Some high-income countries have undertaken considerable investments in
flood mitigation, but still face difficult hydrologies and have increasingly
valuable property at risk (Australia, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech
Republic). Many are in mountainous regions with property concentrated
in narrow valleys where it is typically difficult and expensive to protect
such property from high floods. In such situations further investments
in structural flood control measures may not be economically justified.
A more appropriate means of reducing the economic costs of flood risks
would be to adopt various risk sharing and pooling mechanisms, such as
insurance. In addition to risk sharing mechanisms, investments in enhanced
hydrometeorological observation, flood forecasting, and warning systems
can also be cost effective investments for many countries – particularly if
they are designed to leverage regional information systems and advanced but
contextually tailored technologies.