(The Basis of Civilization – Water Science? – Proceedings of the UNESCO/IAHS/IWHA Symposium held in Rome, December 2003 – IAHS Publication 286, pp. 201–209).
Flooding has been a major concern for people populating the vicinity of rivers and water bodies since the dawn of civilization. Despite the fascinating developments achieved in many areas during the last decade, the hazard of flooding has not been eradicated. In fact, recent floods seem to have been more abundant and more destructive in many regions of the globe and the projections for the future look gloomy. This calls for a need to re-think the strategy for flood preparedness. Traditionally, the strategy was to protect as far as was technically possible and affordable. However, since complete protection is never possible and an acceptable level of protection may be very expensive, an alternative approach is to accommodate floods, i.e. to prepare to live with floods. However, should the strategy of accommodation not be acceptable, a retreat could be a solution. Increasing flood losses clearly indicate that “business-as-usual” is not satisfactory.
Adaptation, Climate change impacts, Extreme events, Floods, Flood protection, Global change
