Strengthening Pluvial Flood Risk Management in the Southeast Region of Bangladesh: Lessons Learnt from the EU Policy and Practice

The trend of flood damages triggered by heavy downpour continues in the southeastern region of Bangladesh due to a lack of non-structural approaches, effective planning and policy. Appropriate guidelines will be needed to develop a robust strategy for improving flood risk management based on advanced technologies, research and practices. The experience gained through the recent EU-funded projects for flash floods, the EU Water Framework Directive and Floods Directive, and the Driver Pressure State Impact Response (DPSIR) framework provide useful insights to solve the problems associated with the flash floods in Bangladesh. Flood marks, post-flood analysis and witness interviews in FLOODsite basins of Europe provide good practices for improving the flash flood risk management. This paper presents normative conclusions from case studies conducted in Feni, Bangladesh on how to manage pluvial flood risk resiliently using strategic planning by considering EU-policy, practice and framework. Interviews were conducted, questionnaires, field observations and focus group discussions were undertaken with the affected community with and without flood experience, national water experts, water management practitioners and local authorities responsible for decision-making on flood risk management. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations for pluvial flood risk management policy making, strategy formulating and practices.