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Incentives to contribute to flood adaptation in cities

Stakeholder analyses in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands

Increasingly, urban stakeholders are becoming more engaged in contributing to reducing the intensified flooding risks due to climate change in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands. The aim of this study is to motivate stakeholder engagement for urban flood management. A template is provided including a total of four steps defining stakeholder positions, task roles and barriers, and showing how to deal with the barriers by suggesting communication levels, strategies and approaches. Overall, green solutions to drainage are thought to be favourable to quality of life, recreation, playground, air quality, health, heat stress, and depending on levels of inclusiveness, green can also contribute to social cohesion.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation have become urgent issues for cities. Increasingly, urban stakeholders are becoming more engaged in climate adaptation and mitigation across the world. In the Interreg EU project called SPONGE, 1 climate adaptation is addressed in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands. SPONGE concentrates on identifying the most appropriate ways to encourage different stakeholders in cities to adapt behaviours in view of strategies to reduce risks of climate change. Against this background, targeted stakeholder engagement strategies that impact positively on the effectiveness of urban flood adaptation are particularly relevant in this study. Stakeholders may represent government and private sectors, grassroots organisations, research and educational institutes as well as NGOs, operating at different levels (street/property, neighbourhood, city, regional).

A key output of the Sponge EU project is a digital SPONGE toolbox that is meant to inspire city officials and others in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands with videos, scripts and good-practice examples of climate change adaptation. In co-creation with a number of various government and private stakeholders, the toolbox will provide examples of recommended techniques and practices to overcome common bottlenecks and incentives to support stakeholders in adapting to climate change in cities, focusing on flooding.

In the formation of this toolbox for stakeholder engagement, Wageningen Economic Research has been asked to contribute with stakeholder analyses, with the aim to motivate stakeholder engagement for urban flood management. Against this background, the objectives of the stakeholder analyses of the study described in this report are:

• To identify and categorise potential stakeholders.

• To identify stakeholder contributions and barriers to conduct climate adaptations.

• To give recommendations.

This study thus supports the SPONGE toolbox. The research approach applied in this study is conceptual, not statistical. It contributes with theoretical background and practical insights based on stakeholder interviews. Notably, in this study, a quick-scan based on an online questionnaire and nine in-depth interviews have been conducted. While these contribute with valuable insights, they cannot in any way represent group opinions statistically.

Source: Soma, K., Dijkshoorn-Dekker, M., & Polman, N. (2018). Incentives to contribute to flood adaptation in cities: Stakeholder analyses in Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands. (Wageningen Economic Research report; No. 2018-013). Wageningen Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.18174/438335

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