ABSTRACT
The fields of flood alleviation and agricultural improvement can perhaps provide some special insights into state/individual interrelations. Attempts are being made to control floodplain development largely because encroachment is recognised as a fundamental cause of increasing flood loss potential in countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia. Flood protection usually leads to further intensification of floodplain use and possibly raises annual average flood losses because of the effects of catastrophic floods. The forces promoting encroachment are extraordinarily complex and powerful and the difficulties of controlling floodplain use have been underestimated. Economic instability also profoundly affects the worthwhileness of community investment in flood alleviation and agricultural drainage. Research by government agencies, and the survey work of local and voluntary organisations, has defined incontrovertibly the potential effect of land drainage on nature conservation values. The world economy itself appears to become less rather than more stable, reflecting fluctuations resulting from currency speculation and resource cost shocks as rises in oil prices.
