Policy, 64: 38– 47. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2016.06. 004

More information

Read more in the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ Alert of the Science for Environment Policy: 
(pdf)