ADMINISTRATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON BEHALF OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT CONCERNING PART II EUROPE 2020 PROGRAMMATIC SINGLE-DONOR TRUST FUND Trust Fund No. TF073456 EC Contract No. REFORM/GA2020/006 Technical Support for Integrating Flood Risk Management into Urban and Spatial Planning and Developing Flood Insurance in Romania (P172326) Output 1 Stocktaking Report December 2021 Project carried out with funding by the European Unionin cooperation with the European Commission’s DG REFORM 1 DISCLAIMER This document was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union. This report is a product of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. The findings, interpretation and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the World Bank, the European Commission or the Government. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable laws. For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with the complete information to the World Bank Group Romania (31, Vasile Lascăr Street, 6th floor, Bucharest, Romania). RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because the World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. All queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202- 522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. This report has been delivered in December 2021, under the EC Contract No. REFORM/GA2020/006 (under TF 073456), signed between the European Commission and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It corresponds to Output 1 under the above-mentioned agreement. 2 PURPOSE This report was delivered under the Administration Agreement signed between the European Commission on behalf of the European Union and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development concerning the Part II Europe 2020 Programmatic Single-Donor Trust Fund on February 28, 2020. It corresponds to Output 1: Stocktaking report under the above-mentioned Agreement. This report is the result of the work performed by a team of World Bank staff and experts led by Alexandru Cosmin Buteica (Water, Supply and Sanitation Specialist, Task Team Leader), Amparo Samper Hiraldo (Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, Co-Task Team Leader) and Chris Fischer (Senior Water Resources Management Specialist Co-Task Team Leader), with Elena Daniela Ghiță (Water Resources Management Specialist), Eugene Gurenko (Lead Financial Sector Specialist), Edmund Penning-Rowsell (Senior Flood Risk Management Expert), Laura-Elena Tucan (Spatial Urban Planning Expert), Maria Stoica (Urban Floods Risk Management Expert), Ana Watson (Insurance Expert, ASON), Svetlana Atlagic (Insurance Expert, ASON). Raimund Mair (Senior Water Resources Management Specialist) and Mary- Jeanne Adler (Senior Flood Risk Management Expert) provided valuable contributions. The team also benefited from the solid logistic support provided by Anastasia Gadja (Program Assistant) of the World Bank offices in Bucharest and the thoughtful guidance of David Michaud, Manager, ECA Water Practice (SCAWA). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The team would also like to thank the Government of Romania, in particular Ms. Olimpia Simona Negru (Director of Flood Risk Management and Dam Safety Directorate, Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests), Mr. Altan Abdulamit (Deputy Director of Flood Risk Management and Dam Safety Directorate, Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests) and Mr. Sorin Rîndașu (Director of Emergency Situations Department), Ms. Anca Ginavar (General Director of the General Directorate of Territorial Development, Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration) and their teams from MEWF, ANAR and MDPWA for their continued support and collaboration through the preparation of this report. We would also like to thank the representatives of The Insurance Pool against Natural Disasters (PAID), The National Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania (UNSAR), who have been interviewed and thus provided valuable inputs for the development of the report. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION A: Report structure, broad objectives and executive summary ..............................................8 A.1. Report structure and broad objectives .............................................................................................. 8 A.2. Executive Summary: Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management ................................. 9 A.3. Executive Summary: Flood insurance .............................................................................................. 10 SECTION B: Introduction................................................................................................................... 12 Background ............................................................................................................................................. 12 B.1. Objectives......................................................................................................................................... 12 B.1.1. Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management .......................................................... 12 B.1.2. Flood insurance ......................................................................................................................... 13 B.2. Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management: a synergistic relationship....................... 14 B.3. The concept of „integration” ........................................................................................................... 16 B.4. Methodology used ........................................................................................................................... 17 B.4.1. Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management .......................................................... 17 B.4.2. Flood insurance ......................................................................................................................... 18 SECTION C: Integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning ............................ 19 C.1. Stakeholders and their roles in Romanian flood risk management and urban and spatial planning ................................................................................................................................................................. 19 C.1.1. Stakeholders and their interactions .......................................................................................... 19 C.1.2. Institutions involved in urban and spatial planning and their roles.......................................... 19 C.1.3. Institutions involved in flood risk management and their roles ............................................... 20 C.1.4. Support public actors with roles in flood risk management or urban and spatial planning ..... 22 C.2. Gaps in flood risk management and urban and spatial planning in Romania ................................. 25 C.2.1. The gaps in the evidence base .................................................................................................. 25 C.2.2. Gaps in the legislative arrangements and tools for flood risk management and its integration with urban and spatial planning .......................................................................................................... 28 C.2.3. Gaps in the legislative arrangements and tools for urban and spatial planning and its integration with flood risk management ............................................................................................................... 30 C.2.4. Gaps in the implementation and enforcement of the integration between flood risk management and spatial planning ...................................................................................................... 31 C.2.5. Two further issues / impediments ............................................................................................ 32 C.2.6. Results of the interviews ........................................................................................................... 33 C.3. Potential areas for improvement in the two-way integration of flood risk management and urban and spatial planning ................................................................................................................................ 36 C.3.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................ 36 C.3.2. Vision, challenges and related issues ........................................................................................ 36 C.3.3. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Legislation and governance.............................. 39 C.3.4. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Guidelines, tools and funding .......................... 42 C.3.5. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Procedures and participation ........................... 44 C.3.6. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Other issues...................................................... 45 4 C.4. Potential pilot areas for more detailed assessments on the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning .............................................................................................................. 46 C.4.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 46 C.4.2. Criteria for the choice of pilot areas ......................................................................................... 46 C.4.3. A ”long-list” of 10 possible pilot areas ...................................................................................... 52 C.4.4. Potential measures that would facilitate such integration ....................................................... 52 C.4.5. Pilot areas investigations .......................................................................................................... 54 SECTION D: Flood insurance ............................................................................................................. 56 D.1. Overview of PAID operations........................................................................................................... 56 D.1.1. Types of coverage offered ........................................................................................................ 56 D.1.2. Distribution ............................................................................................................................... 59 D.1.3. Level of insurance penetration achieved by PAID .................................................................... 60 D.1.4. Claims management ................................................................................................................. 64 D.1.5. Reinsurance............................................................................................................................... 67 D.1.6. Capitalization levels .................................................................................................................. 68 D.1.7. PAID’s results ............................................................................................................................ 69 D.1.8. Overview of legal and regulatory framework ........................................................................... 70 D.1.9. Key challenges faced by PAID ................................................................................................... 71 D.2. Overview of private flood insurance coverage for residential properties ...................................... 73 D.2.1. Overview of private flood insurance market ............................................................................ 73 D.2.2. Level of private flood insurance coverage for private homes .................................................. 74 D.2.3. Current state of the flood risk modelling used by private insurers .......................................... 74 D.2.4. Challenges faced by private insurers ........................................................................................ 74 D.3. Overview of flood insurance coverage for municipal properties .................................................... 75 D.3.1. Role of municipal governments ................................................................................................ 75 D.3.2. Insurance coverage of municipal properties ............................................................................ 75 D.3.3. Reasons behind poor enforcement of compulsory insurance coverage by municipalities ...... 76 D.4. Mapping public institutions and stakeholders ................................................................................ 76 SECTION E: Conclusions and ways forward........................................................................................ 78 E.1. Conclusions: Urban and Spatial planning and Flood Insurance in Romania .................................... 78 E.2. Conclusions and the way forward: Integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning................................................................................................................................................... 78 E.3. Conclusions concerning flood risk management and flood insurance ............................................ 81 ANNEX A – Stakeholders and their roles in Romanian spatial planning and flood risk management .... 86 Urban, spatial and land use planning ...................................................................................................... 86 River basin and flood risk management.................................................................................................. 93 Secondary public actors with roles in flood risk management or spatial planning .............................. 103 ANNEX B – The legal and administrative context in Romania ........................................................... 109 Flood risk management......................................................................................................................... 109 For urban and spatial planning and its consideration of flood risks ..................................................... 126 Flood risk management and urban and spatial planning legal framework intersections..................... 134 5 ANNEX C – Tools for flood risk management and spatial planning ................................................... 136 The relevant planning tools used in Romania for flood risk management ........................................... 136 The relevant planning tools used in Romania for urban and spatial planning ..................................... 141 ANNEX D – Findings from related external and Romanian studies ................................................... 149 “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods”. ......................................................................................... 149 World Bank Reports: Report “Inputs to the urban policy 2020-2035” - Companion paper 1: Spatial Planning Framework for Sustainable Development ............................................................................. 154 Report for the World Bank on land acquisition for flood risk management purposes......................... 156 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 - AUTHORITATIVE EXPLANATIONS OF THE CONCEPT OF INTEGRATION FROM THE RESEARCH LITERATURE ............. 16 TABLE 2 – SIGNIFICANT URBAN FLOODS AND AREAS OF POTENTIALLY SIGNIFICANT PLUVIAL FLOOD RISK ....................... 47 TABLE 3– CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING PILOT AREAS .................................................................................................. 51 TABLE 4 - PROPOSED OUTLINE PROCEDURE FOR INVESTIGATING THE THREE CHOSEN PILOT SITES ................................... 54 TABLE 5 - PAID'S SHAREHOLDERS ...................................................................................................................... 56 TABLE 6 - PENETRATION BY COUNTY ................................................................................................................... 61 TABLE 7 - PAID POLICIES BY TYPE OF DWELLING ................................................................................................... 63 TABLE 8 - PROPERTIES INSURED IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS ................................................................................. 63 TABLE 9 - PAID'S HISTORICAL FLOOD CLAIMS ....................................................................................................... 66 TABLE 10 - THREE LARGEST FLOOD LOSSES TO PAID (UNTIL 2019) .......................................................................... 66 TABLE 11 - MAIN BUSINESS INDICATORS IN EUR MM ............................................................................................ 70 TABLE 12 - PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND STAKEHOLDER AND THEIR ROLES IN PAID INSURANCE SCHEME ........................... 76 TABLE 13 - LOSSES CAUSED BY FLOOD IN ROMANIA IN 2005 .................................................................................. 83 TABLE 14 – FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT LEGAL FRAMEWORK................................................................................. 109 TABLE 15 – SPATIAL PLANNING LEGAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................ 126 TABLE 16 - INTERSECTION BETWEEN FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT AND SPATIAL PLANNING LEGAL FRAMEWORK .............. 134 TABLE 17 - NECESSARY CHANGES IN LEGAL FRAMEWORK...................................................................................... 156 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 - FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT MEASURES AND URBAN SPATIAL PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS (PARKER, 2000) .... 16 FIGURE 2 - RELATIONS BETWEEN STAKEHOLDERS INVOLVED IN FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT AND URBAN AND SPATIAL PLANNING IN RO ..................................................................................................................................... 24 FIGURE 3 - EVIDENCE BASE OF FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT (FRM) INTEGRATION INTO URBAN AND SPATIAL PLANNING AND VICE VERSA ............................................................................................................................................. 25 FIGURE 4 - COUNTIES SHADED BY NUMBER OF POLICIES ON 13/12/2019. ............................................................... 58 FIGURE 5 - SALES VOLUMES BY DIFFERENT INSURANCE COMPANIES .......................................................................... 59 FIGURE 6 - PAID'S PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT...................................................................................................... 60 FIGURE 7 - FLOOD ZONES (SHOWN AS BLUE DOTS) AND EXPOSURE (BY TOTAL INSURED VALUE) BY COUNTIES. ................. 62 FIGURE 8 - PROPERTIES INSURED IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS, BY COUNTY (BUCHAREST EXCLUDED) ............................ 63 FIGURE 9 - OVERVIEW OF CLAIM SETTLEMENT PROCEDURE ..................................................................................... 65 FIGURE 10 - AVERAGE FLOOD CLAIM OF PAID. .................................................................................................... 67 FIGURE 11 - DEVELOPMENT OF REINSURANCE CAPACITY (RETENTION INCLUDED) ....................................................... 68 FIGURE 12 - FLOOD PML ESTIMATIONS BY AON AND GC MODELS.......................................................................... 69 FIGURE 13 - THE QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE RISK OF FLOODS BY RISK CLASSES ............................................... 122 6 ABBREVIATIONS ABI Association of British Insurers ANAR National Administration ”Romanian Waters” APSFR Areas of Potentially Significant Flood Risk ASF Financial Supervisory Authority CRESTA Catastrophe Risk Evaluation and Standardizing Target Accumulations FHRM Flood Hazard and Risk Maps FRM Flood Risk Management FLEXA cover Fire, Lightning, Explosion and Aircraft Flood Re A re-insurance scheme that makes flood cover more widely available and affordable as part of the home insurance; it is used in UK FRMP Flood Risk Management Plans FSA Financial Supervisory Authority GD Government Decision GIS Geographic Information System GoR Government of Romania IRES Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy MEWF Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests MDPWA Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration NFIP National Flood Insurance Program PAID Natural Disaster Insurance Pool PATJ County Territorial Development Plan PATN National Territorial Development Plan PATZIC Intercommunal Zonal Territorial Development Plan PATZIJ Inter-County Zonal Territorial Development Plan PATZIO Interurban Zonal Territorial Development Plan PATZR Regional Zonal Territorial Development Plan PML Probable Maximum Loss PoM Program of Measures PUD Detailed Urban Plan PUG General Urban Plan PUZ Zonal Urban Plan RBA River Basin Administration SDL Local Development Strategy SIDU Integrated Urban Development Strategy SMEs Small and Medium Sized Enterprises SP Spatial Planning UK United Kingdom UNSAR National Union of Insurers and Reinsurers USA United States of America 7 SECTION A: Report structure, broad objectives and executive summary A.1. Report structure and broad objectives This report is structured into five Sections A to E, plus Annexes. The two central Sections C and D report, respectively, on investigations into the field of urban and spatial planning and flood risk management, and their integration, and the field of flood insurance and its potential contribution to enhanced flood risk management in Romania. Section A comprises an executive summary for both areas of investigation, and Section E does the same in terms of conclusions and recommendations for ways forward. Through this project the World Bank aims to provide support to the Government of Romania (GoR) in both fields of non-structural interventions for enhanced flood risk management (spatial planning and flood insurance). In this respect the report assesses the relevant legal framework, the relevant institutions and identifies the relevant stakeholders (including their roles and competences) with regard to urban and spatial planning and flood risk management. The Bank will furthermore support the GoR in identifying potential challenges related to the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning. In addition, the World Bank aims to provide support to the Government of Romania in reviewing and analyzing the current state of flood insurance in the country and the potential for its enhancement. A particular feature of this analysis relates to identifying some of the reasons for the limited coverage of Romanian households by the available PAID insurance scheme. The two fields of spatial planning and flood insurance are complementary and both are addressing the question of risk and its assessment. Based on the analysis made in this report, suggestions for strategies and policies favoring risk reduction were made. As an EU Member State Romania implemented the three stages of the EU Floods Directive in its territory and successfully reported to the European Commission the first-generation of Flood Risk Management Plans in 2016. During the second cycle, the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment was reported in 2019, defining 526 Areas of Potential Significant Flood Risk including fluvial floods, pluvial floods, flash floods, coastal floods and dike breaches. Romania is currently developing the second and third stages of the EU Floods Directive with the support of the World Bank. The current study aims to support the GoR in the assessment of the fields of spatial planning and flood insurance in Romania. Both spatial planning and flood insurance are important non-structural measures within flood risk management. The former is designed to prevent the future buildup of risk in areas liable to flooding, and the latter can compensate those affected by flooding and promote recovery in both areas protected and unprotected by traditional flood defenses. The two policy measures should be seen as complementary. The development of insurance regimes and spatial planning arrangements in Romania should therefore proceed step-by-step in a carefully orchestrated way, to ensure that each is mutually supporting. This is one of the key conclusions from this report. The results of this study shall be considered and incorporated in the second-generation of Flood Risk Management Plans. 8 A.2. Executive Summary: Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management This report is taking stock, rather than pushing forward the field of integrating flood risk management into urban and spatial planning. The methodology (Section B, Chapter B.4. & B.5.) has been an exhaustive analysis of the numerous documents concerning both these fields in Romania, and a number of interviews with specialists in the field and municipalities in the country. Despite this effort more needs to be done to investigate thoroughly ways to enhance this integration, including using pilot studies (see below). The World Bank team has identified the key stakeholders and their roles and competences in the field of flood risk management and urban spatial planning (Section C, Chapter C.1.), and concluded that there is a very large number of stakeholders involved here. This is no surprise, and whilst there may be some duplication, the complexity is inherent in the integration of the two fields of public administration and is certainly not restricted to Romania (as Output 3 on international best practices demonstrates). Further information from the pilot studies need to focus on the relationships between stakeholders and on ways that these can be improved to enhance the integration between urban and spatial planning and flood risk management. Particular attention needs to be given to analysing and enhancing the information flows between participants. This report also identifies gaps in urban and spatial planning and flood risk management which inhibit the integration that is being analysed (Section C, Chapter C.2.). One such is that while the existing tools and items of legislation in this field are on the whole adequate, the integration between the two fields is not good; many organizations appear to work apart rather than together. Guidance necessary across the two fields is also a gap in arrangements and some changes to government requirements of other organizations and stakeholders are likely to be necessary. A further gap is an apparent lack of commitment at the central government level to improving the relations between urban spatial planning and flood risk management. No documentation from the government has been seen urging a change in attitude and thinking here. In terms of the areas for improvement (Section C, Chapter C.3.) some changes to legislation may be necessary but will not be sufficient alone to improve the integration between the two fields that have been investigated. Better procedures for this integration are required, and should be developed, and protocols initiated whereby data is shared across all stakeholders. One conclusion the World Bank team has come to is that integration means working together rather than separately and this will imply added burdens on those organizations with responsibilities in this area. An agreed vision for safer cities is required, matched by the provision of the required resources of time and staff expertise with which to pursue better inter-organizational negotiations and discussions. Better guidance and training are necessary so that the interdisciplinary teams required for this better integration have appropriate skills, direction and information to give to others. This is not a cost-free process. This report provides a „long list” of 10 cities where pilot investigations could be undertaken for more detailed assessments of the integration of urban and spatial planning and flood risk management (Section C, Chapter C.4.). It is recommended that a shortlist of three cities should now be developed, where pilot studies should be implemented, reflecting the variety of situations in Romania concerning this integration. In this respect, a proposal has been made for the World Bank’s implementation of the three studies of pilot areas, together with a suggested timescale of between the June 2021 and the end of June 2022. In Section E, Chapter E.2., broad conclusions are drawn about the integration of urban and spatial planning and flood risk management and flood insurance, and the challenges that this represents, and a sketch is provided of a way forward, together with a list of activities, a broadly developed workplan, and suggestions as to a critical path. 9 A.3. Executive Summary: Flood insurance The analysis of flood insurance in Romania in this report is again a stocktaking exercise based primarily on documentary evidence (Section D, Chapter D.1.). This analysis suggests that for a flood insurance system to be sustainable, including the Romanian PAID scheme, the population must be aware of the risk, they trust insurance companies enough to buy flood insurance products, and has the means to buy that insurance (Section D, Chapter D.2.). An even more important element of sustainability is seeking maximum loss mitigation. An insurance system should be used as a vehicle to improve flood resilience and resistance. Insurance can easily pinpoint high risk properties, and at the same time access them via claim payouts. Knowledge thus accumulated in the insurance industry, especially if combined with the available data on areas with vulnerable communities, could be more efficiently used for improving overall flood resilience. Promoting flood awareness is an important element of flood risk management. Having precise information on how risky is the area one lives in would increase insurance penetration, and such information could help PAID and insurance companies specifically to target the areas where risk is more significant. Romania would also benefit from creating publicly available online risk mapping and hazard identification tools. Flood insurance should cover more than just the residential sector. Reported flood damages from the devastating Romanian 2005 flood show that the damage to residential properties was a moderate part of overall damage (c. 11%). In a more devastating flood, even with 100% penetration, PAID would at most cover 10-15% of total damage. In that respect, it is worth looking into expanding mandatory flood insurance coverage to other sectors, providing more substantial financial assistance to the economy in cases of severe floods. Imposing mandatory coverage for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (like for private homes) would be a further step towards better flood risk management. However, such a measure should be built on long-term planning and a risk-based tariff that reflects the location and the vulnerability of insured risks. When considering the criteria for qualifying events for insurance claims settlement, Romanian systems call for acknowledgment of the state of a natural disaster by competent authorities, whereby they are also expected to designate disaster zones. Skipping this acknowledgment process would greatly simplify the claim settlement process, but could expose PAID to numerous small floods. Introducing a small insurance deductible of 5-7% for flood related damages would address this problem. A long-term strategy that integrates insurance in the overall national flood risk management plans would be of value for Romania as well. In terms of PAID’s premium rate the Romanian government has announced premiums PAID would charge per dwelling before conducting any modelling. Subsequent research on reinsurance costs suggested that for such a scheme to be viable there would need to be a minimum of 5% deductible introduced, thereby also incentivizing policyholders to invest in risk reduction. In that respect there is an ongoing uncertainty about the stability of the scheme. But as PAID has not been exposed to severe events it was allowed to build up a substantial reserve and a well-structured reinsurance program. This has put it in a relatively safe place for further growth, but this can easily be challenged by a disastrous event. Increasing insurance penetration requires law enforcement. Due to the lack of enforcement of the law, currently, only a small fraction of residential dwellings participates in the PAID scheme (c. 20% at the end of 2019 and similar over the last five years). In order to support PAID and incentivize the purchase of 10 home insurance, Romania has set restrictions on receiving government compensation in case of natural disaster. With PAID’s current penetration rate this setup would put Romanian government in a position, in an aftermath of a disastrous event, to choose between (a) leaving a very large percentage of homeowners without any aid and (b) breaking the law and at the same time undermining PAID. Increasing PAID’s penetration by enforcing the law prior to such an event would help alleviate the likelihood of facing such a dilemma. Municipal governments have a role in supporting insurance penetration. Introducing incentives for them to follow through with this role could help, by possibly linking post-disaster compensation to municipalities to their level of PAID penetration. In Section E, Chapter E.3., broad conclusions are also drawn about the many aspects of flood insurance and its enhancement in Romania, covering such issues as broadening the sector provided with cover, and increased law enforcement where flood insurance is mandatory. 