Flood losses are increasing worldwide because of expanding urbanization in flood-prone lands and flood peaks super-charged by climate change. Across the globe, countries struggle to manage flood risk, drawing upon insurance, structural measures, and land-use regulations. What can we learn from these international experiences to inform strategies in North America? A select group of 14 researchers, practitioners and policy-makers from the United States, Canada and the European Union met over 2 days and reviewed the state of the art in flood risk management approaches worldwide with emphasis on the interface between insurance, mapping and land use planning regulations. Funded by Berkeley’s Institute of European Studies Jean Monnet Center of Excellence (2022-2025) grant from the European Commission, this collaboration has enabled researchers and government officials to gain access to advanced approaches in a variety of jurisdictions, and to encourage the best research and policy to emerge. On November 13, 2023, the first day of this workshop, participants presented and gave each other feedback on research reports. They also visited Professor Kenichi Soga’s Center for Smart Infrastructure at the UCB Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in order to learn more about innovative technological approaches that are being developed to further prepare, prevent, and mitigate the harmful effects of flooding. On November 14, participants traveled to the California Department of Water Resources in Sacramento, CA for a program that allowed workshop participants to visit risk reduction projects (levees, flood diversions, levee setbacks, etc.) and better understand current challenges related to land use planning in the United States.
(L-R): Mike Mierzwa, California Department of Water Resources; Workshop Organizer, Anna Serra-Llobet; Robin Bourke, Public Safety Canada, Government of Canada; Jessica Strauss, Public Safety Canada, Government of Canada; Francisco Espejo, Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, Spain, member of the European Union Working Group on Floods; Antoinette Stein FEMA Region IX, Floodplain Management and Insurance Branch, Mitigation Division; Stephen Collier UC Berkeley, Department of City and Regional Planning; Clemens Neuhold, Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management, co-chair EU Working Group on Floods; Matt Kondolf UC Berkeley, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.