Reversal of the levee effect towards sustainable floodplain management

Ding, Meng1,2; Lin, Peirong1,3; Gao, Shang4; Wang, Jida2,5; Zeng, Zhenzhong6; Zheng, Kaihao1; Zhou, Xudong7; Yamazaki, Dai7; Gao, Yige8; Liu, Yu1

2023-08-01

10.1038/s41893-023-01202-9

NATURE SUSTAINABILITY   影响因子和分区

2398-9629

2398-9629

["Levees can obscure the public perception of flood risk, reflected in accelerated rates of development in floodplains relative to surrounding areas. Effective regulation and legislative measures can reverse this effect for more sustainable management.","Levees constrain roaring floodwater but are blamed for reducing people's perception of flood risks and promoting floodplain human settlements unprepared for high-consequence flood events. Yet the interplay between levee construction and floodplain development remains poorly quantified, obscuring an objective assessment of human-water relations. Here, to quantitatively assess how floodplain urban expansion is linked to levee construction, we develop a multiscale composite analysis framework leveraging a national levee database and decades of annual land-cover maps. We find that in the contiguous United States, levee construction is associated with a 62% acceleration in floodplain urban expansion, outpacing that of the county (29%), highlighting a clear change in risk perception after levees are built. Regions historically lacking strong momentum for population growth while experiencing frequent floods tend to rely more strongly on levees and we suggest these areas to develop a more diversified portfolio to cope with floods. Temporally, the positive levee effect is found to have weakened and then reversed since the late 1970s, reflecting the role of legislative regulations to suppress floodplain urban expansion. Our quantitative framework sheds light on how structural and non-structural measures jointly influence floodplain urban growth patterns. It also provides a viable framework to objectively assess the floodplain management strategies currently in place, which may provide useful guidance for managing flood risks towards sustainable development goals."]

SCI ; EI ; SSCI

英语

其他

Open Research Program of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals[CBAS2022ORP05] ; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Peking University on Numerical modelling and remote sensing of global river discharge'[7100604136]

Science & Technology - Other Topics ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Green & Sustainable Science & Technology ; Environmental Sciences ; Environmental Studies

WOS:001052073700002

NATURE PORTFOLIO

20233414611708

Expansion ; Laws and legislation ; Levees ; Population statistics ; Risk assessment ; Risk perception ; Urban growth

Urban Planning and Development:403.1 ; Flood Control:442.1 ; Accidents and Accident Prevention:914.1 ; Materials Science:951 ; Social Sciences:971

2-s2.0-85168462173

Web of Science

1.Peking Univ, Inst Remote Sensing & Geog Informat Syst, Sch Earth & Space Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China
2.Kansas State Univ, Dept Geog & Geospatial Sci, Manhattan, KS USA
3.Int Res Ctr Big Data Sustainable Dev Goals, Beijing, Peoples R China
4.Univ Oklahoma, Sch Civil Engn & Environm Sci, Norman, OK USA
5.Univ Illinois, Dept Geog & Geog Informat Sci, Urbana, IL USA
6.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Shenzhen, Peoples R China
7.Univ Tokyo, Inst Ind Sci, Global Hydrol Predict Ctr, Tokyo, Japan
8.Gwinnett Cty Dept Water Resources, Lawrenceville, GA USA

Ding, Meng,Lin, Peirong,Gao, Shang,et al. Reversal of the levee effect towards sustainable floodplain management[J]. NATURE SUSTAINABILITY,2023,6(12):1578-1586.

Ding, Meng.,Lin, Peirong.,Gao, Shang.,Wang, Jida.,Zeng, Zhenzhong.,...&Liu, Yu.(2023).Reversal of the levee effect towards sustainable floodplain management.NATURE SUSTAINABILITY,6(12),1578-1586.

Ding, Meng,et al."Reversal of the levee effect towards sustainable floodplain management".NATURE SUSTAINABILITY 6.12(2023):1578-1586.