11 SECTION B: Introduction Background This report was delivered under the Administration Agreement signed between the European Commission on behalf of the European Union and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development concerning the Part II Europe 2020 Programmatic Single-Donor Trust Fund on February 28, 2020. It corresponds to Output 1: Stocktaking report under the above-mentioned Agreement. The specific objective of this technical assistance is to support the Government of Romania (GoR) in enhancing its capacity in relation to flood risk management and urban and spatial planning, taking into account relevant international best practice. Romania is one of the European countries most at risk of floods, with annual floods causing major economic damage as well as posing a threat to life. Climate change is expected to further exacerbate the frequency and magnitude of extreme flooding events. Raising the flood risk awareness of the exposed population and taking adequate flood risk management measures is an important step in improving resilience and recovery and decreasing the exposure to and the impacts of floods. Currently, norms for urban and spatial development in Romania only partially take into consideration information on flood hazard and risk. Furthermore, only a limited number of households are covered by flooding insurance schemes, which are considered to be an essential element for recovery from flooding as well as a way to increase resilience to flooding. The activities developed under this Trust Fund aim at increasing the awareness of public administrations charged with urban and spatial planning on the need for the integration of flood risk management considerations into their practices, including by considering international best practice. The Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forest (MEWF) and the World Bank Group signed on October 16, 2019 an agreement for the “Technical Support for the Preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans for Romania”, as a Reimbursable Advisory Service (RAS) with the overall objective to enhance the flood risk management capacity of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests (MEWF) and the National Administration “Romanian Water” (ANAR); this would be done by supporting the development of Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Maps and the Flood Risk Management Plans according to the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). The relevant results of this current Technical Assistance (delivered under the Administration Agreement signed between the European Commission on behalf of the European Union and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) are complementary with the parallel RAS mentioned above and will be integrated into the development of the second cycle FRMP, thus further contributing to the strengthening of Romania’s institutional capacity for flood risk management. B.1. Objectives B.1.1. Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management Through this Output the World Bank aims to provide support to the Government of Romania (GoR) in assessing the relevant legal framework, the relevant institutions and identifying the relevant stakeholders (including their roles and competences) with regard to urban and spatial planning and flood risk management. The Bank will furthermore support the GoR in identifying potential challenges related to the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning. Specifically, in this first part of the project, the Bank will support the GoR in: 12 a) Identifying and assessing the legal framework, related to flood risk management, urban and spatial planning; b) Identifying and assessing the relevant existing planning tools, including River Basin and Flood Risk Management Plans, Flood Hazard and Risk Maps, National, County and Local Land Use Plans; c) Mapping the relevant public institutions and stakeholders, together with their roles and competences in relation to: (i) River basin and flood risk management; (ii) Urban, spatial and land use planning; d) Identifying potential pilot areas to facilitate more detailed assessments on the potential challenges to the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning as well as potential measures that would facilitate such integration. A sub-sequent Output which will be delivered during the summer of 2022 will support the GoR in preparing a proposed draft Guidance document on the Integration of Flood Risk Management into Urban and Spatial Planning Practices. The proposed Guidance will aim to facilitate GoR’s integration of flood risk management aspects into its urban and spatial planning practices and will aim to help address its capacity building needs. It will be based on the findings of the Stocktaking Report (Output 1) and the International Best Practices Report (Output 3), including the assessment of the legal framework, the mapping of relevant institutions and stakeholders and the identification and assessment of relevant existing planning tools. Furthermore, the Bank will assist the GoR in conducting three pilot activities in the pilot areas identified as a result of the activity carried out under this stocktaking report, aimed at facilitating more detailed assessments on the challenges and required actions to improve the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning at different levels of authority. The findings of these pilot activities will be integrated into the proposed Guidance. The Technical Assistance will also assist the GoR in its establishment of an Inter-institutional Coordination Group to improve the communication and collaboration between the urban and spatial planning sector and flood risk managers. This coordination group to be set up in the context of the project would initially serve as a basis for facilitating and organizing meetings and for the exchange of information with relevant authorities and stakeholders in the fields of flood risk management, urban and spatial planning and flood insurance. The lack of inter-institutional coordination has been identified as a major burden for effective flood risk management in urban areas. The Inter-institutional Coordination Group will help to establish a continuous communication during the project and should be insitutionalized to prevail beyond the time of the project. B.1.2. Flood insurance The overall objective here is to provide the basis for further developing recommendations to the Government of Romania related to the insurance component of flood risk management systems in Romania by assessing the legal framework related to flood insurance and by examining the roles of relevant public institutions and stakeholders. This part of this report provides an overview of flood insurance in Romania, with the goal of identifying the main challenges behind a low flood insurance penetration for private and public assets. The focus of the analysis is on the Natural Disaster Insurance Pool - PAID (Pool-ul de Asigurare Impotriva Dezastrelor Naturale), which was founded with the goal of protecting homeowners from adverse financial impacts of natural disasters in Romania. 13 Optional flood insurance coverage provided in excess of compulsory PAID coverage for homeowners and flood insurance endorsements included in business insurance coverage as well as coverage of government assets are also covered in this report. A sub-sequent report which will be delivered during the summer of 2022 will provide recommendations to the GoR regarding the potential need of adapting the flooding insurance scheme (the Recommendations on insurance schemes to improve resilience and recovery from flooding), with the objective of improving resilience and the recovery potential from flood events. The Recommendations will aim to address the issue of only limited coverage of Romanian households by the existing mandatory insurance scheme, and the potential need for an additional instrument for enabling the coverage of municipalities. B.2. Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management: a synergistic relationship In the context of the objectives listed above, it is important to understand how spatial planning fits into the complex web of interventions that are possible to reduce flood risk. There are in this respect many different approaches to reducing this risk from flooding (Figure 1). Traditionally these approaches have been categorized into structural and non-structural measures, the former involving engineering works to reduce the probability of flooding. The latter emphasis, on non- structural measures, addresses those people and their property at risk from flooding and seeks to reduce their exposure and their vulnerability in order to reduce risk and maximize safety. Therefore, Figure 1 shows where urban and spatial planning and building regulations fit into the general scope of flood risk reduction measures. In essence they are proactive measures, anticipating flooding in specific geographical areas and proposing to limit both the exposure and the vulnerability of those properties and communities at risk. In reality, many of these measures are complementary: they need to work within portfolios of measures rather than singly. But often the responsible authorities that propose and implement different dimensions of flood risk reduction measures as shown in Figure 1 are different. In many cases land-use and building regulation is a local responsibility for towns and regions, whereas the construction of levees, dams and other engineering works is often the responsibility of catchment authorities or central government. Therein lies the problem of how to integrate different policies and measures, to maximize their combined effects. In this respect urban and spatial planning and flood risk management need to be mutually supportive. The relationship, is two-way and synergistic: ▪ Urban spatial planning, first, needs to be supportive of flood risk management and its efforts to reduce risk both now and in the future. Without urban and spatial planning purposefully controlling the development and hence the urbanization of areas where there is a flood risk, that risk will grow in the future in a potentially uncontrolled way. The “escalator effect” (Parker, 1995)1 describes how development is protected by engineering works, only for increased development to take place based on that level of protection. This, in turn, means that the flood damage potential in the at-risk area grows, justifying expenditure on further engineering works which in turn allow further development. Such a phenomenon has been observed worldwide. 1 Parker, D J (1995), Flood plain development policy in England and Wales, Applied Geography, 15, 4, 341-363 14 In this respect, urban and spatial planning needs, first, to recognize flood risk as a constraint to development and/or impose conditions on it (such as through prohibitions and building codes). Obviously, there are many other constraints but through spatial planning, using a model, it is possible, secondly, to integrate and take into account all types of flood sources (from rivers; rainfall events; water exceeding the capacity of the sewerage network; etc.) and implement counter measures. This will be in order to propose needed structural and non-structural measures to support the development of the area, compensating for its increased protection with complementary measures such as new green areas, the collection of rainwater from roofs and storage of flood waters in tanks for later use. ▪ Flood risk management needs relate to relevant urban and spatial planning situations and assist where possible in supporting the aims of urban and spatial planning and its response to community development needs. For example, there may be areas where whole communities and indeed administrative areas are liable to flood risk, and where development cannot be denied because without it the location becomes impoverished. This is neither wise nor fair. Flood risk management can proactively assist in these situations by providing tailor-made solutions to particular developments to reduce risk to manageable and understood levels. Flood risk management, in reducing flood probabilities and consequences, can assist development in these situations and prevent the “sterilisation” of floodplains. To take one extreme example, no one would suggest that any new development taking place in the city of Amsterdam has to be prevented because the whole of the city is located in an area liable to flooding; flood risk management there has provided a very high standard of protection so that such development can proceed, and safety is maximized. Flood risk management, correctly and wisely applied, can be a facilitator of development. It can also support urban and spatial planning by indicating the areas with high and medium likelihood and vulnerability to flooding. The approach must not be simply prohibitive, in order to allow the exploration of possibilities and the findings of solutions based on that analysis of the probability of flooding and the vulnerability of constructions in the risk-affected areas. But the approach must be purposeful and transparent, as there are many competing forces, including powerful commercial interests, wanting other uses of these floodplain areas, and often denying the risk there in order to justify their wishes. Therefore, flood risk management and urban and spatial planning should be seen as working together to promote safe and sustainable communities and their development. That is the challenge. 15 Figure 1 - Flood risk management measures and urban spatial planning considerations (Parker, 2000)2 B.3. The concept of „integration” The focus of this stocktaking report is to review the state of play with regard to the current situation concerning „The integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning practices”3. The term „integration” is therefore important here. There are, however, several different approaches to this definition, so some authoritative texts on this matter for clarification and enlightenment are needed. Table 1 - Authoritative explanations of the concept of integration from the research literature4 Author Integration Explanation Rayner & Howlett Integration ▪ Policies with matching interests and objectives; (2009) ▪ Written in unison to complement each other; ▪ Collaboration with actors and stakeholders. Candel & Partial integration ▪ Similar interests and objectives; Biesbroek (2016) ▪ Some attempt to address policies togheter; ▪ Some collaboration with actors and stakeholders; Candel & Absence of ▪ Policies written in isolation with different objectives; Biesbroek (2016) integration ▪ Not addressing the other policy; ▪ Conflicting interests between actors and stakeholders and no collaboration. 2 Parker D J (2000) (ed.) Floods, Routledge, London 3 Part II Europe 2020 Programmatic Single-donor Trust Fund Description (Annex 1), page 3. 4 Candel, J.J.L. & Biesbroek, R. (2016). Toward a processual understanding of policy integration , Political Science, 49, 211-231. Rayner, J. & Howlett, M. (2009). Introduction: Understanding integrated policy strategies and their evolution, Policy and Society, 28 (2), 99-109. 16 In this respect Table 1 gives the perspective from full integration to the absence of integration. Full integration is described as „matching interests” and policies „written in unison to complement each other”. It specifies collaboration between all relevant actors and stakeholders. The lack of integration implies policies written in isolation, with different objectives, one policy not addressing another policy, and conflicting interests between different actors and stakeholders, with a lack of collaboration. These explanations are used in the analysis of different levels of integration between flood risk management and urban and spatial planning practices and will also be mentioned in the concluding section of this report where Conclusions are drawn and views as to The Way Forward are given. B.4. Methodology used B.4.1. Urban and spatial planning and flood risk management This stocktaking report is a product of several methods being used in parallel and also sequentially. The dominant sources of information and conclusions were (a) the many documents in existence concerning urban and spatial planning and flood risk management in Romania, and (b) experts’ judgement. There were also undertook (c) a small number of interviews with both academic specialists and selected municipalities representatives. The methodology, in essence, therefore included: 1. Identifying and assessing the legal framework related to both flood risk management and urban and spatial planning. This involved a comprehensive assessment and analysis of the legal documents extant in Romania today in these two fields, and a selection and analysis from those documents of aspects pertinent to their integration. 2. Identifying and assessing the relevant existing planning tools in the field of flood risk management and urban and spatial planning, involving again a comprehensive search and analysis of the relevant documents concerned with these tools. 3. At the same time as these two first steps, information on all the stakeholders and public institutions involved in urban and spatial planning and flood risk management in Romania were collected and the roles and competences in relation to these two fields were identified. This information has been translated into a diagrammatic ‘map’ form for presentation in this report. 4. The identification of gaps in the legal and planning tool provision for the two areas involved, building on existing assessments (for example “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests), on the World Bank analysis, on the academic interviewees and on two interview/surveys from Romanian municipalities focusing on the integration of urban and spatial planning and flood risk management „on the ground”. 5. Potential areas of improvement for integrating urban and spatial planning and flood risk management are based on the identified gaps and also in part on the results from the interviews described above. 6. Identifying potential pilot areas for more detailed assessments on the potential challenges to the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning, based on a series of criteria used to determine the locations selected. These locations were carefully chosen in relation to their flood history and the availability thereof important planning documents. 17 B.4.2. Flood insurance The stocktaking here was carried out mostly by using publicly available information. It was followed by interviews with members of PAID senior management and insurance companies, which also provided additional data and information on the discussed topics. Interviews were also held with several municipalities to obtain their views on what is hindering the enforcement of the PAID insurance law on compulsory catastrophe insurance, including flood coverage, as well as their views on the use of insurance as a risk management tool. 18 SECTION C: Integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning C.1. Stakeholders and their roles in Romanian flood risk management and urban and spatial planning C.1.1. Stakeholders and their interactions5 Reducing the risk of flooding represents an activity of national interest for the protection of the Romanian population. In this respect the integration of spatial and urban planning and flood risk management is a very important process. The relations between the institutions and other stakeholders involved in this process are a key issue for successful integration. Between national level public institutions (e.g., Ministries) are well-established corroboration relations. All other public institutions have corroboration or indirect relations between flood risk management and urban and spatial planning public institutions and stakeholders. This is a complex pattern, but this Chapter is deliberately kept brief in the interests of clarity, but it should be noted that many more details about the roles of the stakeholders and relations between institutions can be found in Annex A of this report and shown in Figure 2 below. C.1.2. Institutions involved in urban and spatial planning and their roles Spatial planning involves several public institutions that have roles and competences in this field clearly defined by law. The institutions with direct attributions in spatial development are: ▪ The Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration; ▪ The State Inspectorate of Construction; ▪ The National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising; ▪ County Councils. These have the role of coordinating the spatial planning and urban planning activities at the county level (conducting and deciding the procedures for regulating land use in flooded areas and enforcing national legislation in the field of land use in those areas). They have responsibilities for the development of strategic flood protection at the county level, coordinating the activities with the elaboration and use of flood vulnerability maps6; ▪ Local Councils. These ensure the coordination and are responsible for the entire urban activity in an area (their administrative-territorial unit); ensure the observance of the legal provisions and regulations included in the approved landscaping and urban planning documents, in order to carry out their urban development programs7; ▪ The National Investment Company. The relations that are established between these public institutions and stakeholders are of several types: coordination/ cooperation relations, subordination relations, corroboration, indirect relations, direct relations. The main actor in urban and spatial planning is the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration (MDPWA). It is coordinating the entire activity carried out at the national level. It has 5 Many more details about the roles of the stakeholders and relations between institutions can be found in Annex A of this report. 6 Annex 1 to GD no. 846/2010, IV. Factors at the regional level, A. County Level 7 Annex 1 to GD no. 846/2010, IV. Factors at the regional level, B. Local Level 19 directly subordinated to it the County Councils, Local Councils, The State Construction Inspectorate and has direct relations with the National Agency for Cadaster and Real Estate Advertising and the National Investment Company. As the main national level coordinator, it has constant corroborating relations with other institutions at national level, both with those that have main activities in the field of flood risk management, and with those that have secondary activity in this field. C.1.3. Institutions involved in flood risk management and their roles The institutions involved in flood risk management act in two directions: for the prevention of floods and for action in case of floods. The main institution involved in flood risk management for prevention is the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, with an important role in the elaboration of the National Strategies for flood risk management (FRM) and Climate Change8, coordination of the plans for the climate change adaptation, for the river basins management and for the flood risk management, including prevention, protection, preparedness (including introduction of alarm-warning systems), response and recovery measures in order to minimize the effects of floods. The Ministry also has a coordinating role in the elaboration of hazard maps and flood risk maps at the level of river basins, a supporting role in the introduction of a system of property and personal insurance for floods9, it also elaborates and updates the regulations regarding the management of emergency situations in case of floods, and coordinates the elaboration of flood defense plans at the national level10. Technical coordination at a national level of flood prevention and defense actions11 is carried out by the Ministerial Committee on Emergency Situations (within the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests), consisting of the leadership in and of the Ministry, experts and specialists from the Ministry's own apparatus, the National Administration ”Romanian Waters” (ANAR), the National Administration of Meteorology, as well as from the main institutions managing hydrotechnical constructions with the role of flood defense. The commissions and institutions subordinated to the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests have important roles in seeking the prevention of floods, and are: ▪ The Ministerial Committee on Emergency Situations – this is in charge of elaborating the National Strategy for Flood Risk Management and coordinating the elaboration of flood defense plans; ▪ The Inter-ministerial Committee on Water; ▪ The National Commission for the Safety of Dams and Hydro-technical Works, which coordinates the monitoring of dams, reservoirs and other hydro-technical works; ▪ The National Commission for the Safety of Dykes, which coordinates the monitoring of dykes and ranking them by their degree of safeness; ▪ The Romanian Center for the Ecological Recovery of Rivers, coordinating River Basin Management Plans measures implementation and ecological services development at the basin level; ▪ The National Administration “Romanian Waters” has a big role in the elaboration of flood defense plans of river basins, which include the regulations for coordinated operation at floods of all existing 8 Climate changes have a great influence on floods and the National Strategy for Climate Change includes a set of measures that can reduce the damages caused by the floods (see Annex B, GD no. 529/2013). 