Evaluating coping capacity and benefits of flood-prone land use to support Integrated Flood Management in developing countries: community assessment in Candaba, Philippines

Abstract:

Flood risk reduction strategies such as zoning and land use restrictions reduce exposure by “keeping people away from floods”. However, in many developing countries, benefits provided by floods and use of flood-prone land are essential, particularly where livelihoods are tied to natural hydrologic cycles. We propose integrating coping capacity and benefits of floodplain use into risk assessments in developing countries.

We assess flood damages and identify local strategies for living with and benefitting from floods in Candaba, Philippines. We use a physically-based rainfall-runoff model and remotely-sensed data to characterize flooding. At the village scale, we evaluate potential damages to agriculture and fisheries. Through community surveys and focus groups, we identify adaptations that allow people to cope with and benefit from flooding. Seeking to integrate these adaptations into standard risk assessments, we explore valuation methods to appraise floodplain-derived benefits.

We find that some communities adapt their livelihoods to seasonal inundation, for instance, by using land alternately for agriculture and wild-catch fisheries during dry and wet seasons respectively. To integrate the role of coping capacity into our assessment, we consider dynamics of seasonal land use and evaluate damages and benefits of adapted (high coping capacity) and non-adapted (low coping capacity) conditions. We find that coping strategies minimize flood losses while allowing valuable flood-related benefit capture.

We conclude that neglecting coping capacity and benefits of floodplain use can lead to poor characterization of risk, which may result in misguided management. Acknowledging local capacity to live with and benefit from floods may support flood risk management, sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem services in developing countries.