ABSTRACT
River floods are one of the most threatening natural risks and have many negative consequences for humans and human society (Samuels et al., 2006). Also in Europe, floods have been increasing and are currently the most common natural disaster (EEA, 2008). International organizations expect that the frequency and intensity of floods will only grow further due to climate change and the increase of population and economic activities in flood-prone areas (WMO, 2009). Within this context, international efforts aiming at flood risk reduction are growing. An example of such effort is the Associated Programme on Flood Management that promotes the concept of Integrated Flood Management (based on the concept of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), see Chapter 2) and supports the implementation of actions that follow this principle (APFM, 2012). In a European context, best practices on flood management were recently translated into a framework directive for the assessment and management of floods (European Directive 2007/60/EC). While floods are common problems, floods have diverse causes and countries also have different capacities to deal with them (Van Alphen and Lodder, 2006). As Chapter 2 explains, universal remedies or blueprints for effective water management do not exist. This means that any international transfer of knowledge should be done with care and only after careful consideration of the context-specific conditions and circumstances in which knowledge was developed. While many scholars acknowledge the importance of context in water management, little is known about how contextual factors inhibit or promote knowledge transfer. This chapter aims to address this research gap by asking: how do contextual factors influence the effectiveness of water projects that involve international knowledge transfer?
