Ecosystem-Based Disaster Risk Reduction Framework as a Tool for Improved River Basin Natural Water Retention Capacity and Environmental Hazard Resilience

Abstract

Contemporary water and environmental governance must address the diverse common objectives that have merged to target economic development, social equity, and environmental sustainability. Climate and land use changes, coupled with natural environmental hazards, generate immense and complex issues and challenges around the globe. Multilateral environmental agreements, the EU Water Framework and other directives, national policies and international conventions relevant to water and environmental governance indicate an ecosystem approach. With respect to disaster risk reduction, all the Sendai Framework priorities include ecosystems. The natural water retention capacity (hydrological ecosystem services) of river basins benefits from water/environmental governance and the disaster risk reduction perspective of selected environmental hazards is elaborated upon; the presented results underline the measures that improve river basin management and increase resilience to natural environmental hazards at selected river basins.

Keywords

• ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction
• river basin management
• natural water retention
• environmental hazards