As global change (climate, urbanization, migrations, land use) causes more frequent and severe floods, humanity faces a stark choice. We can protect ourselves from rising waters and battering storm surges by building defences (such as dikes, sea walls, floodways) or figure out how to live with the new flooding reality, such as by raising homes to stay high and dry above floodwater levels. However, there is a third option that’s increasingly getting attention: “managed retreat” away from the flood-prone areas. Managed retreat is “the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and assets out of harm’s way.” In a world where building dikes and walls for protection has always been the clear preference, the conversation about a managed retreat is just beginning.”

Simply retreating to higher ground in the face of nature’s rage is hardly new. As far back as the 1940s, Gilbert White, known as the “father of floodplain management,” included relocations (or abandonment of vulnerable areas) among his key “adjustments” for reducing risks from floods.

Increasing damages and high recovery costs bring a managed retreat to the forefront of decision-making. Although moving people is not a new concept, managing a retreat presents numerous complex legal, logistical, ethical, political, financial, and architectural challenges. Communities, and community cultures, aren’t easily transported and retained. But all indications are that researchers, policymakers, and the general public will need to confront these challenges with increasing frequency in the coming decades. 

The main objective of the webinar is to offer an exchange of experience related to managed retreat from different parts of the world. The discussion will bring ideas from North America, Europe, India and China.

Webinar Programme

Introduction

• Slobodan P. Simonovic
  Water Resources Specialist, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, Western University, Canada

Presentations

• Never Too Late - A Case for Retreat from Floodplains
  Nirupama Agrawal
  

  Professor, Disaster & Emergency Management Program, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada

• Dutch ‘Room for the River’ programme
  Jos van Alphen
  Staff member, Delta Programme Commissioner, The Hague, The Netherlands
  
  
• Managed retreat as an adaptation tool – opportunities and concerns
  Sharad K. Jain
  

  Former Director, National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), India; Visiting Faculty, IIT Roorkee, India

• New trend of floodplains management -Digital twin basin
  Zhang Xiaolei
  Senior Engineer, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, China
  

Q & A session

 

Presentations can be accessed here:

• Slobodan P. Simonovic
• Nirupama Agrawal
• Jos van Alphen
• Sharad K. Jain
• Zhang Xiaolei

 

Moderator: ZHANG Cheng, Chairperson of the Permanent ICFM Secretariat, IWHR

Host
International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM)
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR)

Organizer
Permanent Secretariat of ICFM

Technical support
Medcon Conference Service Platform (MEDCON)