Brief communication: Rethinking the 1998 China floods to prepare for a nonstationary future

Shiqiang Du*, Xiaotao Cheng, Qingxu Huang, Ruishan Chen, Philip Ward, Jeroen C.J.H. Aerts

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

A mega-flood in 1998 caused tremendous losses in China and triggered major policy adjustments in floodrisk management. This paper aims to retrospectively examine these policy adjustments and discuss how China should adapt to newly emerging flood challenges.We show that China suffers annually from floods despite large-scale investments and policy adjustments. Rapid urbanization and climate change will exacerbate future flood risk in China, with cascading impacts on other countries through global trade networks. Therefore, novel flood-risk management approaches are required, such as a risk-based urban planning and coordinated water governance systems with public participation, in addition to traditional structural protection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)715-719
Number of pages5
JournalNatural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
Volume19
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Apr 2019

Funding

Acknowledgements. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41871200, 41730642, 51761135024) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC1503001). Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts and Philip J. Ward received additional support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in the form of VICI grant 453.140.006 and VIDI grant 016.161.324, respectively. We are grateful to Anders Levermann at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, for providing the propagation effect of China’s production loss to the rest of the world.

FundersFunder number
Directorate for Geosciences1852977
National Natural Science Foundation of China41730642, 51761135024, 41871200
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek453.140.006, 016.161.324
National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)2017YFC1503001

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