Collaborative governance of international commission for the protection of the rhine: Lessons learned for flood risk reduction in participating countries

Abstract

Due to climate change the number of flood events will increase, making flood risk reduction an important topic. Rivers cross borders and therefore international collaboration is needed, it is important to see if these collaborations are successful. The question answered by this thesis is: How successful is the ICPR as both a form of collaborative governance and in reducing flood risk in the participating countries, and what lessons can be drawn from this? The conclusion is that the starting conditions were good for the collaboration to take place. It would be smart to align the objectives between the countries and the ICPR, have workshops more often, create protocols for who takes part in the committee and create more mechanisms to involve neutral mediators and external experts. It would also be smart to create more opportunities for informal contact between the members. For the coordination France could learn from the other countries and both France and the Netherlands could learn from the others how to increase monitoring capacity. The other countries can learn from Switzerland how to increase public awareness. Overall, the ICPR is a successful form of collaborative governance, and the perceived flood risk has been reduced in the countries.