Suchergebnisse

This report, together with the report "Researching Flood Risk Governance in Europe: a framework and methodology for assessing Flood Risk Governance" forms the main deliverable for the Second Work Package of the EU 7th Framework Project STAR-FLOOD. Whereas the framework and methodology report mainly serves to provide guidance for researchers, the current report provides further theoretical background thereby grounding the framework in the literature. It also provides space for some further elaboration on issues that could only be touched upon in the guidance report. Both reports are expected to be equally important, but probably in different stages of the empirical research. The report is structured according to the three main analytical steps that have been distinguished within STAR-FLOOD, being those of analysing, explaining and evaluating Flood Risk Governance in Europe. To each of these analytical steps one chapter is devoted. Chapter 2 presents an extract of two texts on the Policy Arrangements Approach, the theoretical backbone of STAR-FLOOD's analytical framework. The first text is an extract of a book chapter by Duncan Liefferink entitled 'The dynamics of policy arrangements: turning round the tetrahedron'. The second text is an extract from: Wiering M, Arts, B 2006, Discursive shifts in Dutch river management: 'deep' institutional change or adaptation strategy? In: Hydrobiologia, vol. 565, pp. 327- 338. Both texts together provide an overview of the four dimensions of the Policy Arrangements Approach – Actors, Discourses, Rules, Resources, examples of how they can be operationalised, also with regard to water management issues, and some reflection on how the four dimensions can be brought together into a characterisation of Policy Arrangements as a whole. Chapter 3 provides an overview of background theories related to STAR-FLOOD's explanatory framework. The chapter first discusses the main features of some prominent explanatory theories from the policy sciences literature, including the Multiple Streams ...

Towards an operative analysis of public policies: An approach focused on actors, resources and institutions. This article develops an analytical model which is centred on the individual and collective behaviour of actors involved during different stages of public policy. We postulate that the content and institutional characteristics of public action (dependent variable) are the result of interactions between political-administrative authorities, on the one hand, and, on the other, social groups which cause or suffer the negative effects of a collective problem which public action attempts to resolve (independent variables). The 'game' of the actors depends not only on their particular interests, but also on their resources (money, time, consensus, organization, rights, infrastructure, information, personnel, strength, political support) which they are able to exploit to defend their positions, as well as on the institutional rules which frame these policy games.

In many countries, flood defense has historically formed the core of flood risk management but this strategy is now evolving with the changing approach to risk management. This paper focuses on the neglected analysis of institutional changes within the flood defense strategies formulated and implemented in six European countries (Belgium, England, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden). The evolutions within the defense strategy over the last 30 years have been analyzed with the help of three mainstream institutional theories: a policy dynamics-oriented framework, a structure-oriented institutional theory on path dependency, and a policy actors-oriented analysis called the advocacy coalitions framework. We characterize the stability and evolution of the trends that affect the defense strategy in the six countries through four dimensions of a policy arrangement approach: actors, rules, resources, and discourses. We ask whether the strategy itself is changing radically, i.e., toward a discontinuous situation, and whether the processes of change are more incremental or radical. Our findings indicate that in the European countries studied, the position of defense strategy is continuous, as the classical role of flood defense remains dominant. With changing approaches to risk, integrated risk management, climate change, urban growth, participation in governance, and socioeconomic challenges, the flood defense strategy is increasingly under pressure to change. However, these changes can be defined as part of an adaptation of the defense strategy rather than as a real change in the nature of flood risk management.

Flood mitigation is a strategy that is growing in importance across Europe. This growth corresponds with an increasing emphasis on the need to learn to live with floods and make space for water. Flood mitigation measures aim at reducing the likelihood and magnitude of flooding and complement flood defenses. They are being put in place through the implementation of actions that accommodate (rather than resist) water, such as natural flood management or adapted housing. The strategy has gained momentum over the past 20 years in an effort to improve the sustainability of flood risk management (FRM) and facilitate the diversification of FRM in the pursuit of societal resilience to flooding. Simultaneously, it is increasingly argued that adaptive forms of governance are best placed to address the uncertainty and complexity associated with social-ecological systems responding to environmental challenges, such as flooding. However, there have been few attempts to examine the extent to which current flood risk governance, and flood mitigation specifically, reflect these aspired forms of adaptive governance. Drawing from EU research into flood risk governance, conducted within the STAR-FLOOD project, we examine the governance of flood mitigation in six European countries: Belgium, England, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden. Using in-depth policy and legal analysis, as well as interviews with key actors, the governance and implementation of flood mitigation in these countries is evaluated from the normative viewpoint of whether, and to what extent, it can be characterized as adaptive governance. We identify five criteria of adaptive governance based on a comprehensive literature review and apply these to each country to determine the "distance" between current governance arrangements and adaptive governance. In conclusion, the flood mitigation strategy provides various opportunities for actors to further pursue forms of adaptive governance. The extent to which the mitigation strategy is capable of doing so varies across countries, however, and its role in stimulating adaptive governance was found to be strongest in Belgium and England.