9 GD 846/2010, Annex 1, no. 10 10 The roles of MEWF can be found in Annex 1 to GD no. 846/2010 at IV.Factors at regional level, B. At Local Level 11 GD 846/2010, Annex 1 20 facilities in the basin, regardless of the owner, and in the implementation of flood risk management measures along the rivers; National Administration “Romanian Waters” has as subordinates eleven River Basins Administrations (RBAs): Someș – Tisa RBA, Crișuri RBA, Mureș RBA, Banat RBA, Jiu RBA, Olt RBA, Argeș – Vedea RBA, Buzău – Ialomița RBA, Siret RBA, Prut – Bârlad RBA, Dobrogea – Litoral RBA, as well as the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management and the Complex Exploitation Site Stânca - Costeşti. The RBA is considered the organizational level, the Unit of Management, for the implementation of each step of the Floods Directive, so the RBAs are directly responsible for stakeholder’s engagement, from very beginning, from the preliminary flood risk assessment up to the elaboration of the programs of measures of the FRMPs. The River Basin Administrations can be associated to the major river basins or systems of rivers, and each River Basin Administration has subordinated structures organized at the county level, called Water Management Systems. ▪ The National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management is in charge of the elaboration of hydrological forecasts and issuance of hydrological warnings, the elaboration of concepts and methodologies for planning in the field of water management (hazard maps and flood risk maps), and the elaboration of the master plans for the development and management of the river basins12.The National Climate Change Experts Commission, coordinating the National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and an economy increasingly based on low carbon emission during 2016-2030 with a horizon to 2050; ▪ The National Meteorological Administration which is ensuring meteorological vigilance, elaboration of forecasts and meteorological warnings on various time intervals, and the maintenance of web applications for the dissemination of meteorological data and warnings; ▪ The National Agency for Environmental Protection. This has an important role in strategic environmental planning, monitoring the environmental factors and authorization of activities with environmental impact.13 ; ▪ The National Environmental Guard has responsibilities in applying the Government's policy on preventing, detecting and sanctioning violations of legal provisions on environmental protection, including non-compliance with regulations provided in specific laws in the field of industrial pollution control and risk management, hazardous substances and preparations, biodiversity and protected natural areas, environmental fund and other areas provided for by the specific legislation in force. This institution plays an active role in ensuring environmental security through actions to prevent risks and limit ecological threats, namely pollution of water resources, air, decreased soil fertility, transboundary pollution and others.14. Other institutions involved in the prevention of floods are: ▪ S.P.E.E.H. Hidroelectrica S.A. This institution is ensuring the safe operation of the hydropower infrastructure and the implementation of warning-alarm systems downstream of the dams, and is subordinated to the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism; ▪ River Basin Committee is an independent organization - responsible for the approval of all the products developed under Floods Directive: Preliminary Flood Risk Assessments (PFRAs), Flood Hazard and Risk Maps (FHRMs) and Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs). The main actor involved in flood risk management for action is National Administration “Romanian Waters” (ANAR), ensuring the management of the technical support group of the county committees for 12 GD 846/2010 13 GD 1000/2012 14 GD 1005/2012 21 emergency situations, and being responsible for operational coordination in case of emergencies under the coordination of a county’s prefect. The other important actor in flood risk management is the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, which is a structure subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which deals, at a national level, with the coordination of all institutions involved in the management of emergency situations, following the country’s institutional framework and national and international regulations. The other committees and institutions involved in the action plan in case of floods are: ▪ The National Committee of Emergency Situations - this is involved in the management of emergencies created by floods, and is responsible for developing the country’s Integrated Risk Management Strategy and participates in international actions in the field of risks; ▪ The County Committees for Emergency Situations – these declare the state of alert at the county level, and ensure, through the operational center of the county inspectorate for emergency situations, the transmission of forecasts and warnings to all localities and objectives in areas likely to be affected. They order the permanent follow-up of the evolution of the specific risk factors and inform operative reports through the technical support group on the specific situation in the field. This ensures technical coordination, through the technical support groups, of the operative intervention actions, organizes the evacuation of people from the flooded area and ensures the needs of food, medicines and health care. ▪ The Local Committees for Emergency Situations15 – they assess the emergencies that have arisen in their administrative territory, establishing the specific measures and actions to be taken and monitoring the implementation of these measures, ensuring the participation of the intervention forces made up of locals in the necessary actions. ▪ The Red Cross. This provides emergency medical assistance, seeks the prevention of mass diseases, providing water and food for affected or evacuated persons, ensuring the accommodation and shelter of the affected or evacuated persons. They also provide intervention logistics; ▪ The National Agency of Land Reclamation ensures the necessary intervention at the hydro-technical constructions under its administration and the evacuation of internal waters from dammed enclosures through drainage arrangements or through other means; it is subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. C.1.4. Support public actors with roles in flood risk management or urban and spatial planning The above institutional arrangements may appear to be complex, and indeed there is complexity there. Nevertheless, in addition to the organizations described above (and in Annex A), support public actors are also involved and in general have also roles and competences in the field of flood risk management or spatial planning. These institutions and stakeholders have attributions and participate in issuing permits for urban planning documents and they also have attributions for adopting prevention and action measures in flood risk management. These institutions are: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, the Ministry of Finance etc. 15 GD 846/2010 22 THE MAIN STOCKTAKING „TAKE-HOME” MESSAGES from the descriptions above and in Annex A are that:  There is a very large number of stakeholders involved at the interface between urban and spatial planning and flood risk management in Romania.  Whilst there may be some duplication, the complexity is inherent in the integration of the two fields of public administration (and is certainly not restricted to Romania). Each organization has its important role and competences, and the potential for collaborative working is high, but almost certainly practices could be improved.  There is a need at the pilot studies stage for some discussion of further investigation here, focusing on a number of facets including information flow between organizations/stakeholders. 23 Figure 2 - Relations between stakeholders involved in flood risk management and urban and spatial planning in Romania 16 16 Spatial development and flood risk management stakeholders are shown diagrammatically in a circle here, and have a corroboration / collaboration relationship in this field, not a subordination one. 24 C.2. Gaps in flood risk management and urban and spatial planning in Romania This chapter provides a stocktaking description of the existing gaps in flood risk management and urban and spatial planning in Romania, as a result of World Bank’s analysis, as well as information on gaps perceived by participants and specialists in the field, from the conducted interviews. C.2.1. The gaps in the evidence base Flood risk management is a field well known and applied by Romanian specialists. Similarly, spatial development is a field in which Romanian specialists have the tools necessary to carry out their activity. However, the integration of flood risk management into spatial planning is not an independent area but is an interpenetration of these two different areas. The integration of flood risk management into spatial planning has become a current necessity, as it is clear that the individual functioning of the two fields does not work as well as is desirable. This integrated approach is still in the early stages in Romania and although there are many available tools (the national legal framework; international research; international best practices, etc.) much remains to be done for the successful integration and implementation of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning and vice versa. Figure 3 - Evidence base of flood risk management (FRM) integration into urban and spatial planning (SP) and vice versa The evidence base for this topic (see Figure 3 above) means applying or translating research findings on the practice of implementing and integrating flood risk management measures into spatial planning, 25 considering the particularities of each area. Also, it means abandoning outdated practices and choosing effective, scientifically validated methods for properly addressing the needs of each area (such as implementing a whole-system approach that assesses and compares the structural and non-structural ways to pursue the optimal measures for reducing flood risk). A very significant gap in information in this area is the extent to which there has been unwise development in flood risk areas that is likely to cause significant flood damage there from future floods. A systematic method of collecting such data is necessary for Romania, as has been developed in other countries, for example in the United Kingdom. There each development proposal is scrutinized by the Environment Agency (broadly equivalent to Romania’s ANAR) as a statutory consultee to the development process. This means that each and every development in areas liable to flood risk is known by the flood risk management authorities, and a catalog of such cases collected and a quantification is possible of the extent to which developments throughout the whole country might be located in areas at risk from flooding. Such a system does not exist in Romania and therefore no intelligence is gathered as to the extent of the problem whereby poor integration between flood risk management and spatial planning results in such unwise urban‚ encroachment’ into areas liable to flooding. To identify additional important gaps in the Romanian evidence base of integrating flood risk management into spatial planning, a series of interviews17 with senior professionals and municipalities was conducted. The results are as follows (these are presented chronologically, from the acquisition phase to the implementation phase): ▪ Gaps in the public acquisition / procurement phase: In the acquisition documents it is often not required to identify flood risk management measures and to integrate them into spatial planning. Urban planners often make proposals for this matter, although this requirement does not explicitly exist. Also, flood studies are not frequently requested in the process of acquiring urban plans. Because of that these studies are prepared only at the request of ANAR: ”These studies are requested by ANAR most of the time and are paid for by the City Hall. Based on them ANAR approval is obtained. In most cases, these studies do not even reach the spatial planners. And even if in some cases are delivered to the spatial planner, he would have nothing to take over into the spatial planning plan. Apart from the delimitation of floodable areas and prohibition of any construction in floodplain they do not have (information on the) measures or provisions to reduce flood risk”.18 ▪ Gaps in establishing the appropriate spatial planning plans teams: As the legal framework (both flood risk management and spatial planning) does not provide a specification of the minimum specialists to be involved in spatial planning, most of the time these teams do not have the key people such as landscape architects and water engineers. Thus, ”the lack of projects and strategies made in multidisciplinary teams” leads to gaps in the process of elaboration of the spatial planning documentation. Because of that, most often these plans do not have integrated flood risk management measures or do not have a coherent proposal for their integration. The role of landscape architects is important because they are the key specialists who can promote an integration in symbiosis with both nature and the built environment. ”It is very important that the strategies related 17 The names of the specialist quoted bellow will not be disclosed 18 Senior specialist in spatial planning 26 to flood risk management are developed by multidisciplinary teams, with integrated professionals not only in the environment, ecology, but also risk specialist, urban planners, landscapers, architects, in order to achieve a efficient management, applied in a particular way, necessarily by spatialization on clear and specific maps and plans”.19 ▪ Gaps in the elaboration phase: In most cases, the preliminary studies for natural risks do not have spatial data and contain only “descriptive texts, in sterile written pieces, which are not related to the studied territory and the particularity of the area”20. The lack of the spatial component of these studies was reported by several interviewed specialists. ”The spatial planning documentation coordinated by me had at their disposal risk maps but only if (the) local administration had previously carried out these studies. There were no dedicated flood studies, as preliminary studies for those spatial planning documentations.” Integration of flood risk measures into spatial planning plans is thus very rare, only 5-15 percent of the spatial planning documentation has some flood risk management measures. The most commonly implemented measures are the prohibition of constructions in floodable areas. The integration is difficult due also to the inaccessibility of the spatial digital data for spatial planners, such as Flood Hazard and Risk Maps. These maps were provided to the County Councils as part of the agreement mentioned in GD 663/2013 and they had to further provide them to Local Councils. Despite this, Flood Hazard and Risk Maps are not usually made available to spatial planners as GIS format or another similar format. This situation is mostly because City Halls don’t have qualified staff to operate the GIS data, they don’t have adequate software to open the files or people from Territorial and Urban Planning Department are unaware of the existence of these maps (because these maps were provided to the City Hall secretariat or to another department). Also, another gap in the process of elaboration is the lack of dissemination of the relevant information (such as national policies of flood risk management) to Territorial and Urban Planning Department21. Because of this, most of the time spatial planning documentation do not have proper integration of flood risk management measures. Although there is available research on flood risk management measures and best practices at the national and international level, they are not sufficiently applied and integrated in Romanian urban planning plans for several reasons, including: ”the land property, lack of funds at the local level, negligence or lack of consensus at local level for the implementation of decisions."22 ▪ Gaps in the approval phase: The long-term approval process for territorial and urban planning documentation makes it difficult to integrate flood risk management measures. Although ”the relations between the public institutions are good and efficient” the approval of these plans in the last few years has been slow (more than 3 years for General Urban Plans made for municipalities)23. Also, the flow of information from all stakeholders involved into the approval process is limited and usually the General Urban Plan is analyzed by each public institution without consulting other 19 Landscape architect and senior specialist in spatial planning 20 Senior specialist in spatial planning 21 According to Tulcea municipality interview 22 Senior professional in geography 23 Tulcea municipallity 27 stakeholders involved (except in the case when they are part of the Committee of Territorial and Urban Planning Development). ▪ Gaps in the implementation phase:24 Implementing measures to reduce flood risk is difficult due to reduced land area under the management of municipalities. Although rare, certain spatial planning documentation have integrated flood risk management measures such as green areas, yellow landscape, blue areas, dedicated technical proposals, functionalization and maintenance of existing measures, etc. But these measures ”were not fully implemented by public authorities, due to various reasons: lack of time and funding for implementation, lack of integrated and clear legislation, lack of strategic coherence in flood risk management, lack of projects, lack of involvement, etc.”.25 C.2.2. Gaps in the legislative arrangements and tools for flood risk management and its integration with urban and spatial planning In the flood risk management legal framework, a series of main rules and instrument in place, which regulate flood risk management in direct relation with spatial planning were identified: ▪ The interdiction of building in the floodplain; ▪ The promotion of appropriate land-use practices regarding agricultural and forestry land; ▪ Roles and competences for stakeholders involved in flood risk management; ▪ Rules for the elaboration of flood hazard and risk maps; ▪ Measures and actions to prevent and mitigate flood risk in natural risk areas that have to be included in spatial planning plans. Although the existing legislation has several regulations useful for integrating flood risk management into spatial planning, and in that respect is not deficient, some areas with gaps were identified: ▪ The interdiction of building in the floodplain: this is a provision that does not solve the problem of those living in these areas. If for new developments the legal framework is very clear, that it is forbidden (except for some cases, for special constructions), for existing ones nothing is stipulated, nor conditions for making constructions safer, or measures to relocate people who are living in these areas. Also, the exceptions mentioned in Law 107/1996 for allowing construction in the major riverbeds do not have clear conditions. • Roles and competences for stakeholders: Law 107/1996 regulates the public institutions responsible for coordinating the actions (prefect of the county)) and the operative (ANAR) in case of floods. But the law does not mention who will be responsible for the coordination of the actions from ANAR. In spite of that, in the Regulation for the organization and functioning of ANAR, the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU) within ANAR stipulates that the Operational Center for Emergency Situations is managed by the General Director and that ANAR ensures through the River Basin Administrations in periods of high waters or floods the implementation of measures. mandatory operations in connection with the exploitation of reservoirs. 24 More about gaps in the implementation and enforcement can be seen in the sub-chapter C.2.4. 25 Landscape architect and senior specialist in spatial planning 28 • Another important role in the flood prevention process is for the owners of dams and other hydro- technical works who are responsible for the administration and maintenance of these. An awareness campaign on the provisions of the law regarding them is needed, to which the owners of dams and hydrotechnical constructions with a role in tackling floods will be invited. In this respect, budget must be made available for this awareness raising exercise. ▪ Flood Hazard and risk maps: The flood hazard and risk mapping for the Areas of Potentially Significant Flood Risk / APSFR is not suitable for urban or spatial planning in most of the cases and it has limitations as the scale is not adequate for urban or spatial planning. So, there is a need to conduct a country wide flood risk assessment at county and municipality level as there is no land without flood risk and the APSFRs do not cover the whole country. ▪ Measures and actions to prevent and mitigate flood risk in natural risk areas: In the strategy approved by GD 846/11.08.2010 only one recommendation is made: each urban locality exposed to the flood risk has to propose a unique conceptual program regarding the collection and discharge of rainwater. First, this should be an obligation, not a recommendation and second, it is not enough. More measures should be mentioned to be integrated into spatial planning. In GD 846/11.08.2010 a series of objectives were set, such as: effective control of land uses, by prohibiting the location of new construction and the development of activities in areas frequently exposed to floods and the identification of other activities likely to lead to an increased risk of floods. The problem is that the rules of applying this in the urban plans are missing, although it specified that the management and the decision of the procedures for regulating the land use in the flood zones and the application of the national legislation in the field of land use in the flood zones are the responsibility of the county councils and the local councils. In GD 1286/2004, on the approval of the General Plan of preventive measures to avoid and reduce the effects of floods, the reanalysis of the areas at risk of floods and landslides and vulnerable points in the administrative territory of counties, municipalities, cities and communes is proposed as a preventive measure. Those responsible for the analysis are the county and local disaster defense commissions and the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, but no deadline was provided for this measure. Also, no specific funding is mentioned for this measure. That makes very difficult situation that action to be fulfilled, without clear line budget allocation. In GD 663/2013 it is specified that in the spatial planning of an urban area the flood hazard maps have to be taken into account, which shows the potentially floodable areas in the floodplain for flood waves with a maximum outflow characterized by the following annual exceedance probabilities: 0.1% (low probability), 1% (medium probability) and 10% (high probability). But, as it has been mentioned before, the problem of these maps is that they are at the level of APSFRs at a 1:25.000 scale, thus not an adequate scale for spatial and urban planning. 29 C.2.3. Gaps in the legislative arrangements and tools for urban and spatial planning and its integration with flood risk management In the spatial planning legal framework, a series of main rules and instrument in place, which regulates the land use in floodable areas were identified: ▪ The obligation to integrate short-, medium- and long-term regulations regarding natural risk areas and measures for flood risk prevention and mitigation into territorial and urban planning documentation; ▪ Prohibitions and conditions for new buildings in areas with natural risks; ▪ Building permits for areas with flood risk; ▪ The possible alternatives of solving the informal settlements problem; ▪ Types of preliminary studies for spatial planning, which includes the study for establishing areas of natural risk and types of specialists who can elaborate these studies; ▪ The conditions for updating territorial and urban planning documentation in direct relation with the restriction imposed by natural risks. Although the existing legislation has several regulations useful for integrating flood risk management into spatial planning, some areas with gaps were identified: ▪ Integration of flood risk management measures into spatial planning: In Government Decision no. 382/ 02.04.2003 it is mentioned that the proposals for prevention, mitigation / elimination and/ or acceptance of natural risks are made within the Strategy for the development of the territorial planning plan. Also, according to this GD, in the urban planning documents, specific regulations should be made for the areas of natural risks (i.e., for the floodable areas, the promotion of some programs, studies and projects regarding the measures for eliminating the causes). But, despite the regulations of this law, these measures should not be established only by the urban planners, but by county and local studies on natural risk factors, which should be worked on by an interdisciplinary team of urban planners and hydro-technical engineers. Thus, the law should include the obligation of making these studies and to integrate hydro-technical engineers into the urban and spatial planning team. Another problem is that the Government Decision no. 382 / 02.04.2003 has not had any changes and completions since 2003 and until now, although in these 18 years there have been many urban floods throughout the country and the spatial planning legal framework has undergone numerous additions and changes. Also, as a senior specialist in spatial planning who was interviewed said: ”Another problem is the level of taxation, as there are no legislative provisions on compensatory measures (reduction of the rainwater tax, for example) for those who retain rainwater inside and discharge it into the green space (direct infiltration) or reuse it when watering the garden. For example, we live in a house and have eaves, not pipes, in other words, we infiltrate rainwater directly on the yard green space, but we still pay the same rainwater tax to the water-channel supplier.” ▪ Prohibitions and conditions in natural risk areas: There are contradictions in the spatial planning legislation: some laws (like Government Decision no. 525 / 27.06.1996) prohibit any construction in natural risk areas, while others like Government Decision no. 382 / 02.04.2003 are mentioning an obligation to specify in the urban planning documentation for floodable areas the elementary 30 conditions of conformation of the constructions with the flood risk areas (construction systems and specific foundations). So, according to GD 382 / 02.04.2003 it is possible to build with the mention of these regulations whilst according to GD 525 / 27.06.1996 it is not. But the main current problem, the existing built areas and people who are living in floodable areas are not mentioned in the legal framework: ”The only concrete provision is the prohibition of any building in the floodplain, but this prohibition does not solve the problem of those living in these areas. They live there at very high risk and there are no compensatory mechanisms for them, neither to be moved nor to take measures to reduce the risk of floods.”26 Thus, the spatial planning legal framework does not provide clear conditions for existing buildings. Given that the relocation of existing buildings in flooded areas is often difficult (due to insufficient funds, unavailable land, etc.), the legislation should provide on the one hand compensatory measures for the population living in these areas, but also the minimum requirements for constructions that must be adopted to ensure housing is safer in the event of floods. ▪ The preliminary studies for territorial and urban planning documentation: The spatial planning legal framework is not clear regarding the Studies for natural risk areas. Thus, these studies can be confused with risk maps (separate from territorial and urban planning documentation) as they are described in Government Decision no. 382 / 02.04.2003 but they are different things. Studies for natural risks are preliminary studies for territorial and urban plans and are integrated into those documentation as they are described in Order no. 233 / 26.02.2016, but they are not necessary studies because they present same data as risk maps. ▪ The content of county and local studies on risk areas is described minimally in Government Decision no. 382 / 02.04.2003, but does not contain important information such as recommendations for prevention and mitigation of risks, recommendations on how to build, if possible, in risk areas, recommendations for people already established in these areas / recommendations for existing built areas in floodplain. ▪ Updating territorial and urban planning documentation: The updating of the General Urban Plans must be done each 10 years, according to Law 350 / 6.07.2001, but this requirement is not dependent on the updating of the risk maps, which are updated every 6 years. C.2.4. Gaps in the implementation and enforcement of the integration between flood risk management and spatial planning The implementation of spatial planning is divided between the state as regulatory enforcement, responsible for planning issues of regional importance, development regions (responsible for Regional Sustainable Development Strategy implementation), counties (responsible for state administration policy implementation) and the municipalities, responsible for urban development. Local planning issues are controlled by the municipalities. In spatial planning practice, the local planning level (where the local land use plan is the most important instrument) is far more relevant than the county level. Still, at the county level the General Urban Plan in Committee of the Territorial and Urban Planning 26 Senior specialist in spatial planning 31 Development is approved. With the General Urban Plan, localities should consider Flood Hazard and Risk Maps in the process of urban development approval: ▪ to forbid new urban developments in areas with flood hazard/ flood risk (enforced by Water Law 107/1996 and its implementation documents, as well by the National Medium and Long- Term Flood Risk Management Strategy - GD 846/2010), ▪ and slightly different conditioned acceptance - to forbid the location of final constructions in major risk-bearing areas and “proposes protective/ local measures in the medium/low risk” as: extension, resizing of the Law of urban planning and territorial development - 350/2001 - and its implementation documents GD 663/2013). Here, it allows the building location based on a “notice”, relying on a location documentation prepared as per the content normative of Local Zonal Plan - PUZ (Order 2/2003, GD 382/2003). Even Water Law, exempts from the rule “of forbidden constructions” (49(1) “forbids the location in the floodable area of the main channel of new economic or social targets”) the new social and economic targets foreseen with flood defense works (art. 49(2)). In conclusion, conditioned acceptance for buildings in medium and low risk areas, under protective measures, is permitted27. It is a somewhat contradictory approach, not defining clear thresholds of hazard/risks for building – this permits some unwise urban development in floodplains and confusion in the legislation’s implementation. Thus, the implementation and enforcement of the above arrangements is not satisfactory. The main legal framework for Territorial and Urban Planning – Law 350/2001 - was enforced before the Floods Directive’s transposition into the Romanian legislation (Water Law was amended by GD 12/2007) and before setting the National Medium and Long-Term Flood Risk Management Strategy objectives in 2010 (GD 663/2010). In these laws different terminology is used, not well explained, an aspect which makes difficult the existing legislation’s implementation. The Floods Directive Flood Hazards and Risk Maps (Q10, Q100 and Q1000), quantified as low, medium and high risks, should be connected with and inform all decisions for land planning (especially the City Halls’ Territorial and Urban Planning Department) as one of the main instruments for comprehensive flood risk management. Unfortunately, even if these maps were provided to the Local Councils, for several reasons (see sub-chapter C.2.1.) these usually are not available for spatial planners. C.2.5. Two further issues / impediments The results of the analysis conducted showed that one of the most important impediments to integrating and implementing flood risk management into spatial planning is the out-of-date General Urban Plans or old PUGs currently in place. Although the process of updating the General Urban Plan is every 10 years according to the Law 350/2001 of territorial and urban development, in reality PUGs are just started to being updated after 10 years and the process of approval takes several years. So, the process of updating this document is independent of the timescale of updating the flood risk maps (these 27 GD 663/27.08.2013 art. 25: ”(1) Flood and hazard risk maps mainly includes the delimitation of the following flood risk areas: a) High risk areas - areas where it is necessary to impose an interdiction of permanent buildings, where the frequency of floods, depth, speed of water and duration of floods make these areas a drainage of large waters b) Medium risk areas – areas to be protected by structural and non-structural measures, according to the legislation and regulations in force c) Low risk areas – areas where damages are few and local measures are needed.”