Flood Management In The Low Lands:
From Probability To Risk
Author(s)
B. Broekhans & A. F. Correljé
Abstract
In deltas, populations always face flooding risks. Confronted with the high levels
of rivers in the nineties, policy makers and scientists became involved in critical
debates about the required level of security and possible solutions to achieve this.
Reacting to such challenges, the Dutch government is reformulating its steering
philosophy from ‘taking care of flood prevention’, to ‘making sure that the
Netherlands should be safe enough against flooding’. The new philosophy
involves a transformation of the traditional approach, based on controlling the
probability of flooding events, towards a risk based approach, taking into
consideration the values protected. The aim is to smoothen the policy process,
while downsizing the role of central government, enhancing the role of the
citizens and other public and private parties.
The Dutch Ministry of Transport and Water Management recently decided to
examine the institutional implications of this new approach for the political and
governmental power relations in water management and flood prevention. This
paper considers the potential impact on these arrangements of aspects like the
perception of vulnerability and risk, public awareness and involvement, culture,
in the context of reshuffled responsibilities and power relations.
Keywords: water management, flood protection, institutional framework, risk
approach, perceptions, public values, the Netherlands.
1 Introduction: from government to governance?
In deltas, populations always face flooding risks. For centuries, in the
Netherlands, risk management was primarily based on dike enhancement, taming
the rivers between ever higher dikes and keeping the sea out. Confronted with
Keywords
water management, flood protection, institutional framework, risk
approach, perceptions, public values, the Netherlands.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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