International audience ; Conduire une politique efficace en matière d'adaptation aux évolutions climatiques est un enjeu pour les collectivités et tous les acteurs des territoires, notamment dans le domaine de la gestion de la ressource en eau. À partir des premiers résultats d'une analyse de la gouvernance de la sécheresse dans le bassin versant de la Vilaine aval en Bretagne, cet article nous montre comment les éléments de la gouvernance de l'eau peuvent jouer un rôle dans la mise en place de mesures adaptées à la sécheresse face aux impacts liés au changement climatique.

International audience ; Conduire une politique efficace en matière d'adaptation aux évolutions climatiques est un enjeu pour les collectivités et tous les acteurs des territoires, notamment dans le domaine de la gestion de la ressource en eau. À partir des premiers résultats d'une analyse de la gouvernance de la sécheresse dans le bassin versant de la Vilaine aval en Bretagne, cet article nous montre comment les éléments de la gouvernance de l'eau peuvent jouer un rôle dans la mise en place de mesures adaptées à la sécheresse face aux impacts liés au changement climatique.

International audience ; Conduire une politique efficace en matière d'adaptation aux évolutions climatiques est un enjeu pour les collectivités et tous les acteurs des territoires, notamment dans le domaine de la gestion de la ressource en eau. À partir des premiers résultats d'une analyse de la gouvernance de la sécheresse dans le bassin versant de la Vilaine aval en Bretagne, cet article nous montre comment les éléments de la gouvernance de l'eau peuvent jouer un rôle dans la mise en place de mesures adaptées à la sécheresse face aux impacts liés au changement climatique.

This guide presents the work of the team of scientists that have been working in the project "Benefit of Governance in Drought Adaptation" (in short: the DROP project), which has received funding from the Interreg IVB programme of the European Union. As a result of climate change, it is expected that extreme events influencing water management (flooding or drought) will increase. Early adaptation to this trend of increasing climatic extremes is therefore required. Governance plays a crucial role in the adaptation process particularly in restricting or facilitating the implementation of adaptation measures. In-depth knowledge about the governance setting of a given region and how to influence governance processes is therefore essential in realizing effective adaptation.

This guide presents the work of the team of scientists that have been working in the project "Benefit of Governance in Drought Adaptation" (in short: the DROP project), which has received funding from the Interreg IVB programme of the European Union. As a result of climate change, it is expected that extreme events influencing water management (flooding or drought) will increase. Early adaptation to this trend of increasing climatic extremes is therefore required. Governance plays a crucial role in the adaptation process particularly in restricting or facilitating the implementation of adaptation measures. In-depth knowledge about the governance setting of a given region and how to influence governance processes is therefore essential in realizing effective adaptation.

European countries face increasing flood risks because of urbanization, increase of exposure and damage potential, and the effects of climate change. In literature and in practice, it is argued that a diversification of strategies for flood risk management (FRM), including flood risk prevention (through proactive spatial planning), flood defense, flood risk mitigation, flood preparation, and flood recovery, makes countries more flood resilient. Although this thesis is plausible, it should still be empirically scrutinized. We aim to do this. Drawing on existing literature we operationalize the notion of "flood resilience" into three capacities: capacity to resist; capacity to absorb and recover; and capacity to transform and adapt. Based on findings from the EU FP7 project STAR-FLOOD, we explore the degree of diversification of FRM strategies and related flood risk governance arrangements at the national level in Belgium, England, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden, as well as these countries' achievement in terms of the three capacities. We found that the Netherlands and to a lesser extent Belgium have a strong capacity to resist, France a strong capacity to absorb and recover, and especially England a high capacity to transform and adapt. Having a diverse portfolio of FRM strategies in place may be conducive to high achievements related to the capacities to absorb/recover and to transform and adapt. Hence, we conclude that diversification of FRM strategies contributes to resilience. However, the diversification thesis should be nuanced in the sense that there are different ways to be resilient. First, the three capacities imply different rationales and normative starting points for flood risk governance, the choice between which is inherently political. Second, we found trade-offs between the three capacities, e.g., being resistant seems to lower the possibility to be absorbent. Third, to explain countries' achievements in terms of resilience, the strategies' feasibility in specific physical circumstances and their fit in existing institutional contexts (appropriateness), as well as the establishment of links between strategies, through bridging mechanisms, have also been shown to be crucial factors. We provide much needed reflection on the implications of this diagnosis for governments, private parties, and citizens who want to increase flood resilience.