TY - JOUR

T1 - Integrating nature-based solutions in flood risk management plans

T2 - A matter of individual beliefs?

AU - Brillinger, Mario

AU - Henze, Jennifer

AU - Albert, Christian

AU - Schwarze, Reimund

N1 - Funding Information: The study was realized in the context of the PlanSmart research group funded by Grant 01UU1601A and B from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung – BMBF). We thank the two anonymous reviewers for the insightful comments. We also thank Bartosz Bartkowski and Christoph Döring for commenting earlier versions of the manuscript. Our thanks also go to Dominik Metzger and Mareen Schlätel, who assisted us with interview transcription and data formatting.

PY - 2021/11/15

Y1 - 2021/11/15

N2 - The formulation of management plans as required by EU environmental policies such as the Floods Directive may facilitate the uptake of nature-based solutions (NBS) into practice. Previous research has indicated that the uptake of NBS in water management plans is still low and hindered by various elements of the existing water governance system. However, research so far neglected the role of water managers as “plan-makers” of solution strategies and programs of measures, as well as their beliefs in choosing certain measures in the plan-making process. The aim of this study is to shed more light on the plan-makers' reasoning for integrating, or not integrating, NBS into specific flood risk management plans (FRMPs). We conducted ten qualitative interviews with plan-makers from Germany and adopted a grounded theory approach to identify their beliefs that underlie the process of formulating FRMPs as well as their perceived role in this process. The analysis reveals a dominance of shared substantive and relational beliefs that are obstructive to a greater uptake of NBS in FRMPs. In particular, identified beliefs about NBS often do not align with their self-perception of their role in being the “plan-makers”. We present a differentiated portrait of water managers as key actors in the decision-making on FRMPs, illustrating that while water managers are belonging to the same distinct professional group with a similar social role in the decision-making process, they do not necessarily share the same preferences.

AB - The formulation of management plans as required by EU environmental policies such as the Floods Directive may facilitate the uptake of nature-based solutions (NBS) into practice. Previous research has indicated that the uptake of NBS in water management plans is still low and hindered by various elements of the existing water governance system. However, research so far neglected the role of water managers as “plan-makers” of solution strategies and programs of measures, as well as their beliefs in choosing certain measures in the plan-making process. The aim of this study is to shed more light on the plan-makers' reasoning for integrating, or not integrating, NBS into specific flood risk management plans (FRMPs). We conducted ten qualitative interviews with plan-makers from Germany and adopted a grounded theory approach to identify their beliefs that underlie the process of formulating FRMPs as well as their perceived role in this process. The analysis reveals a dominance of shared substantive and relational beliefs that are obstructive to a greater uptake of NBS in FRMPs. In particular, identified beliefs about NBS often do not align with their self-perception of their role in being the “plan-makers”. We present a differentiated portrait of water managers as key actors in the decision-making on FRMPs, illustrating that while water managers are belonging to the same distinct professional group with a similar social role in the decision-making process, they do not necessarily share the same preferences.

KW - Beliefs

KW - Decision-making

KW - Flood risk management

KW - Nature-based solutions

KW - Policy implementation

KW - Water managers

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110110114&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148896

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148896

M3 - Article

C2 - 34252770

AN - SCOPUS:85110110114

VL - 795

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

M1 - 148896

ER -