Forum #2 - November 6-7,
2007
George Washington University, Washington, DC
Download the
2007 Forum Agenda
“Floodplain Management 2050” is an invitational workshop
of experts focusing how we will manage flood risk and our floodplains
in the future given the increasing population, rise in housing demand,
tight federal budgets, climate change and other factors. The first
Forum, held at the National Academies in 2004, focused on the effectiveness
of the 1% annual chance flood standard. It initiated a dialog and
a series of “actions needed” recommendations in how our
knowledge of flood risk is applied. The second Forum will provide
insight to guide policy change and research necessary to ensure that
the nation’s floodplains in 2050 are properly managed and that
flood damages do not continue to escalate.
The late Gilbert F. White’s 1942 dissertation,
Human Adjustments to Floods, provided an alternative framework for
managing flood risk
that became the foundation for modern floodplain management. The
following eight adjustment factors in White’s “geographic” approach to managing
floods will provide the context for the Forum:
- Elevation
- Flood Abatement (Watershed management approaches)
- Flood Protection
(Structural flood control)
- Emergency Measures
- Structural Adjustments (adjustments to buildings
and infrastructure)
- Land Use
- Public Relief
- Insurance
These factors will provide a framework from which to evaluate expected
change and to identify adaptations needed. This includes both evaluating
whether the adjustment factors in and of themselves meet current and
future needs. From this backdrop various issues of change will be
considered, including:
- POPULATION GROWTH: How much and where? Trends in how we live?
- SOCIAL FACTORS: Aging populations and changing demographics.
- FEDERAL BUDGETS: What can we afford for mitigation, response
and recovery?
- HURRICANE KATRINA: What should we learn for future
mega disasters?
- CLIMATE CHANGE: What it signals for floodplain
management and the role of the floodplain manager.
- RISK COMMUNICATION:
Before, during and after floods.
- TECHNOLOGY: What can it contribute
to flood hazard reduction?
- TRANSPORTATION AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE:
Assessing vulnerabilities.
- NATURAL RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL
ISSUES: Revisiting natural and beneficial uses of floodplains.
Each forum participant will be asked to submit a paper focusing on
one or more of these issues as they relate to meeting the demands
floodplain management will face in 2050. Papers will be distributed
in advance of the Forum to all participants to help shape the content
of the discussion, and will be retained as part of the Forum archive
to guide later reporting and provide a record of the thinking of policy
experts in 2007.
Download
the 2007 Forum Background Reading Materials
Download the 2007 Forum Agenda
Download the 2007 Forum Guidelines for Papers |