Integrating flood risk reduction, river basin and resilience management in planning: a case study of Kristianstad, Sweden

This case study, part of the Baltic COMPASS project, analyzes flood risk and river basin management in Kristianstad, Sweden, identifying significant barriers to adaptive river management, including a lack of cross-sectoral integration and the absence of a river basin-wide governance structure for water flows.

• Flood risk management in Kristianstad is overly narrow, focusing on urban flood control while ignoring flood abatement within the river basin or downstream alleviation. This is driven by a lack of synergy and integration across sectors such as urban planning, environmental planning, agriculture, and forestry.
• Effective management is obstructed by the municipality's limited mandate, which ends at its borders, and the lack of a governance structure for the river basin that addresses water flows and floods (current structures focus only on water quality). Consequently, there is no coordinated investment in flood-retaining activities, such as catchment rehabilitation or farmer compensation for land use to reduce flood peaks.
• Legal instruments for managing water flows, specifically those involving joint property societies, are outdated and inflexible. While there is potential for synergy between the EU Flood Directive and the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), practical implementation remains unclear, although local dialogue in Kristianstad is improving alignment between urban planners and risk managers.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2015). Integrating flood risk reduction, river basin and resilience management in planning: a case study of Kristianstad, Sweden. https://www.sei.org/publications/integrating-flood-risk-reduction-river-basin-and-resilience-management-in-planning-a-case-study-of-kristianstad-sweden/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Integrating flood risk reduction, river basin and resilience management in planning: a case study of Kristianstad, Sweden. 2015. https://www.sei.org/publications/integrating-flood-risk-reduction-river-basin-and-resilience-management-in-planning-a-case-study-of-kristianstad-sweden/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Integrating flood risk reduction, river basin and resilience management in planning: a case study of Kristianstad, Sweden |date=20 February 2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/integrating-flood-risk-reduction-river-basin-and-resilience-management-in-planning-a-case-study-of-kristianstad-sweden/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2015integrating, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Integrating flood risk reduction, river basin and resilience management in planning: a case study of Kristianstad, Sweden}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/integrating-flood-risk-reduction-river-basin-and-resilience-management-in-planning-a-case-study-of-kristianstad-sweden/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }