WG2 Socio-political contexts

Increasing the flood risk management capacities of river catchments demands a better understanding of the socio-political contexts that determine the opportunities and limitations to provide land for flooding. Despite the strong public interest to increase the capacities of land for managing flooding i.e. in order to better protect settlements and economic assets, surprisingly little is known about how institutional and legal structures influence the potential to use private land for flood risk management. In particular scientific knowledge is fragmented concerning the landownership of land at risk from flooding, the organization of property and land use rights in catchments as well as the regulation of retention services in different legal contexts. This WG addresses these knowledge gaps by exploring the institutional and legal structures, which constitute the flood-related rights of property and land use in the participating countries of the COST-Action.

WG2 tasks are: 

• develop an overview of the institutional contexts and legal possibilities to provide land for flooding
• analyse the tension between the collective interest to increase the flood management capacities of private land and private interests to limit the infringement on individual property rights
• share developed transdisciplinary knowledge with young scholars
• organize regional workshops to share information between practitioners