Tradition and innovations in managing flood risk in Poland

Abstract

The paper presents traditional and innovative solutions in managing flood risk in Poland. A short report on the problem of flood losses and presence of this risk in the world is the introduction to the above discussion.

It constitutes one of the main dangers of catastrophic nature (right after earthquakes) which affect the modern humanity. The risk of earthquakes is at a relatively stable level, but the risk of floods causes more and more victims and losses in the economies of the world.

The term “flood risk” appears in many legal acts and source materials available, both Polish and international, among which special attention has been paid to the EU Floods Directive. It introduces major changes in flood risk management, also for the Polish standards.

The traditional attitude to managing the analysed risks most often comes down to the way of thinking and acting in the face of flood hazard. Expecting flood levees to perform as expected when living in the natural flood areas of rivers and mountain streams may result in increased haz­ard and worsening of the situation. Tradition manifests here in the way flood works are executed and in risk management (lack of active protection measures for the endangered entities/ areas, hoping that “technology will make it”, shifting responsibility for execution of protection work on particular units managing water resources in the country). Innovative solutions are based on application of modern technologies and/ or materials, as well as other tools, such as the law (act which regulate the discussed emergencies, comprehensive flood protection programmes), early warning systems, education, insurance or ART financial instruments in the capital market. The paper analyses the most important of them.

The conclusion presents in brief the results of inspection of the Supreme Audit Office in the scope of flood protection in Poland and synthetically summaries the above discussion with attention paid to implementation problems for innovative solutions in the analysed scope.