. 32 maps are updated every 6 years). These different timescales hinder the integration that is the subject of this report. Since there is no clear provision in the legal framework of an obligation to update urban planning documents while updating the risk maps or the adoption of new measures to combat floods, there are discrepancies between the information in the current urban planning documents and the existing flood risk maps. On the other hand, the long process of approving the General Urban Plans leads in some cases to the abandonment of this process for a period (as in the Tulcea PUG case - according to the interview with the municipality of Tulcea). Moreover, the multitude of approvals that must be obtained in the General Urban Plan approval process often discourages City Halls to initiate the update of this document and their spatial planners to participate in the acquisition procedure for these documentations. Thus, in some cases, the public acquisition / procurement procedure for PUG documentation was resumed due to the lack of willing participants. Another impediment in the implementation and integration of flood risk management measures into spatial planning is the lack of a water cadaster. Thus, the riverbeds and the water protection areas are not fully registered at the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising. In Law 107/1996 Water Law it is clearly stipulated that the rivers (surface waters) are public domains and the protection areas for water abstractions are also public domains, including strict restriction on exploitation. Also, is stipulated the obligation to have the Water Cadaster. All linked expenses to register in the land book the State’s ownership rights over the assets in the public domain of the State will be under the administration of the National Administration “Romanian Waters” (ANAR). But ANAR has not had included the necessary costs in its budget, because of a lack of funds for all water management needs. In consequence, the Water Cadaster was not fully registered. This makes it very difficult to plan and finance new flood protection measures because they need to prove the ownership of the land. Also, this makes it difficult to protect adequately cities historically developed in the floodplains and because of this new urban/territorial development could be unwisely approved in the low risk flood areas. C.2.6. Results of the interviews To summarize or repeat some of the gaps identified in all the components described above, bellow will present the answers to a key question addressed to senior specialists in flood risk management and spatial planning and the interviewed municipalities: this question was What do you see as the main impediments to better integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning, and vice versa? Senior specialist in spatial planning: The main problems regarding flood risk management are the legislation and the lack of provisions and norms for a minimum framework content of public infrastructures such as green infrastructure. The Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration leaves everything to the spatial planners’ choice and discretion; it does not offer a code of norms that urban planners can apply, rather it is the responsibility of the spatial planner to answer according to their own norms. Landscape architect and senior specialist in spatial planning: The main problems regarding flood risk management are the lack of integrated and clear legislation, the lack of strategic coherence in flood risk management at all levels (territorial or administrative), the lack of implementation of projects by spatial planners who are truly specialists in the field. 33 There is a lack of strategies and projects in multidisciplinary teams and a lack of customized projects and strategies in an area that is unique and has particular characteristics. Another impediment is the lack of administration involvement and of other urban actors in the process, lack of dedicated funds and a lack of a coherent follow-up in time of the same strategy in the administration, during several mandates and others. Senior specialist in spatial planning: The main problems regarding flood risk management are the lack of a centralized and interdisciplinary approach, the lack of a specialized structure in the field of risks, and the lack of close enough involvement of several public administrations. Senior specialist in territorial and urban planning: Urban designers should resort to the mandatory integration of different types of risks (natural and anthropogenic) in the provisions of land use planning and urban planning, to detail the technical and legal procedures (at all levels) aimed at this integration through regulations (which needs to contain explicit provisions on the above idea, in particular the relationship between land stability and floods) and the mutual specification in specific regulations (for different types of risks) of the types of risks that may have a synergistic impact, as well as specific types of coordinated actions (this is usually specified locally, depending on the respective risk assessment). Senior specialist in spatial planning and landscape architect: The first impediment is represented by the non-correlation between the legislative and normative framework applicable in flood risk management and in urbanism / spatial planning and the second one is the mutual ignorance of urban actors on different levels of management / intervention. Senior specialist in geography: The main problem is the local application of flood risk management measures. Studies exist, sometimes, but their implementation leaves much to be desired. The reasons are diverse: from the prevalence of the right to property or lack of funds at the level of local authorities, to negligence or lack of consensus at the local level for the purposeful implementation of decisions. Municipality of Tulcea: The main impediment would be the degree of dissemination of flood risk management policies both to the Urban Planning Department and to the population. Also, if the communication with ANAR is efficient, then other impediments could be only financial (if there are problems with financing the projects and investments in this field; if there are problems with financing mechanisms, payments for carrying out the executions works, etc.). And last but not least, a major impediment is seen to be the Covid-19 pandemic. Municipality of Pitești: The main impediment to the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning (and vice versa) is not taking into account the flood risk maps and measures provided by Flood Defense Plan, as well as land restitution imposed by court decisions. THE MAIN STOCKTAKING „TAKE-HOME” MESSAGES from this chapter are that:  While there are many tools and items of legislation and government directions concerned with spatial and urban planning and flood risk management, the integration between the two fields is not good.  Three main gaps were identified in the process of integrating and implementing flood risk management into urban and spatial planning: the out-of-date General Urban Plans or old PUGs currently in place, the lack of qualified staff to operate the FHRM’s GIS data at the City Halls, the lack of adequate software to open and use the GIS files of FHRM in order to overlap these with requests for future developments and the lack of a water cadaster. 34  Better guidance is necessary across the two fields and some changes to government requirements are likely to be necessary.  Notwithstanding that point, much more investigations are needed to chart the way forward. This is particularly necessary at a local level, to identify exactly and comprehensively the barriers and blockages to cooperation and integration between the two areas, so as to fill the gaps identified as the most significant and listed here. The pilot studies will be invaluable in this respect.  This will take time, but a commitment from the government and its institutions to improve matters in this respect is needed, following that more detailed analysis particularly as regards the extent of encroachment of unwise development into at-risk areas and into the flow of information between the two specialist fields. 35 C.3. Potential areas for improvement in the two-way integration of flood risk management and urban and spatial planning C.3.1 Introduction Whilst the analysis of the integration of spatial and urban planning and flood risk management is of immediate concern, the analysis of gaps and the interviews (see Chapter C.2.) have shown that this fits into a broader picture of the future relationships between „water issues” and „urban issues” in Romania. This is the context in which are presented, below, some of the relevant visions and challenges, seeing the integration of these two fields as but one element in making cities safer and more resilient. This, of course, does not deny the need to improve the integration between the two fields, as detailed in this chapter, but that the also need to look ahead rather than just the current status quo. C.3.2. Vision, challenges and related issues28 The problem of flood risk is increasing in Romania, as in other countries, and governments and its institutions, together with members of the public and commercial organizations, need to take action to hold that risk at current levels, and hopefully to reduce it in the future. The reason that urban flooding is of growing concern is due to the increasing densification of urban areas, changes in land use, and climate change. It is necessary to re-think some of the characteristics of Romanian urban areas so that they can be made safer. ▪ 28 EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, Bringing nature back into our lives; ▪ World Economic Forum (2020), Nature Risk Rising: Why the Crisis Engulfing Nature Matters for Business and the Economy; ▪ World Economic Forum (2020), The Global Risks Report 2020 (The Global Risks Report 2020 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)); ▪ IPBES (2019): Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. S. Díaz, J. Settele, E. S. Brondízio E.S., H. T. Ngo, M. Guèze, J. Agard, A. Arneth, P. Balvanera, K. A. Brauman, S. H. M. Butchart, K. M. A. Chan, L. A. Garibaldi, K. Ichii, J. Liu, S. M. Subramanian, G. F. Midgley, P. Miloslavich, Z. Molnár, D. Obura, A. Pfaff, S. Polasky, A. Purvis, J. Razzaque, B. Reyers, R. Roy Chowdhury, Y. J. Shin, I. J. Visseren-Hamakers, K. J. Willis, and C. N. Zayas (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. 56 pages. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3553579; ▪ IPBES (2019): Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. E. S. Brondizio, J. Settele, S. Díaz, and H. T. Ngo (editors). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. XXX pages. ▪ Guidelines and in the European Green Deal; ▪ EU Nature Restoration Plan; ▪ Zero draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework (CBD/WG2020/2/3), available at https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020/wg2020-02/documents. ▪ Guidance on a strategic framework for further supporting the deployment of EU-level green and blue infrastructure (SWD(2019) 193) SWD_2019_193_F1_STAFF_WORKING_PAPER_EN_V4_P1_1024680.PDF (europa.eu); ▪ Supporting the Implementation of Green Infrastructure Final Report - GI Final Report.pdf (europa.eu); ▪ OECD (2016), Farm Management Practices to Foster Green Growth; ▪ European Environment Agency and Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) (2016), Urban sprawl in Europe. 36 More measures can be adopted with the aim of flood risk reduction, including a more resilient public and economy, the development of green infrastructure interventions to assist in flood attenuation, and the creation of a smart city philosophy whereby information is more readily available on the risks that are faced, leading to innovation in terms of interventions. Many of these interventions are interconnected and can be mutually beneficial rather than working in isolation. Some examples are given below. In this respect there is a widening range of such interventions, and it must be acknowledged that the traditional engineering-only approach to flooding is designing single-purpose drainage systems, dams, and levees. These methods, however, have the potential to increase long-term flood risk and harm the riverine and coastal ecosystems in urban as well as rural areas. Resilience theory29 Urban resilience should be viewed as an adaptive process where the society continuously learns how to cope with changing socioeconomic conditions and urban land use, as well as a changing climate. Urban land use is an issue for any city, which easily develops by extending on to agricultural land and even on floodable areas (in the floodplains with their identified flood risks). In this case, designing cities, adequate rules for the increasing city and population resilience should be well planned, including and especially legislation enforcement. The concept emphasizes resiliency and achieving synergy between the increased capacity to handle floodwater runoff and improved experiential and functional quality of the urban environments for: ▪ efficient land use; ▪ improved sustainable and resilient floodwater management namely, the flexibility of floodwater systems; ▪ energy use reduction; ▪ priority of transport and socioeconomic nexus; ▪ climate change impact; ▪ securing critical infrastructure, and ▪ resolving questions regarding responsibilities. Contemporary challenges today call for improved and collaborative urban flood management. This means that adaptive, multifunctional infrastructure in combination with water sensitive urban design are seen as means to reinforce resilience against climate change. However, incorporation of these measures into decision‐making and ways to handle integrative and multi‐criteria aspects in the Romanian legal and organizational system is still to be established, or at least enforced in the Romanian legislation, addressing: ▪ a design framework integrating technical, social, environmental, legal, and institutional aspects; ▪ setting common objectives for flood risk reduction and for land use in urban areas; ▪ proactive collaborations among all stakeholders (government, civil society, communities, private sector) to reach agreed objectives; ▪ solutions to bring forward the concept of urban flood resilience into a context of sustainability and flood risk (or acceptance of the residual risk); ▪ solutions which are a combination of planning, technology and design; 29 Sörensen, J., Persson, A., Sternudd, C., Aspegren, H., Nilsson, J., Nordström, J., Jönsson, K., Mottaghi, M., Becker, P., Pilesjö, P., Larsson, R., Berndtsson, R., Mobini, S., (2016), Re-Thinking Urban Flood Management—Time for a Regime Shift, in Water, no, 8 (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/water) Liao, K., H., A Theory on Urban Resilience to Floods—A Basis for Alternative Planning Practices, in Ecology and Society, Vol. 17, No. 4 37 ▪ introducing Green Infrastructure plans which apply the key principles of landscape ecology to urban environments; ▪ design with a GIS based multi-scale approach, with explicit attention to the process relationships, and an emphasis on connectivity; ▪ stricter regulations implementation control; ▪ encouraging public-private partnership in sharing responsibility to reduce the negative effects of flooding; ▪ enhancing insurance mechanism to increase localities/buildings/population resilience to floods – considering this as a non-structural measure for FRMP in urban areas. Green Infrastructure/Green Deal30 Planning for sustainable cities is a complex process addressing the fundamental areas of economic, environmental and socially equitable sustainability. Green infrastructure is an emerging planning and design concept that is principally structured by a hybrid hydrological/ drainage network, complementing and linking green areas with built infrastructure that provides ecological functions. Green Infrastructure is a flexible concept applied from the regional scale to the site scale. At the city and regional scale, it is defined as a multifunctional open-space network, whilst at the local and site scales it is defined as a floodwater management approach that mimics natural hydrologic processes. Green Infrastructure works across scales and contexts to provide multiple benefits for people and environments. The concept of landscape as green infrastructure provides an opportunity to promote multidisciplinarity and to integrate the work of spatial planners, policy planners, landscape architects, civil engineers, water engineers and others interested in the spatial structure, functions and values of natural and built landscape. The need for this approach is one of the lessons learned from the analysis of international best practices in the area of urban and spatial planning and flood risk management, documented in the parallel “Best Practices” report. The key principles of Green Infrastructure are: ▪ Multifunctionality; ▪ Connectivity; ▪ Living environment; ▪ Resiliency; ▪ Identity; ▪ Return on investment. Smart Cities31 Future designing of cities should address smart solutions and advanced technologies. Some basic solutions for flood risk management for urban areas are: ▪ designing flood and climate proof buildings; ▪ designing an automated monitoring system for floods (rainfall and runoff control; streets water levels and channels inflows; channel discharges, etc.); ▪ designing a flood modelling system; 30 Bunster-Ossa, I., Rouse, D., (2013), Green infrastructure: A landscape approach, American Planning Association , Report Number 571, Chicago 31 Wolrd Bank, (2011), Cities and Flooding - A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century 38 ▪ designing an Early Warning System based on a flood management, drainage and sewer system capacity for the city; ▪ controlling/commanding the critical points for communication (green lights/roads, bridges, warning panels, sirens etc.) and critical infrastructure of the city - planning an integrated emergency management system for the city; ▪ mapping and building/installing flood marks of the highest water levels (also useful as future flood modelling control points); ▪ evaluation of flood damages and losses, considering flooded buildings and the population at risk; ▪ GIS flood reporting for Insurance Companies; ▪ Planning flood recovery. All these concepts described above are meant to help mitigate the adverse effects of floods, alongside some traditional engineering measures, and to adapt cities to climate change32. But the main goal of integrating flood risk management into spatial and urban planning is to have a safer city in the end. This can only be obtained mainly by controlling urbanization in areas with significant flood risk. This issue needs attention now, but without forgetting the vision and challenges discussed above. C.3.3. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Legislation and governance In the field of Legislation and governance the analysis reflected a situation that is not perfect but with due attention to some aspects it could be improved so as to make cities safer and policies more sustainable. These improvements include the following topics: 32 ▪ UN FCCC/TP/2017/3, Opportunities and options for integrating climate change adaptation with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 Technical paper by the secretariat (2017) 46. ▪ UNGA, Report of the open-ended intergovernmental expert working group on indicators and terminology relating to disaster risk reduction A/71/644 (2016) ▪ Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (2015) paras. 14, 23–25, ▪ IFRC-led initiative on Enhanced Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (EVCA), updated in 2019 in order to include “climate change considerations” in a participatory community risk assessment process (https://www.ifrcvca.org/). ▪ European Environment Agency (EEA), Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Europe Enhancing coherence of the knowledge base, policies and practices , EEA Report N. 15/2017 ▪ IFRC, Strategy 2030: A platform for change (2019) ▪ Kelman I., Gaillard J.C., and Mercer J. (eds.), The Routledge handbook of disaster risk reduction including climate change adaptation (2017) ▪ Leitner M. et al., Draft guidelines to strengthen CCA and DRR institutional coordination and capacities - PLACARD project (2018) ▪ Murray V. et al., Coherence between the Sendai Framework, the SDGs, the Climate Agreement, New Urban Agenda and World Humanitarian Summit, and the role of science in their implementation (2016) ▪ Peduzzi P., The Disaster Risk, Global Change, and Sustainability Nexus, 11 Sustainability (2019) ▪ RCRC Climate Center, Minimum Standards for local climate-smart disaster risk reduction Informing the development of the post-2015 HFA, WP Series n. 6 (2015) ▪ World Bank Group – GFDRR, Building Resilience, Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk into Development . The World Bank Group Experience (2013) 13–16. 39 Measures for existing built areas in the floodplain (including informal settlements): Considering that in floodable areas there are built-up areas constantly subject to a very high risk, specific measures adopted in both the flood risk management and the spatial planning legal framework are required. Moreover, these measures are vital, given that some of these areas also contain informal settlements with vulnerable populations, unable to buy or rent a home in an area free from risk. Three types of measures should be taken into account: relocation of the population in these areas; compensatory measures for those who still live in these areas and currently cannot be relocated for various reasons; and measures to make more secure the existing buildings in flooded areas. These legislative provisions or other devices need to be harmonized with those existing in both the flood risk management and spatial planning legal frameworks. Conditions for newly built areas in the floodplain: The systematic correlation of the legislative provisions in flood risk management and urban and spatial planning regarding the construction possibilities in floodable areas is essential. This is currently not the case in Romanian law. It is very important to describe very clearly the permitted constructions (if applicable), the permitted constructions with conditions, and the forbidden ones. The conditions under which certain constructions are permitted must be very explicitly described, so as not to be left to mis- interpretation. Also, in the case of permitted constructions in flooded areas, all the necessary measures to be taken to secure the buildings must be described, as well as the studies required to be carried out in order to obtain a building permit. Thus, clear rules need established for developing additional flood risk assessments studies in new development areas for medium and low risk and the mitigation measures required defined. Another relevant information to add to the flood risk management and spatial planning legal frameworks would be the minimum requirements for the strength and hence the quality of buildings in floodable areas. Measures and actions to prevent and mitigate flood risk in natural risk areas: The existing Romanian Standards should be harmonized with the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on the medium and long term and with the Water Law transposing the EU Floods Directive. In this respect, protection standards recommendations should be coherent with Strategy recommendations. To ensure optimal integration of all types of measures and actions to reduce flood risk in spatial planning activities it is essential to include references to them in the legal framework. After that, these measures must be adopted by all stakeholders. In areas subject to fluvial or coastal flooding, a range of measures needs to be considered in this respect. Directly relevant to many „day-to-day” or more or less routine urban spatial planning decisions, the possible measure to counter urban stormwater flooding, for example include: flooded gullies, ditches planted with vegetation, open channels, permeable pavements, natural ponds, wetlands, etc. Considering that these measures can be located also in public green spaces, it is necessary to include them in Law 24/2007 regarding the regulation and administration of green spaces within the built-up areas of localities. All measures and actions to prevent and mitigate flood risk in natural risk areas should have a timetable and deadlines should be set to implement them. At the same time, in order to successfully implement flood risk reduction measures and to encourage people to adopt these measures, compensation is needed (i.e., a reduction of stormwater taxes; reduction of property tax, etc.) or other methods (i.e., negotiating the possibility of increasing height and land use coefficient, if local rainwater collection equipment is used). Again, these are directly relevant to many „day-to-day” urban and spatial planning decisions. 40 Preliminary studies for flood risk in territorial and urban planning documentation: As the Study for Natural Risk Areas imposed as a preliminary study for territorial and urban planning documentation - this is often confused with the Flood Study – it is necessary to consider removing it from Order 233/2016. In addition, the Flood Study should be imposed as a mandatory preliminary study for relevant spatial planning plans, especially because the FHRM’s are not enough for urban and spatial planning and a different risk assessment should be conducted in a different scale. This study should be developed by water engineers, accredited by MEWF and not the Registry of Urban Planners in Romania (RUR). The minimum framework content for this study needs to be established. Any mandatory measures to reduce flood risk and the relevant GIS spatial data (for spatial location of these measures) must be included in the framework content. The framework content and the measures to reduce flood risk should be defined depending on the level of risk of the area. The components of the spatial planning team: The teams responsible for developing spatial planning plans are multidisciplinary, but their minimum component is not established in the legal framework or other directions. The interviewees for this project recognized this as a problem. In order to ensure a coherent integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning, is necessary to establish the key specialists which should be part of the team in the process of elaboration of territorial and urban planning documentation for areas with natural risks. Thus, in addition to the coordinator of this spatial planning plan, which may be of different specialties, depending on the type of documentation, the team should contain at least one water engineer and one landscape architect. This can be an element of the essential guidance mentioned below. Timetable of risk maps and spatial planning plans: Establishing an update period for urban land development plans (General Urban Plan / Zonal Urban Plan) dependent on updating risk maps is a pressing need for all localities, but especially for Areas of Potentially Significant Flood Risk / APSFR. In this respect it is necessary to update the timetable of PUG / PUZ to be coherent with Floods Directive reporting phases, for example: o The flood hazard and risk maps to be updated in documentation every 6 years, and o The General Urban Plan / Zonal Urban Plan including the urban development local/regional policy, to deliver the list of needed flood protection measures, every 6 years – to be connected with the ASPFR/River Basin Administration Strategy and further, with the FRMP. The PUG / PUZ of ASPFRs should be updated once the Floods Directive obligations deliver new maps, and new up-dates will be included for the city flood protection measures in the reported FRMPs; o The General Urban Plan / Zonal Urban Plan should be updated, providing rules for intensive building in floodplains, in case of the detailed hazard and risk maps will be available for the urban area (city/towns) under (or for further) development. Roles and competences of public institutions and stakeholders: The two complementary legislations for flood risk management and spatial planning (Law 107/1996 – Water Law and Law 350/2001 – Territorial and urban planning law) should be better enforced, setting up a bi-directional communication mechanism. This could be done by public consultation and stakeholders’ involvement in FHRM validation and FRMP PoM by, for example: o A stronger stakeholder involvement (from the town halls Urbanistic Directorates and city councils, localities’ town halls representatives involved in issuing the construction permits) for FHRMs evaluation and FRMP consultation; 41 o River Basin Administrations’ involvement with the town halls’ public participation, presenting a Program of Measures (PoM) and its mechanism for planning (addressing mainly to ASPFRs identified for urban areas and preparing stakeholders’ involvement in Urban Plan for FRM). In this respect the River Basin Committees Legal Constitutive Act 270/2012 could include a specific attribution, to involve in public consultation for Floods Directive implementation all new town hall representatives, affected by hazard and risk change, including the Urban Committees representatives at the County level. National Flood Risk Management Strategy on the medium and long term establishes all institutions with responsibilities in further planning and implementing measures for flood risk management. From this are currently missing and should be added County and Local Committees of Territorial and Urban Planning. Integrating flood risk management measures in spatial planning documentation: The validation of proper integration of flood risk management measures in urban and spatial planning documentation needs to be done by certain key stakeholders: o The State Inspectorate in Constructions, as an operational institution in coordination of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration should guide the PUG / PUZ development in flood risk areas and further possible development of the floodable areas. The State Inspectorate in Constructions should take a similar role as ANAR did for the Water Law provision implementation, in respect of Territorial and Urban Planning Development Law; o The Committee of Territorial and Urban Planning Development should have the responsibility to verify how Flood Protection Measures are considered for their urban areas’ development in areas with medium and low risks, and to be sure no development is included in high-risk areas. Also, it should verify if these measures are included in the Local Urban Planning Regulations. However, areas of improvement are more than were presented above because this is a very complex and multifaceted policy field, particularly in the areas of measures and actions to prevent and mitigate flood risk in natural risk areas, roles and competences of public institutions and stakeholders and integrating flood risk management measures in spatial planning documentation. All these areas require further investigation and detailed suggestions to the Government of Romania, but is important to understand that many of the suggestions here are concerned with detailed alterations to procedures, and the requirements for changes in primary legislation are very minor. Indeed, as indicated later in this report, more analysis needs to be done in these areas, drawing on a wide range of professionals in various stakeholder groups, before definitive recommendations and comprehensive Guidance are put forward for consideration. C.3.4. