Changes of Flood Control Situations and Adjustments of Flood Management Strategies in China

Cheng, Xiaotao

doi:10.1080/02508060508691842

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

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“…Looking into the future, the country's difficult flood problem is only going to become worse. By the middle of this century, China will be home to about 1.6 billion people and more than 70 percent of them will be living in cities on floodplains (Cheng 2008). If the current trends of socioeconomic development continue, China will become the largest economy in the world and close to 80 percent of its productivity will come from floodplains.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As has been concluded by many analysts and observers, the increasing trend of flood losses, particularly during the 1990s, has stimulated a profound reflection and rethinking of flood management strategies in China (Cheng 2006;). In 2003, the Ministry of Water Resources of China proposed to redirect flood prevention from flood control to flood management, which has led to a major institutional shift to enhancing understanding about interconnected systemic issues and risk awareness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To this day, there is little or no regional-scale floodplain planning (Shankman, Davis, and Leeuw 2009). Flood zoning and land-use planning measures in flood management remain at an embryonic stage (Cheng 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The essence of this shift is moving away from control-oriented flood defense to a riskbased, more holistic approach, with an emphasis on system perspective and sustainability. There is now a strong recognition, at least within the flood management community, that sustainable flood mitigation solutions have to be achieved through integrated actions (White 1994;APFM 2003;Cheng 2005;UNDP 2004;UNISDR 2004). This shift can be traced back to the work of geographer Gilbert F. White and others who demonstrated convincingly the inadequacy of relying on engineering solutions alone to address flood problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2003, the Ministry of Water Resources of China proposed to redirect flood prevention from flood control to flood management, which has led to a major institutional shift to enhancing understanding about interconnected systemic issues and risk awareness. Flood prevention work has thus shifted from attempts to eliminate floods to building capacity to live with and endure floods (GHD and IWHR 2006;Cheng 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dilemmas and pathways to dealing with flood problems in twenty-first century China

Han

Kasperson

2011

Int J Disaster Risk Sci

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With more than 60 percent of China's 1.34 billion population, about 50 percent of its most productive arable land, and the world's second largest and rapidly growing national GDP exposed to flooding of various kinds, China has an intractable flood problem. Envisioning potential impacts of climate change and continued intensification of floodplain development driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization, it is very likely that China will see a continued increase of exposure to floods this century. This overview article outlines and discusses fundamental dilemmas, plausible pathways, and key options for managing future flood risks in China in the context of rapid socioeconomic transition and climate change. Fundamental dilemmas are the embedded difficult trade-off choices, from balancing economic development with flood vulnerability reduction, to coordination and cooperation among increasingly diverse actors and across scales. Among plausible pathways, this article argues that a resilience strategy for managing flood risk is desirable. It would require human adjustment to flood, not by aiming for full protection and control but by adjusting our use of floodplains, integrating and experimenting with a wide range of flood risk management options, so that a dynamic balance is maintained between exposure and coping capacity and flood risk is contained at an acceptable level. Embracing variability and uncertainty lies at the heart of such a flood resilience centered paradigm. Reducing the flood toll cannot be had without trade-offs in economic development, food production, and agricultural productivity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%