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To date, understandings of flood vulnerability in African cities have been conceptually and practically limited. A dominant focus on the geophysical and biophysical causes of flood events restricts the analyses to the source of flood events and does not pay critical attention to the internal actors, dynamics and processes of informal urbanisation where the burden of flood impacts usually fall. This paper challenges these analyses by approaching the problem of flood vulnerability through an understanding of informal urbanisation. The study is based on experiences from selected informal communities in Accra, Ghana. Drawing on mixed qualitative methods including community focus group discussions, hazard victims’ interviews and institutional consultations/surveys, the study reveals that flood vulnerability in informal settlements has co-evolved with the dynamics of informal urbanisation and dwelling processes. The paper therefore makes a case for a re-look at the epistemology and ontology of urban flooding in rapidly and informally urbanising areas in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this paper, we summarize the Holocene environmental history of the lower Yangtze region, east China, based on the sedimentary records and microfossil diatom, pollen, fungal and charcoal data that were published in the past two decades. We then examine the linkage between changes in the coastal environment and the development of rice agriculture in the region, with reference to the available archaeological evidence and historical archives. Based on the sedimentary and archaeological evidence, we conclude that during the early Holocene sea-level movements and sedimentary processes significantly changed the region’s landscape from an open, brackish water environment to a largely enclosed, wetland system. This newly established freshwater marsh environment provided a habitat favourable to rice agriculture. The early Neolithic farmers took the opportunity presented to them and started rice cultivation in locations where freshwater wetland systems were established. During the middle Holocene, environmental conditions were largely stable, and the coastal wetlands evolved slowly. Environmental change was only a supportive player in the Neolithic cultural processes, because the Neolithic people were able to adapt to these changes and took advantages of the newly emerging marsh land for food collection and production. Around 4200 years ago, the prosperous Liangzhu society fell, but there is no evidence to suggest the fall was related to a significant environmental change. The coastal environment continued to evolve slowly during the late Holocene. But this period saw rapid technological development in irrigation and flood protection, and the environmental factor was reduced to background noise. Throughout the Holocene, the main strategy taken by the Neolithic people to cope with environmental change was migration to find better food sources. Along with this strategy was the development of technology in landscape management to ensure a more reliable food production in addition to food collection through hunting, gathering and fishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During a flood alert, the decision to evacuate a threatened collection of a library is an important one. If not thought out carefully, a hastily executed move can expose valuable collections to unforeseen threats. Although floods are usually slow to develop in Paris, the decision to make a preventive evacuation must be taken at the appropriate moment, considering the time needed for the relocation, the reality of the threat and the need for service continuity. In the context of its flood protection plan, the National Library of France has conceived a box model that contributes to saving time in case of a flood and prevents damage during an evacuation. Combining accessibility to documents with security requirements, this model can be implemented in different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is much policy interest in the possible linkages that might exist between land use and downstream fluvial flood risk. On the one hand, this position is sustained by observations from plot- and field-scale studies that suggest land management does affect runoff. On the other, upscaling these effects to show that land-management activities impact upon flood risk at larger catchment scales has proved to be elusive. This review considers the reasons for why this upscaling is problematic. We argue that, rather than it reflecting methodological challenges associated with the difficulties of modelling hydrological processes over very large areas and during extreme runoff events, it reflects the fact that any linkage between land management and flood risk cannot be generalized and taken out of its specific spatial (catchment) and temporal (flood event) context. We use Sayer’s (1992) notion of a ‘chaotic conception’ to describe the belief that there is a simple and general association between land management and downstream flood risk rather than the impacts of land management being spatially and temporally contingent in relation to the particular geographical location, time period and scale being considered. Our argument has important practical consequences because it implies that land-management activities to reduce downstream flood risk will be different to traditional flood-reduction interventions such as levees. The purpose of demonstration projects then needs careful consideration such that conclusions made for one project are not transferred uncritically to other scales of analysis or geographical locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's comments on Hurricane Katrina which focuses on the flood hazard mitigation efforts in New Orleans. He points out that different groups were attacking the same problem from various angles. Despite such benefits, a loose system of distributed responsibility created a great deal of confusion and miscommunication. It does not mean that people should not be held responsible especially when such abdication of responsibility is devastating.