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Guidelines, tools and funding33 Flood risk management and spatial planning tools are numerous and are addressing all levels, from the national level to the site level. Regarding guidelines for the use of these tools the need for some updates 33 Examples: MacAdam, J., (2012), Green Infrastructure for Southwestern Neighborhoods – Arizona, Watershed Management Group, Arizona Sarasota County, (2015), Low Impact Development Guidance Document Center of Watershed Protection, (2009), Costal Stormwater Supplement to the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/green-infrastructure-design-and-implementation 42 was mentioned in the interviews with senior specialists, in order to include more relevant information about flood risk management measures. Apart from this, they are a solid basis for ensuring good integration of flood risk management planning into urban and spatial planning. But while these tools are well-defined and applicable to traditional flood risk management (but likely need up-dating in this respect), specific guidelines need to be prepared in order to integrate new concepts of flood risk management into territorial and urban planning. So, to provide technical support for local administration and entrepreneurial developers in the process of adopting and implementing new flood risk management measures, the following guidelines could be developed: ▪ Green Infrastructure Guideline. The concept of Green Infrastructure is still something new and has been applied only in certain particular situations. Moreover, the Green Infrastructure measures applied at the city and site scale have been used only individually and it has not yet been studied as to which combination is better for maximum efficiency in reducing flood risk. Thus, a guideline is needed to provide specific information on how general concepts of green infrastructure can be applied in each particular case. Also, this guideline can provide information on good practices from Romania and from international examples. ▪ Smart Cities Guideline can include: improved technology application for flood monitoring, urban forecasting and Early Warning System planning, Damage Assessment and Control, Communication Infrastructure redesign adequate to smart cities objectives and drainage and sewer system planning for flood risk management; smart buildings design solutions etc. ▪ Flood and Climate proof buildings design concept: Guidelines and examples of good local and international experience. For a better understanding of these new concepts, some pilot cities should be selected as design examples. These pilot areas could also be used to identify the rules that can help substantiate the choice of the optimal solutions in the application of the new concepts. To implement these new Guidelines some legal provisions may be needed: ▪ The Guidelines could be enforced by common ministerial decisions, and will be published in public domains of the interested public institutions; ▪ Building permits also could be conditioned by Guidelines’ construction application; ▪ Part B of Ministry Order 233 / 2016 of Ministry of Development and Public Administration, including building solutions in flood hazard areas should be enforced, depending of the Guidelines recommendations. Some funding mechanisms for such measures should be identified and drawn up to facilitate such projects’ implementation, at the level of counties/localities. In this respect, Regional Development Funds could be planned, to include priorities for accessing funds for such applications/projects. These proposed Guidelines are just examples and address in particular the new concepts presented in Section 5.2. Vision, challenges and related issues. Considering that these concepts and proposals need to be further studied in order to cover in their entirety the complex problematic issue of integrating flood risk management into spatial planning, these proposed guidelines should be complemented by other proposals including a training program. United States Environmental Protection Agency, (2013), City of Camden Green Infrastructure Design Handbook, Integrating Stormwater Management into Sustainable Urban Design https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-10/documents/camden_gi_handbook.pdf 43 C.3.5. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Procedures and participation It is important to mention here that the analysis of procedures and participation was mainly based on the analysis of the legal framework and stakeholders and on the interviews conducted with the academic specialists and selected municipalities representatives. Thus, although many procedures in this field are already well defined and commonly used, their implementation can be improved with increased attention to some details. Emphasis should be placed on optimizing their enforcement and reducing the implementation period. Procedures for approving territorial and urban planning documentation are one of the most relevant fields which needs increased efficiency because the main issue of the spatial planning plans is the long process of approval. This can be easily resolved by introducing the Unique Approval („Avizul Unic”) which means that all the public institutions and stakeholders will participate in the County Committee of Territorial and Urban Planning and will send to the County Council their opinions. After including all of these in the territorial and urban planning plans, County Council will elaborate the unique approval and no further approvals will be required. In this way, the implementation of flood risk management measures should be done more quickly, and spatial planning will be a better support tool in the process of the prevention and mitigation of flood risk. In order to successfully implement flood risk management plans, regular information is needed through the development of flood hazard and risk maps, both the public institutions and stakeholders. In this respect, currently, River Basin Administrations should involve stakeholders (Local authorities and representatives from the Urban Planning Department from the City Halls), in flood hazard and risk maps dissemination of information on localities affected by hazard and risk changes. In order to have a better dissemination of the FHRM, besides City Hall representatives, affected by hazard and risk change, also the members of the County Councils’ Territorial and Urban Planning Committees should be involved in the public consultation process. This could be useful for decisions regarding a common action plan for urban flood risk reduction. The involvement of the population in the public consultation process is the key element in achieving the objective of mitigating and reducing flood risks. Thus, the population must be involved in all stages, from development to implementation. The public consultation must include all social classes, including the most vulnerable ones, who are in fact the most exposed to flood risk, as they often live in flooded areas (such as in informal settlements). At the same time, both the population living inside and outside flooded areas must be included, as flood risk reduction measures can target the entire locality. The involvement of the population and especially its education on this issue is a key element in the implementation of flood risk management measures, as the mitigation and reduction of flood risk can be achieved only through a substantial involvement of people and the adoption of these measures on private lands. Thus, one of the key flood risk management measures should be the change of people’s perception, who must understand that through even just an individual contribution (like the adoption of flood risk management measures on private land) they actually contribute significantly to protecting their entire locality from floods. Also, a possible potential improvement in the procedures regarding the integration of the urban spatial planning into flood risk management is the sequential approach described in the “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. This approach is too 44 „heavy” and not sufficiently step-by-step, but has got significant potential. In order to identify its efficiency, the sequential approach needs to be tested and thereby evaluated in the pilot areas chosen to follow this stocktaking phase of this project. But this will not be sufficient: in order to streamline the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning and successful implementation of flood risk management measures, further analysis of this field (procedures and participation) is needed. C.3.6. Spatial planning and flood risk management: Other issues The integration of flood risk management in spatial planning and especially the implementation of the measures suggested in this report can be achieved only if the issue of Water Cadastre is resolved and all minor riverbeds lands and their protection areas are registered in the National Cadastre and Land Improvement Agency database. In this sense, possible solutions are: 1. Endorsement of the legislation for minor riverbeds definition and mapping; ANAR could be responsible for this; 2. To create a special fund for the Water Cadaster (this could be done by using a percentage of the penalties collected for the water quality deterioration – i.e., by evacuating the rainwater through the urban sewerage without being treated); 3. To hire at ANAR specialists in topography which will have the following obligations: a. to be authorized in Cadaster activities, b. to be obliged each year to provide the Cadaster documentation for: i. one important reservoir and its protected areas, ii. for some agreed km of river length (depending of the other annual obligation), but not less than 10 km/year, 4. To be registered in the land book the State’s ownership rights over the assets in the public domain of the State. Other important issues that need to be addressed are existing and available national and local data. These are in particular spatial data, to which urban planners must have unlimited access, including in GIS format, in order to include flood risk management measures in the correct location in spatial planning documentation. These data include also the spatial location of informal settlements, which are currently being developed. Open access to these information and data sources should ensure a more coherent urban and spatial planning development and thus safer cities in the future. THE MAIN STOCKTAKING „TAKE-HOME” MESSAGES from this Chapter include:  Some changes to legislation may be necessary, but they are not sufficient.  There are many potential areas for improvement here. These include procedures recommending the relationship between urban and spatial planning and flood risk management, where this needs to be improved, and data needs to be shared across all stakeholders.  Integration means working together, rather than separately, and this will imply added burdens on those organizations with responsibilities in this area. But an agreed vision for better and safer cities in the future needs this integration across the different specialist fields, complemented by teams of staff with the appropriate competences and specialisations, and the time and resources with which to pursue inter-institutional discussions and negotiations.  Better sets of guidance are needed so that these teams have the appropriate direction for their workings and the appropriate information to give to others. Those „home truths” cannot be avoided if the dangers to Romanian cities and their populations are not to increase significantly in the future. 45 C.4. Potential pilot areas for more detailed assessments on the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning C.4.1. Introduction Identifying potential pilot areas to facilitate more detailed assessments on the potential challenges to the integration of flood risk management into urban spatial planning is needed, as well as potential measures that would facilitate such integration. In the following there is presented a set of criteria by which to judge the choice of such pilot areas. These are outlined in section C.4.2. below. This methodology leads to a large number of possible pilot sites, and a „long list” of ten such possible sites needs to be identified for the Government of Romania. This should be judged against the criteria identified as relevant. It will be for discussions following the completion of this stocktaking report that three pilot sites will be investigated in detail. But a number greater than three and perhaps five, in order to represent the various different situations in Romania with respect to flooding and spatial planning, can be further explored. C.4.2. Criteria for the choice of pilot areas Urban water management incorporates inherent risks and limited sustainability in the context of global environmental and urban changes. To find the best solutions for sustainable water management, some approaches were found which have a generic base and are capable of development within a globally acceptable planning and legislative framework34. Different criteria which need to be assessed to choose some of the municipalities from Romania for more detailed assessments regarding flood risk in urban areas were identified: Criterion 1 - Areas of Potentially Significant Flood Risk/ APSFR The most important criterion is that the city is included in the list of the Areas with Potentially Significant Flood Risk: APSFR. Romania has reported the preliminary flood risk assessment for all types of flood that might be reasonably expected: fluvial, pluvial, seawater, artificial water-bearing infrastructure, according to the specific conditions of the sub-basins. In order to identify the APSFRs, the necessary information related to historic floods, future floods, impacts and consequences were considered35. Also, besides the impact of climate 34 SWITCH - Sustainable Water Management in the City of the Future, January 2011, Edition: First, Publisher: UNESCO-IHE, Editor: C.A. Howe, K. Vairavamoorthy and N.P.van der Steen, ISBN: 978-73445-00-0 35 The APSFR II Romanian Methodology considered delineation of the floodplain, obtained from the simplified methodology based on Fuzzy-GIS systems. The assessment of potential adverse consequences, were used for the following situations: ▪ Determination of maximum potential consequences (relating to all flood-susceptible areas, whether or not designated as APSFR), in the current situation and in the situation where climate change is taken into account; ▪ Identification of river sections likely to be affected by floods which may occur in the future; ▪ Designation of APSFRs for which direct damage from past events have not been recorded or known; ▪ Supplementing the information on consequences in the case of APSFRs where events have been recorded in the past. The methods used for flood risk assessment, they reflected not only the areas affected by floods and the extent thereof, but also the potential consequences, expressed either in quantitative (monetary) terms, or in qualitative (intensity level) terms, as a combination between hazard and receiver presence or exposure level. 46 change on the frequency of floods, long-term development projects were considered. Unlike the first cycle, in order to assess the potential negative consequences of future floods on human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity, in the second cycle of implementation of the Floods Directive 2007/60 / EC, a more detailed analysis of growth poles was carried out36. Criterion 2 - Severe rainfall and floods in the past 20 years A second criterion should be that the city had experienced severe rainfall and floods in the past 20 years with serious damages to personal property and critical public infrastructure or even suffered loss of lives. In 2005, Romania was affected by 6 waves of floods, starting from April and May until September. They mainly affected Banat and the southeast of the country. These floods resulted in the loss of life, because 76 people died. In March 2006, floods took place in several counties in the country: Mehedinți, Ialomița, Dolj and Harghita. In 2018, torrential rains created problems in twenty counties and in Bucharest, with water flooding hundreds of yards, houses, outbuildings, and basements. In June 2020, the rainiest June in the last 60 years, catastrophic floods took place in Bistrița-Năsăud, Sibiu, Alba, Suceava and Maramureș. Between 2010 – 2016, Romanian localities were affected by significant urban floods (see Table 2) and thus these localities were designated as APSFRs. Table 2 – Significant urban floods and Areas of Potentially Significant Pluvial Flood Risk Date of significant Date of significant Locality Locality flood event flood event Reșița 27.06.2016 Corbu 12.10.2015 Caransebeș Constanța, Eforie, 11.07.2014 07.10.2016 Costinești 25.06.2010 Oțelu Roșu 11.07.2014 Tulcea 26.02.2015 18.06.2010 Timișoara 14.06.2016 Cluj-Napoca 24.05.2016 Petroșani 25.05.2010 Zalău 21.06.2010 Caracal 05.09.2014 Roman 31.05.2016 Pitești 28 - 29.07.2014 Suceava 25.06.2016 (SOURCE: PFRA REPORTS37) 36 In 2008, for the implementation of the National Urban Development Strategy, the Government approved the Memorandum on Supporting Integrated Development of Romania's network of growth poles, in line with the 2007- 2030 Spatial Development Strategic Concept in Romania and with the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007- 2013, approved by the Government of Romania and by the European Commission. The growth poles comprise the large urban agglomerations and the influence area around them. Such urban agglomerations are represented by Tier I and Tier 0 cities (designated according to Law no 351/2001 on the approval of the National Spatial Development Plan- Section IV Network of localities), namely the municipalities of Bucharest, Bacău, Brașov, Brăila, Galați, Cluj - Napoca, Constanța, Craiova, Iași, Oradea, Ploiești, Timișoara. The adverse consequences which could be caused by past significant floods were assessed for the territory of these areas. The river sections present inside the growth poles, which could be affected by significant past flood events were mapped and Urban Areas APSFRs were established. 37 http://arhiva.rowater.ro/EPRI/EPRI.aspx 47 Ploiești 07.05.2014 Gura Humorului 19.06.2016 Cernavodă 22.06.2010 Criterion 3 - Inclusion in one of the urban typologies of vulnerability to floods The third criterion is the inclusion in one of the urban typologies of vulnerability to floods from Romania. The analysis of the causes that generated the extreme hydrologic events in Romania within the last years leads to the identification of five categories of towns related to flood vulnerability, based on the methodology for assessing vulnerability to floods in Romanian cities38. There are conditioned on one hand by the geographical position in relation to morphology and hydrography and on the other hand to human impact (transport infrastructure; upstream hydrotechnic arrangements and especially sewerage systems). On this base, were identified towns vulnerable to floods having as characteristics: misfit sewerage systems; the accumulation of waters from nearby slopes; an inadequate drainage system; the overflowing of the neighboring rivers and the consequence of some failures to the upstream hydro-technical works. All these typologies were synthesized and transposed into a cartographic display. 1. Cities vulnerable to floods occurred because of large amounts of water accumulation that cannot be taken by secondary hydrographic arteries or maladministration of flow control from upstream hydro-technical constructions. This category includes approximately 60 cities with a total population of about 4.5 million inhabitants: Bucharest, Iaşi, Oradea, Bacău, Piteşti, Buzău, Botoşani, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Suceava, Piatra Neamţ, Târgu Jiu, Slatina, Bârlad, Turda, Mediaş, Oneşti, Paşcani, Caracal, Curtea de Argeş, etc., towns located in the flooded areas, or just some parts. The common characteristic of all of them is insufficient drainage of surface water. 2. Cities vulnerable to floods due to insufficiently sized or poorly maintained sewer systems The rapid urbanization during the past 40 years has led to the under-sizing of sewerage systems, which are put under pressure, and the poor or insufficiency of the stormwater infrastructure. In the case of heavy rainfall in a short time, stormwaters cannot be accommodated by the drains, and the discharge affects communications and housing (Bucharest, Constanţa, Tulcea, Brăila, Vaslui, Iaşi, Suceava, etc). 3. Cities vulnerable to floods due to water intake from the adjacent slopes This category includes most cities situated in sub-mountain and intra-mountain depressions. Slope deforestation during the recent years has increased cities’ vulnerability to floods (Baia de Arieş, Teiuş, Făget, Pucioasa, Câmpina, Abrud, Aiud, Câmpeni, Cugir, Ocna Mureş, Sebeş, Zlatna, Câmpulung, Bacău, Oneşti, Buhuşi, Dărmăneşti, Moineşti, Târgu-Ocna, Aleşd, Beiuş, Marghita, etc). 4. Cities vulnerable to floods due to the insufficient natural drainage This refers to the plain cities of the Western Plain with low altitudes and smooth relief where the lithological and topographic features do not lead to the gravity-based drainage of the precipitation generated flood waters that is desirable (for example Pecica, Nădlac, Săcueni, Carei, Tăşnad, Jimbolia, Timişoara, Arad, Ineu, Lipova, Sânnicolau Mare etc.) 5. Cities vulnerable to floods due to the overflowing of adjacent hydrographic arteries during large flash floods (over 1/3 of Romanian cities): Vulnerability to floods of these cities increases in spring because of the waters brought by snowmelt to which heavy rainfall is added, but also in autumn because of large amounts of precipitation then SĂGEATĂ, R., TODERAŞ, T., NEGOESCU, A., CRĂCEA, T., (2013), Methodology for assessing vulnerability to floods in 38 Romanian cities, Wulfenia Journal, Vol 20, No11, ISSN: 1561-882X 48 (for example Galaţi, Slobozia, Odorheiu Secuiesc, Săliştea de Sus, Murgeni, Horezu, Novaci, Bumbeşti- Jiu, Avrig, Tălmaciu, Făgăraş etc.). Criterion 4 – Having an old General Urban Plan (more than 5-6 years) or General Urban Plan in progress Identifying the localities with a General Urban Plan older than 5-6 years involves choosing those localities that will soon begin the procedures for updating this tool. Thus, the integration of flood risk management measures may be achieved together with the elaboration of the General Urban Plan. The period of updating it (especially the preparation period for the procedure) will be a favorable moment for the staff of the local authority to become familiar with any proposed flood risk management measures. Subsequently, they will have good and informed communication with spatial planners in order to include these measures in spatial planning plans. At the same time, the choice of a city that has a General Urban Plan in the process of updating is an opportunity for the immediate integration of flood risk management measures. Furthermore, the success of the exercise may be guaranteed if the General Urban Plan is not in an advanced stage of its approval, but during the elaboration period. This would be a favorable moment for the insertion of the proposed flood risk management measures. On the other hand, choosing as a pilot area a city with a recently updated General Urban Plan would not have actually achieved the purpose of the test, as flood risk management measures could not be integrated into spatial planning until at least 10 years later, when the PUG would be updated, lessening the interest of the city planners involved. Criterion 5 - Cities with large areas developed in flood plains Choosing cities with large areas developed in flood plains is a criterion that offers solutions for people living in these areas, but also offers the possibility to identify more various flood risk management measures. Last but not least, the aim is to identify especially cities with informal settlements, with vulnerable social groups, which need support from public authorities. At the same time, in these areas, as the threat of material and human losses is very high, both public authorities and the population should be more receptive to the adoption and implementation of flood risk management measures. Thus, good cooperation is expected here. Criterion 6 - Cities without flood risk management (FRM) measures integrated into spatial planning In Romania, few cities have integrated flood risk management measures into their urban and spatial planning. The main idea of using this criterion is to choose as pilot areas those cities that have not integrated these measures at all. Thus, it would be possible from the first stage of a pilot project for the identification and choice of optimal and customized flood risk management solutions for the city being studied. After that, these solutions could be integrated into spatial planning and in the end should be implemented. Choosing those cities which respond to this criterion also actually involves choosing the pilot areas where integration exercise is likely to take place successfully. Criterion 7 - Available land for flood risk management measures: The availability of land necessary for the implementation of flood risk management measures is a key criterion, based on which the final pilot areas for implementation will be chosen from the „long-list” as the „shortlist” (which will be 3 such areas). The choice of pilot areas with available land would considerably 49 shorten the implementation period of the flood risk management measures, as land acquisition procedures (expropriations, land acquisition, etc.) would no longer be necessary. Since obtaining these data requires material resources (the General Urban Plan of these cities; data on the public and private domain of the local authority, etc.) and time (for contacts with the City Halls to find out this data, validation of data and information obtained from the City Hall, etc.), this criterion will be deployed in the next phase of this project, when the final „short-list” will be developed. 50 Table 3– Criteria for choosing pilot areas Flood risk management criteria Spatial planning criteria Integration criteria Criteria 3 – Criteria 1 Criteria 2 Inclusion in one Criteria 4 - Criteria 5 – Criteria 6 VALIDATION FOR 10 CITIES Criteria 7 - Available land Areas of Potentially Severe rainfalls and floods in of the urban Old PUG (more than 5-6 years) Cities with large Cities without flood risk management (No. of YES for the 6th # for flood risk Significant Flood Risk/ the past 20 years typologies of or PUG in progress area developed (FRM) measures integrated into spatial criteria) management measures41 APSFR vulnerability to in floodplains40 planning floods39 1. Reșița Yes, 2017, 2018 Yes, 2 Yes, since 2011 Yes Yes 6 of 6 2. Caransebeș Yes, 2019 Yes, 3 Yes, PUG in the process of Yes Yes 6 of 6 updating 3. Oțelu Roșu Yes, 2017 Yes, 3 Yes, has an old PUG Yes Yes 6 of 6 4. Timișoara Yes, 2006, 2010 fluvial Yes, 4 Yes, has an old PUG, since 1999 Yes Yes, has FRM measures but not 6 of 6 2016, 2018 pluvial and PUG in progress integrated into spatial planning 5. Petroșani Yes, 2016, 2020 Yes, 3 Yes, PUG in the process of Yes Yes 6 of 6 updating 6. Caracal Yes, 2014, 2020 Yes, 1 No, has an updated PUG since No Yes 4 of 6 2014 7. Pitești Yes, June 2020 Yes, 1 Yes, PUG in the process of No Yes 5 of 6 updating 8. Ploiești Yes, 2019, 2020 Yes, 2 Yes, PUG in the process of Yes Yes 6 of 6 updating 9. Cernavodă Yes, 2013, 2019 Yes, 5 No, has an updated PUG since No Yes 4 of 6 Next phase 2014 10. Corbu Yes, 2015 No Yes, has an old PUG, since 2006 No Yes 4 of 6 11. Constanța, Eforie, Yes, 2010, 2014-coastal flood, Yes, 2 Yes, has an old PUG, since 2002 No Yes, has FRM measures but not 5 of 6 Costinești 2017, 2021 pluvial integrated into spatial planning 12. Tulcea Yes, 2006, 2010 – fluvial, Yes, 2 No, since 2018 Yes No, has FRM measures integrated into 4 of 6 2013 pluvial, spatial planning 2017 13. Cluj-Napoca Yes, 2016, 2018, 2020 Yes, 2 No, has an updated PUG since Yes No, has FRM measures included in 4 of 6 2014 spatial planning 14. Zalău Yes, 2016, 2020 No Yes, has an old PUG, since 2010 Yes Yes 5 of 6 15. Roman Yes, 2008, 2018, 2020 No Yes, has an old PUG, since 2007 No Yes 4 of 6 16. Suceava Yes, 2017, 2019, 2020 Yes, 1 and 2 Yes, PUG in the process of Yes Yes 6 of 6 updating 17. Gura Humorului Yes, 2016, 2020 No Yes, has an old PUG, since 1999 No Yes 4 of 6 39 1. Due to dams and other hydrotechnical works; 2. Due to inadequate sewage systems; 3. Due to the input of water from the slopes; 4. Due to insufficient drainage; 5. Due to the overflowing of adjacent hydrographic arteries at large flash floods. 