**5.6 Sustainable flood management**

*Natural Hazards - Impacts, Adjustments and Resilience*

**5.4 Flood disaster adaptation strategies**

structural to non-structural [35].

cannot be overemphasised.

and evaluation at regular intervals.

levels.

floods altogether. It also involves the management of people, through measures such as evacuation and dry/wet proofing properties for example. The mitigation of flooding can be done on an individual, community and at city authority or national

Flood disaster adaptation refers to actual adjustments made that are geared towards mitigating the severity of flood disasters. Flood disaster adaptation strategies vary from before flood adaptation, during flood adaptation, to post flood adaptation strategies. It also ranges from individual, community, to citywide adaptation strategies. Discussions on flood adaptation strategies pointed out that embankments, for instance, either concrete or sandy may be constructed to prevent water from entering residential houses [33]. Adaptation options that would be effective for flood disaster in developing nations include Environmental policy reforms, changes in urban and housing design, removal of laws that can inadvertently increase flood vulnerability [34]. Capacity building is also required to integrate climate change and its impact on urban development planning, engaging local communities, raising public awareness and education on climate change and enabling wider representation at stakeholder meetings. Planting of vegetative cover to reduce runoff speed, terracing hillsides to slow flow down hills as well as control of man-made channels to divert flood water among others, serve as adaptation strategies. Generally, adaptation strategies adopted in flood disasters range from

**5.5 Monitoring, evaluation and mainstreaming of flood disaster management**

among agencies and stakeholder groups is important for flood mitigation, in particular, the design and execution of programmes and policies to help address underlying causes of extreme vulnerability [36]. Monitoring of activities is necessary because there is often the need to link responsibilities and budgets for programmes over time. The performance of institutions and organisations responsible for disaster management should be monitored and evaluated on a regular bases. The relevance of monitoring and evaluation as a means of reducing flood disaster events

Being able to count on institutionalized capacities to mobilize and coordinate resources when and where they are needed is crucial in all phases of the disaster cycle, sometimes with very little room for delay or errors of judgment. Coordination

The capacity to monitor and evaluate flood prevention, mitigation, relief and recovery operations and institutional arrangements would create opportunities for learning and improve the accountability of authorities [36]. Monitoring is a key element in pre-flooding, flooding and post flooding stages of flood disaster management. Evaluation goes hand in hand with monitoring to assess the impact of flooding and the effects of key interventions engaged in mitigating the impact of flooding on people, infrastructure, and the environment in general. In a study on the environmental aspects of integrated flood management, [28], noted that adaptive management requires continuous monitoring of the state of the environment

The importance of monitoring has been recognized from various perspectives [28] Pre-plan monitoring of various natural processes provides the basic input for assessment of resource, risks and development options. Monitoring at a development planning level is based on actions taken in line with selected plan and factors of environmental impacts indicated in environmental assessment at the strategic

**30**

The concept of sustainable development is firmly rooted in all flood management. Sustainable flood management involves: ensuring quality of life by reducing flood damages but being prepared for floods, mitigating the impact of risk management measures on ecological systems at a variety of spatial and temporal scales, the wise use of resources in providing, maintaining and operating infrastructure and risk management measures, maintaining appropriate economic activity [38]. Sustainable flood management as a concept is not new, its methods have been practiced on many continents for years [39]. With increasing scrutiny of traditional engineering solutions, there is a growing realisation throughout the world that there is a huge and urgent need for pro-active and sustainable flood management solutions.

The notion of sustainability in the context of flood management is still rather ambiguous but generally embraces economic, environmental and social objectives. Sustainable flood management therefore refers to the provision of possible social and economic resilience against flooding, by protecting and working with the environment, in a way which is fair and affordable both now and in the future [40]. In practice a sustainable approach should integrate a range of flood management requirements using best practices and involving the economics of a scheme, good planning, understanding flood generation processes, protecting natural environments and working with communities [39]. Sustainable flood management is, therefore, an integrated set of procedures linked into a physical catchment.
