Analysing and evaluating flood risk governance in the Netherlands: Drowning in safety

Contains fulltext : 159329.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) The Netherlands has a long tradition of flood risk management, due to its special physical location in the delta of four major river systems. This low-lying country is historically characterised by a ‘fight against water’. The Flood Risk Governance Arrangement of the Netherlands is characterised by a strong focus on reducing flood probability and governmental responsibility. A key characteristic is the statutory right to flood protection from the state. The arrangement of actors, rules, resources and discourses is focused on probability-reduction by administrative organisations. Nevertheless, in recent years a number of changes towards a broader number of Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs) can be observed and different modes of governance are starting to emerge. This report provides insights into the ways in which flood risk governance is changing in the Netherlands, as well as into the extent to which the system enables or constrains societal resilience to flooding. This report is a deliverable of the EU 7th Framework Project STAR-FLOOD (www.starflood.eu). STAR-FLOOD focuses on Flood Risk Governance. The project investigates strategies for dealing with flood risks in 18 vulnerable urban regions in six European countries: England in the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. The project assesses Flood Risk Governance Arrangements from a combined public administration and legal perspective, with the aim of making European regions more resilient to flood risks. This report is the country report on the Netherlands and forms the empirical core of the STAR-FLOOD research project, in which analyses, explanations and evaluations of The Netherlands, including three case studies, have been performed.