He et al. (2026) Flash flood risk governance system in China and its governance effectiveness

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Impact Assessment Review
• Year: 2026
• Authors: Xinjun He, Yiping Fang, Xueyuan Huang, Liang Emlyn Yang, Yun Xu, Jia Liu, Yang Guo, Anqi Zhu
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2026.108345

Research Groups

• Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chengdu, China.
• College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
• China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences, CAS-HEC, Islamabad, Pakistan.
• Department of Geography, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany.
• Sichuan Provincial Climate Centre and Institute of Plateau Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Chengdu, China.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the effectiveness of China’s state-led, multi-level flash flood governance system by integrating institutional analysis with a survey of 811 rural households. It finds that while government-led structural measures and emergency relief are the primary drivers of perceived safety, community-level institutions and traditional knowledge play vital supporting roles.

Objective

• To analyze the institutional framework of China's flash flood risk governance and determine how government, community, and household-scale mitigation measures influence household flood safety cognition.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Rural mountainous regions of China, specifically focusing on flash flood-prone villages.
• Temporal Scale: Analysis of governance effectiveness within the context of flood impacts and policy evolution from 2000 to 2024.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to identify relationships between mitigation measures and safety cognition; Latent index construction based on the psychometric paradigm and institutional trust theory.
• Data sources: Household survey data (811 respondents) from flash flood-prone mountainous villages; institutional analysis of state-led governance frameworks.

Main Results

• Government Dominance: Government-led measures (e.g., dikes, river channel restoration, infrastructure upgrades, and resettlement) have the strongest positive correlation with household flood safety cognition.
• Community and Traditional Knowledge: Village regulations and traditional local knowledge significantly reinforce the effectiveness of formal governance.
• Emergency Response: Timely emergency relief is a critical factor in enhancing the perceived safety of residents.
• Reverse Causality in Private Mitigation: House foundation elevation showed a negative association with safety cognition, interpreted as a selection effect where only the most exposed and resource-constrained households utilize this specific measure.
• Systemic Challenges: Despite high effectiveness, the system faces gaps in early warning precision and fragmentation in managing multi-hazard risks.

Contributions

• Bridges the gap between macro-level institutional analysis and micro-level household perception in disaster governance literature.
• Provides a dialectical perspective on the "Chinese model" of disaster management, highlighting the strengths of strong vertical accountability and fiscal transfers.
• Identifies transferable principles for global flash flood management, such as matching authority with resources and integrating flood risk into broader development agendas.

Funding

• Not explicitly stated in the provided text snippet.

Citation

@article{He2026Flash,
  author = {He, Xinjun and Fang, Yiping and Huang, Xueyuan and Yang, Liang Emlyn and Xu, Yun and Liu, Jia and Guo, Yang and Zhu, Anqi},
  title = {Flash flood risk governance system in China and its governance effectiveness},
  journal = {Environmental Impact Assessment Review},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.eiar.2026.108345},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2026.108345}
}

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