Plugging the holes: Identifying potential avenues and limitations for furthering Dutch civil society contributions towards flood resilience

Koers, Gerben J.; Forrest, Steven A.; van Popering-Verkerk, Jitske

Abstract

Abstract Climatic changes can cause unpredictability in flood regimes that traditional flood risk management (FRM) approaches may struggle with. Therefore, flood resilience is seen as a supplementation to these approaches, putting a larger emphasis on flood acceptance and minimising consequences. An (emergent) group contributing towards flood resilience is civil society. This paper examines how civil society contributions can be furthered and guided in the Netherlands as well as exploring potential limitations in doing so. To achieve this, England is used as a good practice example due to a more developed and defined role for civil society being present here. Data were collected on both actual (England and the Netherlands) and potential (The Netherlands) civil society contributions. These were compared to identify potential avenues for Dutch civil society contributions to flood resilience that can be further investigated. The research shows that the most promising avenues are improving advocacy from citizens, improving local flood awareness and developing relationships between FRM authorities and existing citizen groups that can be harnessed and mobilised to support flood resilience. Additionally, the research also provides insights into potential limitations for transferring resilience approaches from one context to another beyond the cases discussed in this publication.

Citation

Koers, G. J., Forrest, S. A., & van Popering-Verkerk, J. (2023). Plugging the holes: Identifying potential avenues and limitations for furthering Dutch civil society contributions towards flood resilience. Journal of flood risk management, Article e12949. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12949

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 19, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 9, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 10, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 11, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Flood Risk Management
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Article Number: e12949
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12949
• Keywords: Civil society; Community resilience; Comparative research; England; Flood risk management; Fluvial flooding; Resilience; The Netherlands
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4415524
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfr3.12949