40 According to mostly hazard maps: https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/descrierea-activitatii/managementul-situatiilor-de-urgenta/directiva-inundatii-2007-60-ce/harti-de-hazard-si-risc-la-inundatii/ 41 This criterion will be used after choosing the 10 cities which qualifies to be pilot areas. By applying the 7th criterion the final 3 pilot areas will be choosed. 51 C.4.3. A ”long-list” of 10 possible pilot areas Based on the table above (Table 3), which in turn is based on the criteria in Chapter C.4.2, a long list of 10 possible pilot sites is as follows42: 1. Reșița 2. Caransebeș 3. Oțelu Rosu 4. Timișoara 5. Petroșani 6. Ploiești 7. Suceava The above seven meet all 6 of the criteria 8. Pitești 9. Constanța, Eforie, Costinești 10. Zalău The above three meet 5 out of 6 of the criteria C.4.4. Potential measures that would facilitate such integration There are many measures that could be implemented to enhance integration between urban and spatial planning and flood risk management in Romania. But Romania is not alone with that possibility, as the parallel Best Practices report demonstrates: although there are several successes, many countries are struggling with this issue. The list of proposed measures is as follows, and each suggestion necessitates further work on those measures, after the delivery of this stocktaking report: 1. Direct investment in green infrastructure measures. Floodplain should not be sterilized and left without any development as this fails to recognize their potential. Direct investment in green infrastructure in these locations will make them more attractive in terms of their recreation and amenity potential, and also serve to enhance flood storage. For example, constructed wetlands will provide that storage as well as pollution abatement facilities and amenity gain. 2. More purposeful encouragement of development elsewhere. If there are serious examples of unwise development in at-risk areas that can be mitigated or even eliminated by the development being encouraged to locate elsewhere, then this should be done. Local municipalities have a role in this, to provide the maximum clarity as to the alternative development locations, and if possible, developers to locate their activities there rather than in floodable areas. 3. Adding clear rules for additional flood risk assessments in low and medium risk areas for developments and required mitigation measures (if the development outside the floodplain is not possible). These rules will lead to safer buildings in the face of floods and also will reduce material 42 Also, a further criterion could have been a recognition of economic growth poles . There already are 3 growth poles in the long list (Timisoara, Ploiesti, Constanta) so this criterion is already implicitly being used. From all 17 Romanian localities, 4 are growth poles: Timisoara, Ploiesti, Constanta, and Cluj-Napoca. So, only Cluj-Napoca is not in the long list, but it is not suitable as a pilot in this project as it already has significant FRM measures and an updated PUG. 52 and human damage caused by floods. At the same time, it will reduce the tendency of illegal construction in flooded areas. But, in order to establish these rules, flood risk mapping at the county and municipal level in the whole country needs to be conducted. 4. Enhanced training opportunities for staff with flood risk management and spatial and urban planning responsibilities. These staff should be trained together, not separately, to understand each other’s positions. The training should be intensive and regular, and held at least once annually, not least to capture staff changes in the relevant organizations. 5. The systematic collection, processing and use of relevant data. In other countries (for example England) developments that take place in areas liable to flooding are given particular attention with recording their character and vulnerability. This needs to happen so that Romania has a proper record of what development does occur in at-risk areas. At the same time flood risk maps need to be kept up-to-date, and spatial planning documents need regular revision. The processing and the use of the data needs to be done in GIS and to be available for all public institutions and urban planners. In this respect, trainings for key staff need to be done and GIS software acquisition must take place. 6. Register Water Cadaster. Adequate flood prevention, protection and intervention measures needs to be established for urban areas identified on the river sectors with flood hazards and under high risks. One important national measure will be to register in the Land Cadaster the areas affected by flood hazard with more than 1% exceedance probability, where adequate development restriction will be included. 7. Regular attention to this issue at the central government level. The importance of the integration of spatial and urban planning and flood risk management should not be left to chance, but should be the subject of regular assessment by central government Ministries and similar organizations (e.g., ANAR) so that they can continue to influence practices at municipality and catchment level. This integration should be a national priority, receiving national-level attention. Notwithstanding these suggested measures, there will be a legacy in Romania of unwise development in flood risk areas, although as yet this is unknown and unquantified (that itself needs serious attention). Response to these situations again needs integration between spatial planning and urban authorities and the relevant flood risk management organizations. Suggestions of measures are as follows: 1. Regular improvement of flood forecasting and warning systems; 2. Regular assessment of the standards of protection provided by flood risk reduction infrastructure; 3. Consideration as to the relocation of some activities unwisely located in flood risk areas 4. Awareness raising of those occupying flood risk areas 5. Awareness raising for the local elected leaders of municipalities and other organizations in these locations. Much this is already done in Romania but needs to be enhanced in areas where risk and vulnerability are greatest as a result of possibly unwise decisions in the past. 53 C.4.5. Pilot areas investigations Table 4 - Proposed outline procedure for investigating the three chosen pilot sites Phase Activities Comment A 1. Reviewing “long list” of 10 possible Consulting GoR agencies as necessary Site selection pilot sites 2. Site visit(s) to look at the potential of Familiarisation with the area; meeting SO and FRM 3/4 possible sites staff. It is important to know the places and people even if this is resource-hungry 3. Deciding on the short list of 3 sites Including consulting the city SP officers and FRM authorities in question to seek cooperation 4. Report on Phase A B 5. Determining level of flood risk in the Using the new flood risk maps and/or Cycle 1 Risk, SP and three sites and surrounding areas information plus any historical flood extent/risk FRM context (APSFR scale) data 6. Investigating FRM interventions in To understand the context of SP decisions the past 7. Investigating FRM interventions To understand the context of SP decisions proposed in the future 8. Investigating SP decisions in the past To understand the context of SP decisions in the context of known flood risks 9. Investigating the Urban Plans for To understand the potential for integrating context these sites of SP and FRM decisions in the context of known flood risks 10. Report on Phase B (covering all three sites). C 11. Evaluating legacy issues owing to The reason for this phase is that unwise decisions Legacy issues decisions made in the past to locate have been made in the past about receptors receptors in flood risk areas developed in flood risk areas, but that adequate (examining extant/existing flood warning systems and other interventions are forecasting and warning systems; already in place, which make those decisions standards of protection; relocation understandable. What might at first sight appear to opportunities for receptors at risk; be the lack of integration between urban and spatial potential for awareness raising [for planning and flood risk management might actually flood plain residents and developers, be shown through this analysis of legacies to be not etc]) unsatisfactory. 12. Report on Phase C (covering all three sites). D 13. Developing early draft Guidance on Consulting GoR agencies as necessary. Reviewing Early draft better integrating SP into FRM briefly international experience with GoR agencies Guidance and city/FRM agencies in the three pilot sites 14. Within the early draft Guidance (or This is based on reasoning which suggest that the alongside it) developing development of guidance itself is not sufficient, but recommendations for arrangements must be developed (and a. Protocols for SP/FRM agencies recommended within this project) for better liaising with developers seeking practices in the future, and monitoring decisions development sites that may have that had been made. For implementation of these flood risks; ideas. Training is necessary, involving joint training b. Training systems for arriving at activities between FRM and SP staff (and possibly better SP/FRM decisions; other stakeholders). 54 Phase Activities Comment c. A monitoring system for recording SP and FRM decisions in flood risk areas. 15. Report on Phase D (covering all three sites). E 16. Formalising the draft Guidance Consulting GoR agencies. Draft Guidance and promotion 17. Amending draft consultation and Working with the relevant GoR agencies. arranging for it to be published Final report 18. Final Report on the whole project (SP = Urban and spatial planning; FRM = Flood risk management). NB: This does not cover exploring flood insurance issues at the three sites. The next phase of this project examining the integration of urban and spatial planning into flood risk management involves detailed investigations at the pilot areas. These investigations have been described as designed “to facilitate more detailed assessments on the potential challenges to the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning, as well as potential measures that would facilitate such integration”. With regard to the last point concerning potential measures, see section C.4.4. above. ▪ The methodology for these pilot area investigations has yet to be agreed; ▪ The proposal from the World Bank team is outlined in detail in Table 3. This methodology requires close corporation between the flood risk management and spatial and urban planning authorities at the three sites in question, as well as full consultation with relevant Government of the Romania agencies; ▪ The timescale for the implementation of the studies is approximately 12 months. This requires the start of this phase to be on June 2021, and it to be completed by the end of June 2022. THE MAIN STOCKTAKING „TAKE-HOME” MESSAGES from this Chapter are:  There is a number of locations across Romania where pilot sites could be investigated in detail to examine the potential relationship between better integration of flood risk management and urban and spatial planning.  There was selected a list of 10 such possible pilot sites, judged against key criteria leading to that choice. It is for further discussion amongst those involved in this area to determine those case studies that should be pursued from the „long list” of 10.  The list of locations to be investigated in detail involves three such locations as detailed in the Trust Fund Report, but this number could be reviewed (five should be discussed) as the pilot studies progress, and in the light of the resources available, to ensure that the investigations match the varied circumstances with regard to flooding and spatial planning in Romania.  A list of 18 activities has been proposed to be pursued in each of the pilot study locations, embracing the full range of factors affecting the integration of urban and spatial planning into flood risk management, including current flood risk, past and present interventions and past and present proposed development. 55 SECTION D: Flood insurance D.1. Overview of PAID operations Natural Disaster Insurance Pool - PAID was initially created under the World Bank Hazard Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness project and was one of the first World Bank’s projects which provided ex ante assistance to reduce or mitigate a country’s vulnerability to natural disasters. The law which established PAID and at the same time made the insurance of residential property against natural disaster mandatory was passed in 2008 and implemented in 2009. PAID was established as a commercial insurance/reinsurance company with 12 insurance companies as initial shareholders, which were writing catastrophe business at the time (Table 5). PAID’s objectives are: (1) to offer a simple and accessible insurance product to any homeowner, (2) to ensure prompt payment of indemnity in the event of a catastrophic event, (3) to build a financial reserve, so that Romania is protected financially in the case of an extreme natural catastrophe, (4) to reduce the impact of such disasters on the government budget, so that public resources can be used for rebuilding hospitals, schools and infrastructure and (5) to contribute to the development of financial education of the general public and promote home insurance as an indispensable means of protection.43 Table 5 - PAID's shareholders PAID Shareholders % of shares Groupama Asigurari S.A. 15% Societatea de Asigurare-Reasigurare Astra S.A. (bankruptcy) 15% Gothaer Asigurari Reasigurari S.A. 15% Generali Romania Asigurare Reasigurare S.A. 11% Uniqa Asigurari S.A. 5.5% Societatea de Asigurare si Reasigurare City Insurance S.A. 5.5% Certasig Societatea de Asigurare si Reasigurare S.A. (bankruptcy) 5.5% Carpatica ASIG S.A. (bankruptcy) 5.5% ABC Asigurari-Reasigurari S.A. 5.5% EUROINS Romania Asigurare Reasigurare S.A. 5.5% Grawe Romania Asigurare Reasigurare S.A. 5.5% ERGO Asigurari S.A. 5.5% Source: PAID Premium rate for coverage defined by PAID (PAD policy) is set by law and equal for all properties in Romania. In this respect, PAID operates on the solidarity principle of risk sharing across different property risk classes and geographical locations. D.1.1. Types of coverage offered PAID policies are designed to cover residential buildings from earthquake, flood and landslide. These risks are defined by Rule 7/201344 and are also reflected in PAID policy. Depending on the type of construction, there are two types of insurance policies which can be written: 43 PAID website 44 Definition of flood comprises (1) atmospheric precipitation or sudden melting of snow or overflows of watercourses which have the effect of producing floods; (2) penetration and infiltration of water, in the case of 56 Type A dwelling: construction with resistance structure of reinforced concrete, metal or wood or with exterior walls of stone, baked brick, wood or any other materials resulting from a heat and / or chemical treatment, and Type B dwelling: construction with exterior walls of unbaked brick or any other material not subject to heat and/or chemical treatment. The amount of coverage (insured limit) for PAD policies is defined by Law No. 260/2008 Art. 5, and is RON equivalent of: ▪ 20,000 EUR for Type A policies: with annual premium of 20 EUR and ▪ 10,000 EUR for Type B policies: with annual premium of 10 EUR. The law prescribes that these amounts can be modified by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) rule, but this has not occurred since the introduction of the law. Currently, almost 95% of properties are of type A. In some counties, such as Vaslui, Tulcea, Teleorman and Buzau there is a somewhat larger portion of type B houses (in the range of 28%-36%). The largest concentration of portfolio (cca 20%) is in Bucharest (24% together with Ilfov). Figure 4 provides an overview of the number of policies in each county. The portfolio growth is driven primarily by the newly built properties (post 1992, in line with most recent building code). short-term covering of the land with a layer of water, coming from: the overflow of a watercourse, lake or sea or of its formation, overflow of torrents, streams or gusts for any reason, including rupture dams; accumulation of water from heavy atmospheric precipitation or melting snow, in low areas, without the possibility of leakage or with reduced possibilities of water drainage; (3) groundwater coming to the surface of the land, and all three even if the layer of water covering the ground touches (outside) only partially the construction of residential property, penetrates and infiltrates through the walls or through floor and exterior; Floods produced during the filling of the reservoir with water up to the level spillway or during the artificial change of watercourses are excluded. 57 Figure 4 - Counties shaded by number of policies on 13/12/2019. Source: the information provided in PAID presentation to Reinsurers 2020 The product is designed to cover only the dwelling, and hence no cover for content is offered, which creates an opportunity for the additional optional insurance coverage by the private sector. The coverage is on the first risk basis, meaning that regardless of true value of the insured property, damages up to EUR 10,000/20,000 will be paid in full (no underinsurance penalty like in non-first risk basis contracts). There is no deductible to be borne by the insured, which makes the coverage highly consumer friendly. In case an insured event occurs, and the loss is paid out, the sum insured is automatically renewed from the date of event for an additional pro-rata insurance premium which is automatically deducted from the amount of loss to be paid out (Art 25 of Rule 7/2013). During the policy sale, homeowners present their personal ID and self-declare their house type. There is no review of the insured property prior to the claim occurrence. This however is not a major issue, as the law prescribes the course of action which should be taken if a dwelling is misclassified45. Such typical risk parameters as seismicity of the location, age and height of building for earthquake or proximity of water and ground elevation for flood which commonly are taken into account by insurers in pricing and underwriting catastrophe insurance coverage are not taken into consideration by PAID. The only distinction in the type of coverage offered is based on the property construction type, which limits the sum insured for the properties of weaker construction. PAID is however using an advanced IT system to track all policies at a granular level and is therefore able to provide very high-quality data on its portfolio. The following details are now available for almost all policies in the portfolio, allowing for highly detailed risk modelling: building age, building height, building construction type and full street address.46 45 Order 7/2009 Rules establishing, assessing and adjusting losses for the compulsory home insurance against earthquakes, landslides and floods 46 Presentation to Reinsurers, PAID, 2020 58 To support PAID and incentivize the purchase of home insurance, Law No. 260/2008 (Article 30) stipulates sanctions for persons who fail to comply with the obligation to insure their dwellings in the form of a fine of RON 100-500 RON (EUR 20-100 EUR). However, this fine is yet to be applied in practice. Additionally, the same law stipulates that uninsured persons are not to receive compensation from state or local budget in case of natural disaster (Art. 22). D.1.2. Distribution As defined in LAW No. 260 of November 4, 2008 on the compulsory insurance of dwellings against earthquakes, landslides and floods, PAD policies can be sold either directly by PAID or via a distribution network consisting of insurance companies which are authorized to write catastrophe business and which have concluded collaboration protocol with PAID. Apart from the companies which are the original shareholders of PAID, several other companies subsequently joined the distribution network, so currently this network consists of 18 insurance companies. Companies within the distribution network write policies via direct access to the PAID underwriting system. Upon entry of the relevant policy data in the system user interface, PAID system generates a unique policy number. This unique number, together with data on the insured object and policyholder is then automatically uploaded into both PAID’s and insurance company’s databases. In this respect PAID’s records on exposure are always fully up to date. Sales volumes are relatively similarly distributed between 9 out of 18 companies, with the other nine companies recording significantly smaller volumes (Figure 5). Figure 5 - Sales volumes by different insurance companies Source: PAID As per Rule Nr. 7 of 14 August 2013, Art. 13, acquisition expenses are set as 10% of the premium, which insurance companies withhold before passing the rest of the premium to PAID. The level of commission can be amended annually by FSA. PAID premium is also subject to fees charged by the Financial Supervisory Authority (0.4% of gross written premium) and the Insured Guarantee Fund (1% of gross written premium). 59 Even though PAID can sell policies directly to the general public, it has not been doing it in practice, although this is about to change. An online portal which will enable sales of policies directly by PAID is being developed and is due to go active before the end of this year. Since other companies on the market generally do not offer this option (online purchase of PAD policy), this new distribution channel is anticipated to considerably increase the penetration. However, PAID already insures directly two groups of dwellings: (1) dwellings owned by persons receiving social allowances (the premium for which is the responsibility of the county paying the allowance and social inspection agencies) and (2) social housing (the premium for which is the responsibility of local authorities). There is a mechanism in place for insuring the first group of dwellings, which was developed with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The mechanism benefits around 50,000 low-income persons per year (45,211 policies in force as of 31/12/2019). Unfortunately, PAID has been less successful insuring the second group as out of the estimated number of around 100,000 residential properties owned by municipalities, only several thousand are insured. Law No 260/2008 stipulates (Art.12 item 2) that local authorities should provide a list of such dwellings, but this requirement has been never complied with. Sources suggest that numerous authorities, especially those in smaller cities and rural areas, are not even fully aware of this legal requirement. The situation in respect of insuring social housing is made worse by the fact that there is no centralized registry of government owned housing specifying the exact proprietors - such information exists only locally. It is therefore practically difficult to take action to enforce local government obligation to insure the relevant properties. Several years ago, the creation of the centralized registry has begun, albeit not much progress has been made so far. D.1.3. Level of insurance penetration achieved by PAID According to the National Union of Insurers and Reinsurers (UNSAR), 4 in 5 people are aware of the existence of mandatory household insurance against natural disasters. Contrary to that, roughly only 1 in 5 actually owns a PAD policy. Out of the total of 9,031,317 homes registered in Romania, only 1,731,965 homes were insured (on 31.12.2019), resulting in an overall penetration of 19.18%. This percentage has been rather constant for last four years (Figure 6). Figure 6 - PAID's portfolio development Source: PAID 60 The highest degrees of penetration were achieved in Bucharest (together with Ilfov) county, closely followed by Brasov. The lowest penetration levels were registered in the counties of Botosani, Olt, Teleorman and Gorj (all below 9%) (Table 6). Table 6 - Penetration by county No. residential County No. policies Penetration rate properties Alba 24,473 153,769 15.92% Arad 37,904 196,734 19.27% Arges 44,231 281,132 15.73% Bacau 43,260 283,174 15.28% Bihor 39,508 253,804 15.57% Bistrita-Nasaud 23,218 119,869 19.37% Botosani 15,134 178,426 8.48% Braila 19,746 138,574 14.25% Brasov 87,853 252,473 34.80% Bucuresti 337,331 866,990 38.91% Buzau 31,678 203,011 15.60% Calarasi 12,734 128,629 9.90% Caras-Severin 23,973 138,116 17.36% Cluj 75,164 342,430 21.95% Constanta 62,761 297,437 21.10% Covasna 18,660 90,916 20.52% Dambovita 23,541 217,855 10.81% Dolj 37,529 286,901 13.08% Galati 39,638 233,948 16.94% Giurgiu 13,589 120,530 11.27% Gorj 13,670 161,189 8.48% Harghita 17,966 136,367 13.17% Hunedoara 31,567 200,658 15.73% Ialomita 13,630 115,106 11.84% Iasi 57,417 327,891 17.51% Ilfov 72,729 188,672 38.55% Maramures 31,154 206,606 15.08% Mehedinti 12,142 132,476 9.17% Mures 43,783 233,108 18.78% Neamt 28,218 223,466 12.63% Olt 15,367 191,691 8.02% Prahova 71,324 328,379 21.72% Salaj 15,986 103,219 15.49% Satu Mare 22,790 147,065 15.50% Sibiu 44,988 184,356 24.40% Suceava 46,469 271,910 17.09% Teleorman 14,878 172,338 8.63% 61 No. residential County No. policies Penetration rate properties Timis 89,136 303,171 29.40% Tulcea 14,267 98,101 14.54% Valcea 23,344 184,721 12.64% Vaslui 17,233 177,101 9.73% Vrancea 21,982 159,008 13.82% Source: PAID Marked blue in the table are the top ten counties affected by flood (by annual average of affected GDP): Ialomita, Satu Mare, Teleorman, Iasi, Arad, Giurgiu, Calarasi, Alba, Timis, Neamt.47 Amongst them, only Timis has a high penetration of almost 30%, whereas the rest are averaging around 13-14%. When assessing the penetration, it is worth bearing in mind that earthquake is actually the dominant peril in PAD policy coverage. In that respect, the high coverage in Bucharest, one of the counties most exposed to earthquake risk, is an admirable accomplishment. Figure 7 provides an insight into PAID penetration on CRESTA level compared to most hazardous locations in Romania (fluvial flood only). Since flood is a very local risk in terms of hazard (distance of 100 meters, especially if there is some elevation, could make a substantial difference in terms of how flood prone the location is) it is hard to judge exactly how relevant PAID’s coverage is in terms of flood, but it is obvious that there is high coverage in the most flood prone county – Timis (for which the flood is the most prominent peril, as the earthquake risk is not that high), as well as some of the other counties which can be severely affected by flood: Iasi and Suceava. Lack of coverage seems to be an issue in the county of Satu Mare. Figure 7 - Flood zones (shown as blue dots) and exposure (by total insured value) by counties. Source: PAID 47 http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/395111485464185423/romania-country-risk-profile-lo-res.pdf 62 PAID is currently protecting around 50,000 people on social welfare. Other than that, there is no specific data available on the socio-demographic characteristics of insured vulnerable population groups. However, with most policies coming from (1) people actively aware of insurance who insures type A homes (almost 75%) and also from (2) mortgaged properties where insurance is required by banks (almost 25%), it is unlikely that a sizeable percentage of vulnerable groups is at the moment protected by the scheme. As mentioned previously, most of the dwellings insured are of type A (more resistant structure), and the split between the two is provided in Table 7. Table 7 - PAID policies by type of dwelling 2018 2019 A 1,594,110 1,630,069 B 110,524 101,896 Source: PAID Most of insured properties (75%) are located in urban areas of Romania. Bucharest county skews this statistic a little bit as 99% of insured dwellings in this county are in the areas classified as urban (Table 8). Table 8 - Properties insured in urban and rural areas Urban Rural % of urban in total Entire Romania 1,299,021 432,944 75% Bucharest 334,453 2,878 99% Total without Bucharest 964,568 430,066 69% Source: PAID Apart from the northern Suceava county located in the Siret sub-basin, all counties have more policies in urban than in rural areas. The presence of a high volume of urban policies within a county generally reflects the existence of a large city within that county (Cluj, Timisoara, Constanta, Brasov etc.) (Figure 8 – Bucharest is excluded from the figure as it would skew it due to its size). 90,000 80,000 70,000 number of policies 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 Giurgiu Suceava Covasna Dolj Gorj Hunedoara Ilfov Satu Mare Sibiu Vrancea Constanta Mehedinti Salaj Ialomita Valcea Iasi Prahova Bacau Alba Vaslui Calarasi Arad Bistrita-Nasaud Botosani Harghita Maramures Teleorman Buzau Timis Brasov Cluj Galati Neamt Arges Dambovita Olt Tulcea Braila Bihor Mures Caras-Severin Urban Rural Figure 8 - Properties insured in urban and rural areas, by county (Bucharest excluded) Source: PAID 63 D.1.4. Claims management The foundation of the claims management process for PAID is laid out by Order No. 7/2009 Rules establishing, assessing and adjusting losses for the compulsory home insurance against earthquakes, landslides and floods. This legislation is in force since PAID formation in 2009. PAID outsources most of it claims management process to insurance companies which are in direct contact with policyholders. It however exercises a good degree of control over the process, as there is a loss assessment methodology in place which all insurance companies follow. On top of that, PAID has a dedicated claim management department which was up to now able to review and verify each claim received due to a relatively limited number of claims received so far. When opening a file for a newly reported claim, insurers do so in the PAID’s platform, so PAID has information on the claims in real time. PAID direct role in the claim management process is to receive the collated documents on claims, review them and upon insured’s acceptance of the settlement, pay the loss settlement to the insured. PAID pays claim directly to the insured in accordance with Art 28 of the mentioned bylaw, and the insurer itself “may not be forced in any manner whatsoever to cover from their own resources any differences between the compensation due and the available funds of PAID.” The cost of outsourcing is set in Order No. 7/2009 PAID whereby PAID reimburses the insurer the RON equivalent of 100 EUR for each examined file. For each loss file rejected, PAID reimburses the insurer the RON equivalent of 25 EUR. PAID also approves and reimburses any other technical expertise deemed necessary. Overview of claim settlement procedure A general overview of the process of filing, assessing and settling claims is shown in the diagram below (Figure 9): the claim process is initiated by a claim notification filed by the insured party with the insurer which issued the PAD policy. Upon completion of claim assessment and once all the necessary documents48 have been collated, insurer informs PAID and offers an indemnity. The payment itself is done by PAID directly to the insured. The local competent authorities for emergency situations49 are also involved and are in charge of issuing an event occurrence report, upon request of person who suffered the loss. 48 Documents related to claim assessment (damage acknowledgement report, photographs, assessment report etc.), to identification of the insured and its ownership of the dwelling, and the event occurrence report from the competent authorities. 