STATEMENT OF THE 10TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FLOOD MANAGEMENT (ICFM10)
Adapting to Global Change: Innovative Approaches to Flood Management and Resilience
May 20-22, 2026, London, Ontario, Canada

The 10th International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM10) was held from May 20th to May 22nd at Western University, in London, Ontario Canada, with ~330 participants gathering from over 31 nations.

ICFM10 delegates participated in three days of knowledge sharing, plenary presentations, technical sessions, special sessions, and extensive exchanges on the theme of "Adapting to Global Change: Innovative Approaches to Flood Management and Resilience." Following these activities, the delegates of ICFM10 have agreed to the following declaration. The declaration reflects the delegates' commitment to flood risk reduction and their appeal to the public, professionals, managers, and decision makers to engage in the task of improving flood disaster resilience and sustainability under changing climate conditions, and reducing socio-economic impacts from flood events.

Acknowledging:

1. Flooding affects more people globally than any other disaster type, causing 35-40% of weather related disasters globally. From 2000-2026, nearly 4,300 flood related disasters occurred worldwide, affecting nearly 1.9 billion people, and resulting in over 142,000 deaths.
2. Despite considerable advances in flood risk management science and policy, the impacts of flood disasters continue to increase. Cumulative global economic flood losses from 1993-2023 were ~USD1.2 trillion, with global economic losses rising significantly faster than global GDP. Global economic losses grew from USD205 billion from 2013-2017 to USD286 billion from 2018-2022.
3. Multiple climate change factors will continue to drive the upward trend in flood impacts, including increasing frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events and sea level rise. Population growth, migration, land use change, and urbanization continue to increase, intensifying human exposure to flood impacts.
4. The impacts of flood events are felt heavily in lower-income countries, which have more than 14× the odds of experiencing high-mortality flood events when compared to high-income nations.

Declaring:

1. The delegates of ICFM10 find that the preventable mortality, injury, displacement, economic impacts, and destruction of property from flooding is unacceptable. Wide-scale implementation of risk-informed, resilience-based flood management strategies is urgent and must rapidly accelerate.
2. Reliable, updated, and accessible flood hazard mapping is a foundational requirement for effective flood risk governance. Accessible flood maps provide the basis for land use planning, insurance/risk sharing, and investment in infrastructure. Gaps in availability of flood hazard maps must be urgently addressed through sustained public investment.
3. Climate change continues to alter flood regimes, shifting the frequency, intensity, and seasonality of floods. Flood risk management cannot be understood through historical norms. Flood management must accommodate non-stationarity and deep uncertainty associated with future climate conditions.
4. Compound flood risk associated with the occurrence of multiple flood types (e.g., coastal, fluvial, pluvial, and groundwater) requires multi-hazard frameworks for risk assessment, modelling, and risk management.
5. Rapid land use changes and unplanned urbanization, combined with aging, unmaintained infrastructure and increased frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation, affect urban flood hazards worldwide. Integrated water management, application of nature-based solutions, and urban planning approaches must support flood risk reduction in urban areas.
6. Advanced flood modelling, artificial intelligence, and emerging data sources offer potential for improved flood risk assessment and early warning, but should be matched with open data policies, continued investment in observation networks, and support for underserviced regions. Expanded data availability necessitates methods to help decision-makers and practitioners effectively synthesize and act on complex information.
7. Effective flood governance requires collaboration across scientific disciplines, policymakers, and practitioners. Flood governance should engage those directly affected both by flood impacts and flood management decisions. Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems represent important, underutilized resources that must be better integrated into flood risk management. National, regional, and local governments should collaborate through supportive policy frameworks that enable basin-wide coordination and meaningful local agency.
8. Flood risk and exposure inequality associated with income, marginalized communities, gender, and disability directly affect flood risk and recovery capacity. Flood management strategies must directly recognize and address these inequities.
9. Inadequate financing for flood risk management remains a significant issue, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Public investment and risk transfer mechanisms must better reflect current and future flood risks, provide effective incentives for risk reduction, and protect vulnerable communities and under-resourced regions.

The delegates resolve to:

1. Accelerate the development, updating, and public accessibility of flood hazard maps, ensuring that maps reflect current and projected future flood risk under changing climate conditions.
2. Advance the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence and data-driven methods for flood risk management. Facilitate open-source frameworks, transparent quantification of uncertainty, and standards for evaluation, and ensure equitable access to these resources.
3. Strengthen compound flood risk assessment frameworks, integrating coastal, fluvial, pluvial, and groundwater flood hazards.
4. Ensure that land-use planning, construction codes and standards reflect future flood risk under changing climate, and promote nature-based and traditional solutions as integral components of flood risk reduction.
5. Ensure that risk transfer mechanisms reflect current and projected flood risk, and ensure that risk transfer mechanisms are available to vulnerable populations.
6. Strengthen cross-sectoral governance frameworks, integrate policy approaches amongst all levels of government, and facilitate transdisciplinary research partnerships. Improve scientific-policy partnerships in the co-development of flood management solutions, and provide for meaningful participation of affected communities in flood risk governance.
7. Recognize and integrate Indigenous and local knowledge into flood management, including hazard assessment, flood management solutions, and recovery planning.
8. Address social dimensions of flood risk by integrating equity, inclusiveness, and the rights of vulnerable and marginalized populations into flood risk management, with particular emphasis on the role of gender, disability, and socioeconomic status in the creation of flood risk. Work to address the disproportionate flood risk burden borne by low-income countries and regions.

Inviting:

1. In order to continue the benefits of sharing experiences and approaches, the Ad Hoc Committee is invited to convene ICFM11 in 2029, to further develop flood risk management research and practice at individual, community, business, local authority, national and regional levels.