Brief communication: Inclusiveness in designing an early warning system for flood resilience

Abstract

Floods remain a wicked problem and are becoming more destructive with widespread ecological, social, and economic impacts. The problem is acute in mountainous river catchments where plausible assumptions of risk behaviour to flood exposure and vulnerability are crucial. Inclusive approaches are required to design suitable flood early warning systems (EWSs) with a focus on local social and governance context rather than technology, as is the case with existing practice. We assess potential approaches for facilitating inclusiveness in designing EWSs by integrating diverse contexts and identifying preconditions and missing links. We advocate the use of a SMART approach as a checklist for good practice to facilitate bottom-up initiatives that benefit the community at risk by engaging them at every stage of the decision-making process.