49 County Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU), The town's City Hall where the dwelling insured is located, through the Volunteer Service of Emergency Situations S.V.S.U./the Local Committee for Emergency Situations C.L.S.U. 64 INSURED INSURER PAID Claim notification, request for Event occurrence report from local competent authorities Verification of loss, claim assessment, Damage acknowledgement report (to be co-signed with the insured), opening of a loss file (thus notifying PAID of it) Provision of supporting documents (ID, ownership, event occurrence report) Collation of the document package and its delivery to PAID Verification of the document package Compensation offer to insured Acceptance of the offer and indication the payment modality Payment of the compensation directly to insured Figure 9 - Overview of claim settlement procedure The average time for completion and payout of the claim is 108 days (2020) and is similar for all the risks covered by the PAD policy. There have been no major issues identified so far with respect to the claim management procedure as the process is quite transparent and the insurance companies involved advise claimants on the procedure. There were just a handful of complaints from the clients themselves, and they were mostly related to challenging the amount of settlement or grounds for claim rejection (e.g., insufficient documentation, claims which do not qualify etc.). One thing that could be simplified, is elimination of the need to declare the state of natural disaster by competent authorities in case of flood, as acquiring this proof can be burdensome for the customer. The main challenge in respect of claims management relates to the occurrence of a truly catastrophic event which will instantly generate a very large number of claims. PAID has not yet experienced such an event but is however preparing for such a possibility and has been working towards implementing a mass claims management plan which would allow for smooth processing of a large volume of claims. Mass Claims Plan Using a 200,000 claims event as a baseline scenario (loosely equivalent to 1 in 200 year earthquake event), PAID has been developing a streamlined process and a platform for claim settlement. This challenging work, which has been ongoing for several years and which, apart from the insurance companies selling PAD policies, involves UNSAR and ASF, is now at the stage where a Memorandum of understanding was signed with the insurance companies, with the full plan intended to be implemented by the end of this year. The goal is to efficiently manage resources in a case of such an event, by50 50 Mass Claim plan presentation, provided by PAID 65 (1) optimizing and consolidating claim notifications (with real times information provided to both insurer and PAID and by optimizing call center activities); (2) carrying out one assessment only for both PAD and facultative policy, made through PAID application (eliminating paper as much as possible and optimizing time usage of assessment inspectors); (3) automatizing the process, including the loss estimation (based on assessment report); (4) simplifying and streamlining the process (thus reducing cost, fraud, and time required). The plan is now in its final stage and is meant to be fully implemented by 2022. Historical claims data Since its inception and up to 2019, PAID has paid 2,932 flood claims, with an additional 714 claims in the outstanding claim reserve at the end of 2019 (Table 9). Table 9 - PAID's historical flood claims Paid claims Outstanding claims Year of Total amount Total amount Number Number occurrence (EUR) (EUR) 2011 6 5,655 2012 65 32,799 2013 132 135,743 2014 692 674,912 4 16,033 2015 74 49,494 2016 860 752,373 35 25,069 2017 94 74,767 22 34,013 2018 583 561,515 261 137,962 2019 426 509,754 392 354,615 Total 2,932 2,797,012 714 567,693 Source: PAID The largest amount of claims paid due to one event was for a flood which took place on 18/05/2019. Insured losses caused by the flood events in 2014 and 2016 were similar in size (Table 10). Table 10 - Three largest flood losses to PAID (until 2019) Loss Date of loss Paid loss Outstanding loss Total (EUR) 1 18/05/2019 257,602 198,748 456,350 2 12/06/2016 436,906 18,853 455,759 3 11/07/2014 429,505 23 429,528 Source: PAID The prescribed first loss based coverage (EUR 10 or 20 thousand) and the corresponding price (EUR 10 or 20) has remained constant since the inception of PAID, which leaves PAID susceptible to the problem of claims inflation. The claim assessment is based on the replacement cost, and the average claim during these ten years (taking into account only the years with significant enough number of claims) has oscillated between 800 and 1100 EUR, with very few claims reaching the policy limit (Figure 10) - years in 66 which number of claims was not significant (less than 100) and hence for which the averages are less reliable are marked in blue). 1400 1200 1000 800 EUR 600 400 200 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Average claims (paid) Average claim (paid + O/S) Figure 10 - Average flood claim of PAID. Source: PAID’s data Looking at the paid claims only, it could be argued that over the last several years there has been an increase in the size of average claim, which in general might indicate a need for increase of premium, but as the premium was originally not actuarially set and is not risk-based, nor is the overall number and volume of flood claims significant, it could hardly be argued that this presents an imminent threat but is something that should be monitored. D.1.5. Reinsurance Reinsurance is one of the pillars of PAID’s risk management, with more than 40 percent of the written premium going towards it. PAID protects its portfolio with non-proportional excess of loss treaties, placed in the international market by a consortium of reinsurance brokers. The entire placement procedure (stages, deadlines and flow) is well defined and carried out annually by PAID’s Reinsurance Committee which analyzes any decision regarding the reinsurance program and presents it to the Board of Directors for approval.51 Particular importance is given to the selection of reinsurers, which need to fulfill certain standards in terms of rating in order to be accepted by the panel, 51 PAID’s Financial Report for 2019, available at https://www.paidromania.ro/sites/default/files/rapoarte/PAID_SFCR_RAPORT_2019_site.pdf 67 and even so, the share of each reinsurer is limited to 15% of the overall capacity required by the program.52 As of July 2019, PAID’s insurance portfolio was protected by a EUR 950mm reinsurance program supported by highly rated global reinsurers, while PAID’s own risk retention was EUR 8mm for earthquake and EUR 4mm for flood. The program has been reviewed annually and has developed over the years – gradually increasing the reinsurance capacity in line with the development of the portfolio (Figure 11)53. The limit of the reinsurance coverage is set based on the modelling results for earthquake which is by far the most dominant risk of the three perils covered by PAID. More specifically – it is based on a 200 years return period Probable Maximum Loss (PML). The net retention of the risks underwritten by PAID is set so as not to exceed 50% of the net assets of the company. One free reinstatement is included in the program. 1000 EUR Millions 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Figure 11 - Development of reinsurance capacity (retention included) Source: PAID The reinsurance program has been loss free since its establishment, with the largest loss so far coming from the 2019 flood – in the amount of EUR 456,350, which was entirely within PAID’s own risk retention. D.1.6. Capitalization levels As Romania is a member of European Union, the rules of Solvency II Directive apply to the Romanian insurance undertakings. PAID, as an insurance undertaking is also subject to Solvency II requirements. The approach of Solvency II is to require the companies to have the amount of capital necessary for addressing the probability of ruin of 0.5%. To address this requirement PAID developed several internal risk models for earthquake and flood. 52 The minimum accepted rating will be "A-" from at least one of the S&P rating agencies, A.M. Best or Fitch or "A3" given by Moody's, with any exceptions being subject to approval by both reinsurance committee and board of directors. 53 Adopted from Presentation to Reinsurers – PAID April 2020. 68 Flood risk is modelled in parallel by AON – AON GAP and Guy Carpenter - Omnicat. The 250-year return period PML for flood is estimated to be around EUR 75-115mm (depending on the model) under the projected realistic levels of penetration (cca 20%). The full information on the PML is given in Figure 12. Millions 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 10 25 50 100 200 250 500 1000 GC 2018 AON 2018 GC 2019 Aon 2019 GC 2020 Aon 2020 Figure 12 - Flood PML estimations by AON and GC models Source: PAID In line with the legal requirements, PAID has been building up a catastrophe reserve54 by accumulating a certain percentage of its written premiums.55 The aim of this reserve is to reach and remain maintained at the level of own retention or 10% of accrued liability assumed under contracts covering loss risks. As of 31/12/2019, the reserve amount was cca EUR 17mm (RON 82,406k). These data alone, but also the solvency ratio of 257% in 2019 (comparing to 197% in 2018) indicates that PAID has sufficient capacity to absorb losses from most adverse catastrophic events. Additionally, by Art. 31 of Law no. 260/2008, the Ministry of Public Finance is authorized to ensure “the availability of the financial resources necessary for the payment of the required compensation where the damage exceeds the maximum value which could be covered from the resources of PAID and by the reinsurance undertaking where the insured risks occur” in the form of a loan to PAID, should its financial resources prove insufficient to cover all outstanding claims. D.1.7. PAID’s results PAID’s results have been very positive so far. Some of the main business categories are given in the Table 10 below. Positive results have enabled PAID to build up the reinsurance coverage and its catastrophe reserve and successfully create a framework which enables it to grow its risk exposure without accepting additional risk. So far, PAID has not experienced any significant losses. 54 In line with Norm nr. 38/2015. 55 Initially 5%, increased to 10%, and increased further to 15% in 2019 by Board of Directors of PAID. 69 Table 11 - Main business indicators in EUR mm56 2018 2019 Number of contracts 1,704,634 1,731,965 Gross premium written 31.6 32.8 Reinsurance premium 14.3 14.3 Increase of UP reserve57 1.2 0.8 Contribution to cat. reserve 3.2 4.9 Incurred claims 2.0 0.8 Claim administration 0.4 0.4 expenses expenses Acquisition 3.3 3.3 Administrative expenses 1.5 1.9 Other expenses 0.4 0.6 Technical result 5.4 5.9 Net result 5.3 6.4 Source: PAID D.1.8. Overview of legal and regulatory framework The cornerstone of PAID operations is the LAW No. 260 of November 4, 2008 on the compulsory insurance of dwellings against earthquakes, landslides and floods (amended in 2015 by LAW No. 191 of July 2, 2015 for the amendment and completion of Law no. 260/2008 on compulsory insurance of housing against earthquakes, landslides and floods). This is the law which inter alia (1) made the earthquake, flood and landslide insurance mandatory, (2) specified the scope and type of coverage and premium, (3) defined PAD policy and its elements, (4) established PAID, and defined tasks and operations of PAID. This law also holds definitions of coverage to be provided by PAD policies. In order to support PAID and incentivize the purchase of home insurance, Law No. 260/2008 (Article 30) stipulates sanctions for persons who fail to comply with the obligation to insure their dwellings in the form of a fine of RON 100-500 (EUR 20-100 EUR). Additionally, the same law stipulates that uninsured persons are not to receive compensation from state or local budget in case of natural disaster (Art. 22). There are several bylaws – orders and norms - supplementing the law on compulsory insurance: Rule Nr. 6 of August 14, 2013 on the Natural Disaster Insurance Pool gives more precise guidance on some of the operations of PAID related to e.g. set up, governance and responsibilities of PAID, whereas Rule Nr. 7 of 14 August 2013 on the form and clauses contained in the contract of compulsory insurance of dwellings against earthquakes, landslides and floods defines more clearly the object of insurance and risks covered (e.g. what is considered flood), the mandatory elements of PAD policy, the level of commission, etc. The legal document defining the claim settlement procedure is the ORDER Nr. 7 of May 28, 2009 for the implementation of the Norms regarding the ascertainment, assessment and liquidation of damages under the compulsory insurance of dwellings against earthquakes, landslides or floods defines the procedure for claim assessment and settlement. As PAID was established as an insurance/reinsurance undertaking, its operations are consequently also subject to Law No. 32/2000 on the insurance undertaking and insurance supervision, which later became 56 RON to EUR exchange rate used was 0.206. 57 Unearned premium reserve. 70 Law no. 32/2000 on the activity and supervision of insurance and reinsurance intermediaries, Law no. 237/2015 on the authorization and supervision of the business of insurance and reinsurance brought in force with the introduction of Solvency II supervisory regime and Company Law No. 31/1990, as well as the rules related to these laws. ORDER Nr. 6/87 of April 21, 2011 for the approval of the Norms for the application of Law no. 260/2008 on compulsory insurance of housing against earthquakes, landslides and floods is the relevant legislation related to social housing and the roles of mayors in the process of insurance. Other relevant laws to PAID are LAW No. 416 of July 18, 2001 regarding the guaranteed minimum income and Law No. 114 of October 11, 1996 - Housing Law. No particular issues were identified with the legislation currently in force, as the main issue remains to be the lack of its enforcement: both in terms of (1) insuring government-owned social housing and in terms of (2) insuring owners of all other dwellings. Difficulties related to enforcement are related to (1) the absence of central registry of properties owned by local authorities, (2) the lack of technical means and political incentives for the local governments to enforce the law. It is worth noting that there is an ongoing process of amending Law no. 260/2008, with the general goal of increasing the penetration of mandatory insurance. The proposed draft amendments to the Law suggest several changes, some of which are somewhat controversial. For example, it is proposed by the Office of Insurance Regulator that (1) a fourth peril – storm- should be added to the PAD policy: storm. But there are several issues which would need to be resolved before this can become possible, such as (a) to have a proper definition of the peril and more importantly (b) to determine the price for this risk as the current price does not account for it and is, according to most experts, insufficient to cover even the three perils currently covered by the policy. There is also a proposal that (2) the PAD policy can be issued for period longer than 12 months, and (3) to eliminate the provisions related to monetary penalties in case of non-compliance with the obligation of natural and legal persons to conclude a PAD contract. (4) Update of premiums and sums insured are also suggested as an option, but it is not entirely clear from the proposal what the expectations are in this respect. It was also proposed in the amendment to (5) liberalize the PAID distribution network and allow “ even local public administration authorities or other institutions to distribute PAD insurance product”, which is a good idea in theory, but not trivial to implement, as distribution of insurance policies is a highly regulated area. The amendments also contained a proposal on relaxing the eligibility requirements for PAID shareholders (so far, all the shareholders are insurance companies), and several clarifications and recommendations related to alignment with the European Commission requirements. D.1.9. Key challenges faced by PAID The Romanian economy is vulnerable to floods, but the level of flood insurance is still at a relatively low level. The current assessment based on gathered data, indicated that the existence of PAID has created a significant positive shift in private property insurance, as now 20% properties are insured, but even more importantly, now there is a structure in place to easily insure more. The main challenges faced by PAID remain the same since its creation and relate to the enforcement of the law and the administratively set price of its coverage. The price that PAID charges for the coverage against natural disasters is considered too low to cover all the perils in question. However, the second 71 issue has not yet come to a head, as there have been no major earthquakes or floods which could have considerably affected the cost of PAID’s reinsurance coverage. The survey regularly commissioned by UNSAR58 suggests that even though the fire risk is what worries Romanian homeowners most in terms of their homes, 54% of them are also worried about earthquake, 28% about floods and 16% about landslides. This suggests that there is a relatively high risk awareness among the population59. Additionally, the percentage of people aware that PAD policy is mandatory has also increased from 81% in 2019 to 87% in 2020, with 75%60 people also aware of the impossibility to receive compensation from the state in case of natural disaster if they do not have a mandatory policy. Almost 60% of people reported lack of money as the reason for not buying the policy, even though 80% out of them believe that the price itself is appropriate. Moreover, according to the same survey, more than half of Romanians (53%) claimed to have high or very high trust in insurance companies. This data suggests that Romanians are quite well aware of the risks they are exposed to. During the interviews, it was implied that, even though the consumers are in general aware of the risks, they are not generally well aware of benefits of insurance and exact coverage they would have with PAD policy. For this reason, PAID has dedicated considerable funds to marketing and has been active in raising public awareness of natural disasters and benefits of insurance. The most recent campaign aimed to educate consumers on what insurers do with the insurance premium money they receive from sales of policies, how reinsurance works and what is the purpose of intermediaries in the insurance industry. Information received from PAID implied that more than 5 million people have seen at least one element of this campaign. A marketing campaign promoting insurance was also recently carried out by UNSAR. As the penetration has been relatively low but quite stable over several years, PAID has been exploring some other possible solutions that can help boosting insurance penetration such as (1) requiring proof of insurance at any transfer of the property and (2) allowing the conclusion of multiyear policies, which are usually required by banks – as currently a number of properties bought with loan proceeds from banks is uninsured. The latter issue is being addressed by the ongoing Law 260/2008 amendment. One of the obstacles related to the stagnant sales of PAD policies has been recently addressed. by PAID, which introduced a direct online policy sales channel directly from its web-portal. The main obstacle to the increased insurance penetration lies in the lack of proactive involvement of municipal governments in the implementation of the law primarily by sending letters to notify people of their obligation to insure, and subsequently also by imposing fines for non-compliance. However, municipalities have not much incentive to carry this role out. A positive example is the Brasov county, which is the only county to follow through with the provision of the law requiring the mayors to send notification letters to persons without a PAD policy. The Brasov example clearly demonstrates that proactive involvement of local government can lead to a significant increase in the insurance penetration. Today, Brasov has one of the highest penetration rates in Romania of 33.54% in 2018, and 34.80% in 2019. In 2021, the county of Arad also started notifying population about the obligation to insure their homes, followed also by Pantelimon city in the Ilfov county. 58 The survey is carried out by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES) on a sample of few thousand persons. 59 Especially if considered that not all areas or Romania are exposed to these perils (e.g. exposure of west part of Romania to earthquake is far less than the exposure of the east part). 60 This number was obtained from the survey carried out in 2018. 72 It should be noted however that flood insurance is not and cannot be a substitute for risk prevention. In that sense, PAID to a certain extent perpetuates moral hazard as the premium is fixed and very low, and there is no financial motivation for homeowners to invest in flood loss reduction measures. D.2. Overview of private flood insurance coverage for residential properties There are 27 companies currently operating in the Romanian market, out of which 18 are registered to write catastrophe business61. Within the market, non-life insurance is dominant (75% of written premium in 2018), majority of which comes from auto insurance. Insurance of fire and natural perils is 13.36% of non-life insurance (residential and non-residential segment)62, but the exact premium written for catastrophe business and in particular flood is not available. The design of PAID product (low sum insured, first risk basis, no insurance for content) leaves ample room for additional coverage for individuals interested in properly insuring their homes. By Article 3, paragraph 9, of Law No. 260/2008, the “Insurance-reinsurance undertakings authorized to cover catastrophe risks may not conclude voluntary insurance for a dwelling for which no PAD compulsory insurance has been previously concluded.” In that respect, private insurance for flood to residential properties is designed as a top-up of the PAD policies, offering additional protection. Furthermore, additional cover cannot be granted to homeowners until the original premium for the PAD policy is paid to the insurer. D.2.1. Overview of private flood insurance market Companies which are a part of PAD distribution network, also offer own flood insurance products as a top-up to PAD policies. Apart from insuring residential housing, companies63 have products for insuring businesses, industrial and government properties. For residential properties, voluntary flood insurance is generally sold bundled with other cat coverage (mainly earthquake and landslide) and with FLEXA and some other common risks (pipe breakage, theft). The offered coverage also tends to cover the gap of content coverage and is mainly sold on the sum insured basis with an under-insurance penalty (rather than the first risk basis incorporated in PAD policy coverage). Deductibles for contents are either zero or minimal. Flood coverage is also offered to commercial properties, generally as an optional cover, but there are companies who have bundled it with fire coverage. It is not in general sold as a standalone cover. In general, BI coverage can also be purchased, but this is not a common occurrence. Deductibles often apply but are again not very high. For industrial properties, flood is generally included in FLEXA coverage, so most of industrial properties that have insurance will also be protected against flood, including also the BI coverage. Insurance of government owned properties is not so common, but the exact details are not available, as it is generally treated as commercial insurance. Agriculture seems to be very rarely covered from flood. 61 https://asfromania.ro/ 62 https://unsar.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Document-de-pozitie_Asigurarile-pentru-locuinte_27-iulie.pdf 63 Data were provided by several leading companies on the market. 73 D.2.2. Level of private flood insurance coverage for private homes By information available from The National Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania, 17% of homes are covered by some form of voluntary insurance64 (as opposed to 19-20% covered by PAD policy against natural disasters). This is in line with data available from the companies, which imply that very high percentage of issued PAD policies are complemented with voluntary coverage. In that respect, the geographical distribution of voluntary residential coverage follows the one of PAD policies, suggesting that the main reason for this additional insurance is the exposure to earthquake risk, rather than the exposure to flood. By sums insured provided by the market, most of their exposure is in commercial and residential properties, followed by industrial, and with negligible participation of government properties and agriculture. D.2.3. Current state of the flood risk modelling used by private insurers For pricing of residential properties, companies generally use parameters such as: (1) risk zone, (2) type of dwelling (apartment/house), (3) year of construction, (4) type of construction (material); and in some cases taking into account also (5) past claims and (6) proximity of water sources. Similar parameters are generally used also for commercial properties, also including type of activities. Pricing parameters for industrial risks are generally similar, but with more emphasis on historical results, geographical position, and the exposure in terms of activities and goods on the property. In order to model their exposure and PMLs, companies reported that they are using internal modelling based on historical claims, as well as commercial models - available directly or via reinsurance brokers. Both in terms of modelling and reinsurance strategies though, the peak risk in Romania is earthquake, and for that reason, flood is not even always modelled as it is considered that it is not sufficiently relevant to match the loss that a 1 in 200 or 1 in 250 return period an earthquake could cause. D.2.4. Challenges faced by private insurers Since the Romanian insurance market is dominated by large international insurance groups (VIG, Allianz, Groupama, Generali etc.) there is no lack of technical expertise to insure flood. Additionally, due to its higher loss potential, earthquake risk is of much bigger concern to the companies, which often treat flood due to a relatively small overall exposure as an addition to the earthquake coverage. Insurers in general are well aware of the areas which are highly exposed to flood and deal with the problem by declining coverage or increasing deductibles65. The insurance products themselves are very standard and similar to the products sold in other markets, but the interest of clients to insure themselves from flood is often lacking. The companies have however reported a certain gradual growth in interest by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in insurance in general, and the Nat Cat insurance in particular. Based on the information received from the insurance industry, companies do not see particular obstacles within the current legal framework. One issue that was pointed out as a potential drag on policy sales is the social nature of the PAD coverage, which is based on the solidarity principle. According to insurers, 64 https://unsar.ro/, data is related to 2018. 