Systemic nature of, and diversification in systems exposed to, flood risk

The landscape of flood risk is being populated by applying the risk concept to a wide range of flood management systems against a background where rethinking is driving the shift from flood defence to flood risk management. This is in a background, where tools, concepts, systems and applications are diversifying by adapting to varying complexities. It is concerning that inherent interconnections are overlooked among systems exposed to flood risk from different sources. This paper aims to stimulate debate on interconnectivity among systems with exposures to flood risk, refers to this as the systemic flood risk, and recognises some reciprocity between interconnectivity and diversity.