Water and disasters: a review and analysis of policy aspects

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in the human and economic impacts of water disasters. During 2000–2010, they accounted for almost 90% of all natural disasters, 96% of the people affected (2.4 billion) and 76% of the economic damages (approximately USD1 trillion) caused by natural disasters globally. It is ironic that despite the centrality of water disasters, relatively little attention has been paid to them in the discourse on water resources. Against this backdrop, five broad groups of water policies – risk management, vulnerability assessment, capacity building and resilience, disaster risk reduction-development linkage and institutional design – were examined to determine their adequacy and effectiveness in successfully dealing with water disasters. It was found that most policies have serious shortcomings that need to be addressed. Drawing on this study, a number of specific policy recommendations are offered to correct these deficiencies. The study has further found that there is an urgent need to generate research-grounded data to support informed policy making on water disasters. With this in view, five priority research areas have been identified.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support received from the Institute for Water Policy of the National University of Singapore in conducting this study. Special thanks to Asit K. Biswas for his insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper and to Cecilia Tortajada for her understanding and support throughout the long revision process.