Re-evaluating participatory catchment management: Integrating mapping, modelling, and participatory action to deliver more effective risk management

Recent policy changes, such as the EU Water Framework Directive, have transformed catchment management to consider connected socio-ecological systems at the catchment scale, and integrate concept of public participation. However, there is relatively little research exploring how effective these changes have been in altering existing practices of management. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach, this thesis investigates a range of perspectives to explore existing participatory practices in current catchment management, and understand how we can integrate alternative knowledges and perspectives. The research employs diverse social and physical science methods, including participant led interviews and participatory mapping, numerical flood modelling, and the creation of a participatory competency group. The research finds that, despite the participatory policy turn, established supracatchment scale drivers continue to dictate top-down practices of everyday catchment management, excluding local communities from decision-making power. In contrast, participation in managing extreme events is actively encouraged, with the development of community resilience a key objective for management agencies. However, the research findings suggest that a similar lack of meaningful participation in knowledge creation and decision-making restricts resilience building. Based on these findings, the research explores practical ways in which participation and resilience can be embedded in ICM, using the typically expert-led practice of numerical flood modelling to show how existing practices of knowledge creation can be enhanced. The thesis also demonstrates how new practices of knowledge creation, based on social learning, can be used to develop new, more effective ways of communicating flood risk and building local resilience. The thesis proposes a new framework for the management of connected socio-ecological catchment systems, embedding evolutionary resilience as a practical mechanism by which public participation and the management of everyday and extreme events could be unified to develop more effective and sustainable catchment management and more resilient communities

Building Resilience in Flood Disaster Management in Northern Peru

This report provides a detailed account of the Newton Fund Peru Researcher Links Workshop held between 20th and 23rd August 2018 in Piura, Peru, entitled ‘Building Resilience in Flood Disaster Management in Northern Peru’. The report provides some background to the workshop, the aim and objectives, problem definition, as well as an account of the workshop process and key workshop findings and recommendations. The workshop was run jointly by Birmingham City University (BCU) in partnership with Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP) and was hosted by the Universidad de Piura (UDEP). The workshop was a response to the severe flooding experienced in Piura during the El Niño event of March 2017 which caused a number of fatalities, damaged over 100,000 homes and destroyed much local infrastructure including around 100 bridges. El Niño is a recurrent event and there is concern that its frequency and intensity may change in the future as a consequence of climate change. The four-day workshop adopted a structured facilitation approach to encourage participants to work together towards a common goal. Forty researchers and practitioners from the UK and Perú were challenged with working across disciplines to identify key cross-cutting themes and make recommendations for building resilience to future flood events. The activities included the identification of key themes facilitated by some key expert presentations, a full day of site visits to communities in the Piura and Catacaos area, meeting people who had been affected by the flooding events of 2017; and culminating in the development of key findings and recommendations which were presented on the final day. Six key and integrated themes emerged from the workshop activities as: i) Governance; ii) Risk Information; iii) Healthy Communities; iv) Infrastructure; v) Urban and regional planning; and vi) the River System. For each of these themes, the report provides an overview of the problem as well as some detailed suggestions and recommendations for addressing the difficulties and challenges identified. The key messages across these dimensions are: Governance: The importance of establishing participative planning in Chira-Piura Basins was identified for building collaboration and enabling integration. This can be done in three steps: (1) problem analysis and prioritization involving stakeholder mapping; (2) defining new governance arrangements that improve integration and communication; and (3) detailed action planning which creates collaborative implementation and monitoring. Risk Information: There is a clear need for the adoption of a risk model for the lowland basin of the Río Piura. An ideal risk model is comprised of data on hazard, exposure and vulnerability, with both outputs and inputs designed specifically to meet the needs and requirements of different stakeholders in the basin

Exploring local perspectives on flood risk: A participatory GIS approach for bridging the gap between modelled and perceived flood risk zones

As cities continue to expand and climate change exacerbates flooding, development within flood risk zones becomes an increasingly pressing concern. Engineered solutions alone cannot fully address the risks to individuals and communities, especially when local officials and residents have conflicting understanding of the risk. Participatory GIS (PGIS) offers a unique opportunity to bridge this gap by engaging with communities to better understand their perceptions of flood risk. While PGIS has traditionally been used in developing nations as an alternative to numerical flood models, its potential for use in developed nations is largely unexplored. This paper presents a case study of survey-based PGIS conducted in Reading, a large town in Berkshire, UK. Findings suggest that local residents possess a surprisingly accurate understanding of flood risk zones, but discrepancies with modelled flood risk were also identified. These discrepancies may be due to issues with cartographic representation, but also raise concerns about the accuracy of numerical flood models. By examining local perceptions of flood risk, this study highlights the importance of considering community perspectives in flood risk management and offers valuable insights for practitioners seeking to bridge the gap between modelled and perceived flood risk zones