65 AXCO Insurance Market Report, Romania: Non-life, 2020 74 the flat premium regardless of risk location, is not perceived well by consumers in Romania. Specifically, earthquake risk is concentrated in eastern part of the country, whereas landslide and flood risks tend to be quite local, with the latter also being significantly affected by the building height. Hence, people living in non-exposed parts of the country (justifiably) feel like their premiums are used to cross-subsidize consumers in more disaster-prone areas. D.3. Overview of flood insurance coverage for municipal properties D.3.1. Role of municipal governments The important role which local authorities may play in disaster management by working to build disaster resilience at a local level has been widely recognized66, and consisted of raising public awareness and implementing sustainable development strategies which promote local resilience. In Romania, municipalities are seen to have an active role in flood insurance through their involvement in PAID. As all the residential type dwellings need to be insured, in case when dwelling is owned by the state or by administrative-territorial units, it is their obligation to conclude this insurance. Apart from that, local authorities are also involved in the process of enforcing participation of the population in the PAID program. Their obligation is to (1) prepare annual budget for the cost of this premium, (2) provide PAID biannually with the list of all constructions intended for housing, including social housing, located within their administrative-territorial area and upon a receival of lists of insured properties from PAID, (3) send notification letters, with acknowledgement of receipt to the persons who did not conclude PAD for their dwellings and finally (4) impose fines for the uninsured. Central and local public administration authority is in charge for (1), mayors for (2), (3) and (4). They also have a role in distributing compensations from the budget, in cases when catastrophic events occur. Interviews with the few selected municipalities implied that they are aware of these requirements. In terms of informing citizens about mandatory home insurance and the need to insure, some chose to send this information in a letter to all citizens, along with their local tax notifications. This approach contrasts sharply with that envisaged by the Law, which requires local governments to list all local taxpayers which did not conclude the PAD policy and fine them for non-compliance. In the letter, the municipalities warn citizens (rather than actually fining them) about potential fines, which is in general their preferred approach to enforcement. Despite major efforts by PAID to increase public awareness of their coverage, in the view of municipalities citizens still do not have sufficient information and clarity on this issue. D.3.2. Insurance coverage of municipal properties Financial planning for natural disasters at the municipal level generally involves setting a reserve for emergencies in the budget. Usually, this tends to be a small amount, as in a case of a disaster, funds can be reallocated from other budget items. Municipalities also rely on the additional funds from the government which they are bound to receive in case of flood. 66 SENDAI Declaration, UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, March 2015, Sendai, Japan 75 When it comes to buying insurance, the main obstacle for municipalities to buying coverage is the lack of financial resources. While the on the data on the level of insurance coverage of municipal properties is scarce, interviews with municipalities and the survey data from the companies implied that some, but not a significant percentage of municipal property is insured. Municipalities are in general aware of high flood hazard zones, and generally do not have property such as administrative buildings, located in such areas67. As a result, their concern about flood is not that significant as they are far more concerned about the effects of a possible large earthquake. When it comes to public facilities, – facilities which do not have own budget, such as e.g. schools, rely on the city’s decision and financial aid in a case they might need insurance. At the same time, municipal hospitals generally have a larger budget and make their own decisions with regard to insurance. This makes municipal approach to insurance somewhat chaotic and inefficient. D.3.3. Reasons behind poor enforcement of compulsory insurance coverage by municipalities As already mentioned, the main issue with social housing is the lack of clarity with regard to property ownership as there is no central registry of properties owned by local authorities. Creation of such a registry would greatly help with increasing insurance coverage for social housing as relevant authorities could be made aware of their insurance obligation. Resolving this problem however would not contribute much to increasing the overall level of flood insurance penetration, as Romania went through a massive housing privatization in 1990, which “reduced the number of publicly owned housing units from 1,634 million in 1990 to 220,856 in 2002 and increased the share of private sector housing stock from 67.35% in 1990 to 97.2% in 2002”. This percentage has increased further over time to 98.76% in 201868. D.4. Mapping public institutions and stakeholders Due to the nature of PAIDs insurance scheme, both from the policy writing and the claim settlement side, several entities are envisaged to be directly involved in the PAID insurance scheme (Table 12 below). Table 12 - Public institutions and stakeholder and their roles in PAID insurance scheme Entity Role Competent authorities - the institution Confirm a case of flood (also earthquake or landslide). empowered to establish the state of natural disaster 1. County Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU) 2. The town's City Hall where the dwelling insured is located, through the Volunteer Service of Emergency Situations S.V.S.U./the Local Committee for Emergency Situations C.L.S.U. 67 There are however privately owned residential properties in such locations. 68 Raport de proiect: Acțiune împotriva exploatării muncii și deprivării locative – 2019, Blocul pentru Locuire 76 Entity Role 3. County Hall or other competent authorities (National Meteorological Administration, National Institute of Research - Development for Earthquake). Ministry of Labor and Social Protection Provides a list of people on social welfare who own a house to PAID and pay insurance premium on their behalf. Ministry of Finance Is authorized according to legal framework to ensure the availability of the financial resources necessary for the payment of the required compensation where the damage exceeds the maximum value which could be covered from the resources of PAID and by the reinsurance undertaking where the insured risks occur (loan which is to be repaid by PAID, based on a loan agreement). The Financial Supervisory Authority In charge of adjusting amounts of premium/sums insured if necessary. Issues rules related to PAID operations (e.g. form of certificate, level of commission, claim management etc.). Local public administration authorities – Provide annual budget for the amounts necessary to pay mayors compulsory premium for the dwellings owned by state and administrative-territorial units. Provide PAID biannually with the list of all constructions intended for housing, including social housing. Send notification letters, with acknowledgement of receipt to the persons who did not conclude PAD for their dwellings. Impose fines to persons who own uninsured dwellings. 77 SECTION E: Conclusions and ways forward E.1. Conclusions: Urban and Spatial planning and Flood Insurance in Romania Both spatial planning and flood insurance are important non-structural measures within flood risk management. The former is designed to prevent the future buildup of risk in areas liable to flooding, and the latter can compensate those affected by flooding and promote recovery in both areas protected and unprotected by traditional flood defenses. The two policy measures should be seen as complementary: ▪ Insurance in areas of risk can facilitate spatial planning decisions whereby certain development is allowed there, if such development is permitted, and also help communities where structural flood risk management measures are uneconomic or are in other ways unacceptable (perhaps owing to environmental issues); ▪ Spatial planning and its permitting system for development, prohibiting certain developments which are particularly vulnerable, can prevent insurance schemes becoming insolvent owing to large numbers of claims occurring simultaneously as a result of a major flood affecting developments otherwise unwisely located in floodable areas. The development of insurance regimes and spatial planning arrangements should therefore proceed step- by-step in a carefully orchestrated way, to ensure that each is mutually supporting. This is one of the key conclusions emerging from this report. E.2. Conclusions and the way forward: Integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning Flooding is of growing concern due to increasing densification of urban areas, changes in land use, and climate change. Future urban development should build on the existing dedicated Strategies in Romania (e.g. National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), National Climate Change Strategy and its Action Plan, the National Sustainable Development Strategy). Better integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning and vice versa can thereby be enhanced by using the existing tools, legal provisions, and procedures but also by enhancing them with certain key aspects and guidance to fill gaps, clarify arrangements and to ensure optimal and efficient inter-institutional information sharing and collaboration. The vital interaction and necessary overlap of urban flood management with land use management, urban planning, socio- economic development, and public awareness and participation need to be explored. All of these issues lie at the core of planning for and carrying out strategies for climate change adaptation but have the result of prescribing specific issues and practices in an urban environment – not just ideas and theories - in order to increase the resilience of the population. In addition, a change of approach is needed, from individualized and sectoral thinking to a holistic integrated philosophy, which involves the participation of multidisciplinary teams of specialists. To manage floods in a sustainable way it is necessary to apply such a holistic viewpoint and employ an integrated approach for the different functions that a modern city entails, including flood resilient cities. Also, a further change of thinking is needed, from a traditional flood risk management approach to an innovative one, which involves “living with water” in many ways (based on resilience theory). Spatial planning should ‘open up’ to water as a resource, not just a risk. Flood risk management should see urban 78 and spatial planning as a vital risk-reducing enabling facility. There are not enough policies developed across the two fields with matching interests and objectives; policies and procedures written in unison to complement each other; or indeed collaboration with and across multiple actors and stakeholders (see Table 1). It is a long-term process to achieve a flood resilient city, and it is important to ensure synergy between urban development and urban drainage strategies, and between green measures and conservation measures that are already in place (water, energy, land use, transportation, and socio-economic development). Smart development of cities and use of already existing/adapted solutions in updated PUG/PUZ/PUD plans are necessary. But all this can be done step by step, guided and in stages, so that improvements come reliably and without significant ‘knock-back’: major changes expected ‘overnight’ are unrealistic and should be avoided. The full range of risk reducing interventions need to be deployed, promoting flood resistance and resilience and including flood forecasting and warning, based on rigorous assessment of risk including flash floods and those resulting from the deterioration of existing defense infrastructures. A participatory approach should be used both to identify areas at risk and increase the knowledge and awareness about flooding in local populations. These issues are all aspirations central to the Government of Romania, and also to the current World Bank managed ”Reimbursable Advisory Services Agreement on Technical Support for the Preparation of Flood Risk Management Plans for Romania - Report on stocktaking and workplan”. However, the analysis in this report extends beyond this in seeking to understand and influence a necessarily wider range of stakeholders, particularly in the urban and spatial planning field. For the pilot urban areas to be analysed after the delivery of this stocktaking report, risk governance concepts should be considered in an extensive further analysis of participation, risk communication and stakeholders’ roles, competences and interests. The aim is to identify the best mechanisms to realise good integration objectives of land use/spatial planning, urban development, economic regeneration and flood risk management (see Table 3). A range of questions should be addressed in these pilot activities, to explore in depth both the barriers to integration and the facilitating mechanisms. These questions need to be developed systematically, based on these stocktaking results and Government of Romania aspirations, but may include: ▪ What is the relationship between assessed flood risk and the public’s risk perception? Which factors determine this relationship? What are the implications for Flood Risk Management (FRM) policy? ▪ How can public participation in flood risk management be increased through better risk communication and greater risk awareness? ▪ How can participation in the establishment of flood risk management plans be encouraged and improved as a feature of “good urban governance”? ▪ How can green measures and smart city development measures can be encouraged, integrating them in the cities’ development plans? What types of mechanisms should be enforced to encourage such synergy? ▪ How committed is the Government of Romania and its many institutions and stakeholders in the fields of flood risk management and urban and spatial planning to enhancing performance in this field with the aim of creating more sustainable and safer cities? 79 The objective of the project is “supporting the Government of Romania (GoR) in enhancing its capacity in relation to flood risk management and urban and spatial planning, taking into account relevant international best practice”. In terms of activities for the World Bank, the following have been planned: Component 1: Stocktaking and preparatory phase 1.1. Preparation of Stocktaking Report (this output) 1.2. Providing support for the facilitation of an inter-institutional coordination group 1.3. Analysis of best practices at European and international level Component 2: Support to improving flood risk management 2.1 Guidance on the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning practices 2.2 Recommendations on insurance schemes to improve resilience and recovery from flooding The activities and workplan are necessary in the urban and spatial planning and flood risk management field. In this respect, further steps are needed as follows: A. Further analysis of the problem. This project is predicated on the assumption that there are issues with the integration of urban and spatial planning and flood risk management in Romania. The “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, presents a complex solution to a problem that is undefined, namely the poor integration between these two fields presumably leading to unwise development of vulnerable people and property in areas where there is significant flood risk. This needs to be investigated further to determine the magnitude of the problem and hence the magnitude of the necessary response. B. The Pilot Studies, identified in this report as a long-list, that will be elected by MEWF together with MDPWA afterwards, should be initiated “to facilitate more detailed assessments on the potential challenges to the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning as well as potential measures that would facilitate such integration” (see Table 3 for the 18 proposed activities). These should cover key cities, small towns and perhaps include carefully selected rural areas adjacent to those cities and towns. In terms of workplan, these pilots should ideally commence in June 2021 and be completed by the end of the year. If possible, site investigations will be undertaken, and in any case numerous interviews need to be held with relevant local, regional and national stakeholders. The specifications for this task need to be developed further, building on discussions of the proposal in Table 3. C. Support for the facilitation of an Inter-institutional Coordination Group The support for the facilitation of the Inter-institutional coordination group is provided by the WB Team. The establishment of this inter-institutional coordination group should happen by June 2021 if the other stakeholders will provide a swift feedback to the invitations launched by the MEWF. An important key actor is the MDPWA which should co-lead together with MEWF the 80 activities of the Inter-institutional Coordination Group. WB Team will provide support for the organization of the meetings and for the activities of this Inter-institutional Coordination Group. D. Guidance on the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning practices (due in June 2022). This will be the final output of this technical assistance. It is very likely that these Guidelines would be the subject of many discussions and meetings at a range of levels with regard to urban and spatial planning and flood risk management in Romania. The development of this guidance will run in parallel with the development of the Programs of Measures for the new Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMP) according to the EU Floods Directive. The overall guidance or specific recommendations and proposed activities can be integrated as policy or national measures into the Program of Measures. The final draft Guidance documents should be produced by no later than March 2022, so as to provide sufficient time for them to be the subject of extensive consultation and government ownership in parallel to the consultation process of the FRMP. Publication in June 2022 will thereby be facilitated. The results shall be incorporated in the second-generation Flood Risk Management Plans enhancing the use of non-structural measures to manage flood risk in Romania. In terms of a critical path for these tasks “A” to “D”, this should be the subject of further discussions; the default position would be to see these tasks in sequence, with overlapping elements indicated by the suggested dates above. Certainly task “B” will build on task “A”, and task “D” is the final task. More definitive critical path statements cannot be made here at this stage. E.3. Conclusions concerning flood risk management and flood insurance The wider role of insurance in flood risk management should be acknowledged. A comprehensive flood risk management framework with clear and transparent roles of different institutions and agencies in which insurance is just one component is clearly beneficial for any country69. The main government institutions in Romania, which are or should be involved in flood insurance, do not seem to be effectively coordinated. After more than 10 years since the creation of Natural Disaster Insurance Pool (PAID), it still remains unclear who exactly owns the social housing which needs to be insured or who is in charge of addressing this issue. Many municipalities, which have a major role to play in supporting PAID’s operations, seem to be unaware of this role or do not know how exactly to address it. Furthermore, PAID, as a primary national flood insurer, has no notable involvement in the overall flood risk management process at the country level, and has no visible support from or cooperation with 69 The UK system provides an example of a functional flood risk management system, where the work of different institutions and agencies, such as the Environment Agency, the Met Office and their National Flood Forecasting Center, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Regional flood defense committees as well as local authorities, and even charity organizations such as the National Flood Forum, is clearly defined, complementary to each other and well-coordinated. Similarly, USA National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) approach is to help with funding of flood mitigation measures for high-risk properties, but also to bring communities into play, by offering them reduced premiums in return for their efforts to reduce flood risk. NFIP also plays an important role in hazard maps creation, assistance with land development and building code standards, whereas Flood Re, together with ABI continuously promotes higher public spending on flood defenses and closely cooperates with government institutions in charge of this segment. 81 relevant government agencies (e.g. Ministry of Interior (in charge of flood emergencies), the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management (that provides flood warnings, etc.). Increased cooperation of PAID with relevant government agencies would greatly strengthen flood risk management in Romania. The insurance system should be used as a vehicle to improve flood resilience and resistance. The general long-term goal of all the participants in flood risk management is to reduce the risk, and insurance can easily pinpoint high risk properties, and at the same time access them via claim payouts70. The knowledge accumulated in the insurance industry in Romania over the years, especially combined with the available data from the areas with vulnerable communities71 could be more efficiently used as an additional source of information for improving overall flood resilience. Flood awareness should be promoted. There is no clear evidence that having precise information on how risky the area one lives in would increase insurance penetration, but such information could also help PAID and insurance companies specifically target the areas where risk is more significant. Having this information transparent and available to the public and other institutions in an understandable form could also be valuable and help identify the properties which would benefit from adopting flood proofing measures (the details and options of which could also be a part of this information), help prioritize local mitigation efforts, and affect decisions on property purchase, as well as provide a clearer view on potential future development of the particular area. In that respect, Romania would also benefit from creating publicly available online risk mapping and hazard identification tools.72 Insurances should cover more than just the residential sector The details of reported flood damages from the 2005 flood - one of the most devastating floods in the Romanian history - are presented in Table 12 below. As can be seen, the damage to residential properties was a moderate part of overall damage (cca 11%)73. This percentage is in line with the flood losses recorded in 2014 in the neighboring Serbia, which was hit by an historic sized flood event (the loss to residential properties was not more than 13%-15% of the total, when accounting also for losses to content, cost of debris removal and temporary accommodation, and in the range of 9% when accounting only for losses to buildings)74. 70 The “build back better” initiative of the UK whereby the households get support from Government, Flood Re and the insurance industry to improve resilience and resistance after a flood loss, brings a long term value in terms of overall loss reduction. 71 E.g. Qualitative Assessment of Social Vulnerability to Flood Hazard in Romania, I. Torok, Sustainability 2018, 10, 3780; doi:10.3390/su10103780 72 NFIP in particular, and to certain extent also UK’s Flood Re, are more than reinsurers and have a valu able role in disseminating knowledge about flood risk and exposure, to industry and the general public. Their websites provide information on flood exposure on each area/property which can generally be easily accessed by entering the properties’ address and post code. 73 Experience and data from Spain show that on average around 36% of losses for significant flood events were paid out to the residential sector, whereas Poland’s experience implies a lower percentage - around 15% for a severe event. 74 Finansijski aspekti elementarnih nepogoda, Studija slucaja poplave u Srbiji 2014, UNPD Office in Serbia, April 2016 82 Table 13 - Losses caused by flood in Romania in 2005 Source: RMSI Integrated Disaster Risk Management Study– Final Reports and Outputs for Romania, 2007 75 This implies that in a scenario of a devastating flood event, even with a penetration rate of 100%, PAID would at most cover 10-15% of total damage. In that respect, it is worth looking into expanding mandatory flood insurance coverage beyond residential housing to other sectors. Extended coverage could include flood induced losses to: (1) Agriculture; (2) Publicly owned properties (like municipal housing), schools, hospitals, government buildings, utilities; (3) SMEs, with relevant additional coverage (such as BI or business inventories) (4) Industrial properties, and (5) Private and government owned vehicles. Such an extension of PAID coverage would materially help with providing more substantial financial assistance to the economy in cases of severe floods. Nevertheless, the challenge of PAID extension coverage to flood induced losses to other assets or sectors in Romania is related to necessary alignment with other considerations, such as the existing national and European legislation in the insurance field, to the necessity of detailed technical studies for which input data with national coverage should be available, and to ensuring the principle of social solidarity. With respect to agriculture, according to European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, 22% of arable land is insured (2 million ha, out of 8.3 million ha). A government sponsored program of insurance premium subsidies of cca EUR 40 million is currently in place to further support this line of 75Original source: Central Commission for the Defense against Flooding, Hazardous Meteorological Phenomena and Accidents at Hydrological units, Permanent Technical Secretariat, Ministry of Waters and Environmental Protection 83 insurance. However, some of the interviewed companies implied that flood coverage is not a standard part of the policy, and that flood is in fact often excluded, which considerably reduces the percentage of arable land covered against flood. According to the Law (381/2002) enacted in 2002, the government will provide certain indemnification of damages in a case of declared natural calamity (including floods due to overflows of rivers or broken damns and heavy rains) to farmers who have insurance in place against standard risks (such as hail etc.) from approved insurance companies. Even though the Law has positive implications for farmers and agriculture insurance in general, this measure does not help the Romanian government to reduce its budgetary outlays in cases of flood. A more efficient way to address the hazard would be to transfer it to insurance and reinsurance sector. In terms of protecting government-owned property, there are always significant exposures to flood for buildings, infrastructure, and other assets (e.g., in particular transport infrastructure and hydrotechnical facilities). Based on the limited data available from the insurance companies there is currently only some insignificant coverage of these government assets. However, insurance is only one of the possible solutions. For assistance in major flood emergencies, Romania currently relies on the ex-post risk financing instruments such as budget reallocation, donor assistance, domestic or external credit and aid granted by the EU Solidarity Fund76. However, these resources are not always available or sufficient, and in that respect additional pre-arranged disaster risk funding mechanisms should be considered. Imposing a mandatory coverage for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (like for private homes) would certainly be a further step towards better flood protection. However, such a measure should be built on the risk-based tariff that reflects both the location and the vulnerability characteristics of insured risks. Privately owned industrial properties and their losses are less of an issue, as the government will not in general be under any obligation to compensate owners for the losses in this segment of economy. Criteria for a qualifying event should be reviewed. The Romanian system calls for acknowledgement of the state of natural disaster by competent authorities, whereby they are also expected to designate disaster zone77. Whereas this step has its value, in a case of flood in particular, skipping it would greatly simplify the claim settlement process, but on the other hand, with no deductible in its insurance policy it could expose PAID to numerous small floods. Introducing a small insurance deductible of 5-7% for flood related damages would address the problem of small claims. Long term planning should be promoted. A long-term strategy and plan that integrates insurance in the overall national flood risk management plans would be of value for Romania. Additionally, there are two general major issues PAID is dealing with since its setup: 76 Romania, Systematic Country Diagnostic Background Note, Climate and Disaster Management, The World Bank, June 2018 77 In the Spanish and UK systems, there is no qualifying criteria for an event (it does not need to cause large amounts of damage to large numbers of people, nor does a “disaster” or “disaster area” need to be officially declared). The indemnification process simply begins when a claim is filed by the insured party. 84 1. PAID’s premium rate: Romanian government has announced premiums PAID would charge per dwelling prior to conducting any modelling. Subsequent research on reinsurance costs suggested that in order for such a scheme to be viable, there would need to be a minimum of 5% deductible introduced to the coverage.78 In that respect there is an ongoing uncertainty about the stability of the scheme, but as PAID has during its operation not been exposed to severe events, it was allowed to gradually build up a substantial reserve and at the same time develop a well-structured reinsurance program, which has put it in a relatively safe place for further growth, but this can easily be challenged by a disastrous event. Even though PAID works on the first risk basis, from the standpoint of flood, introducing a deductible to the coverage would be highly warranted as it would incentivize the policyholder to invest in risk reduction. 2. Law enforcement: One of main challenges faced by PAID remains the same since its creation and relates to the enforcement of the law. Due to the lack of it, only a relatively small fraction of residential dwellings participates in the scheme (cca 20% at the end of 2019, being stable over the period of last five years). In order to support PAID and incentivize the purchase of home insurance, Romania has set restrictions on receiving government compensation by stipulating that uninsured persons are not to receive compensation from state or local budgets in case of natural disaster. With the current PAID’s penetration rate this setup would put Romanian government in a position to, in an aftermath of a disastrous event, choose between (a) leaving a very large percentage of homeowners without any aid and (b) breaking the law and at the same time undermining PAID’s usefulness. Increasing PAID’s penetration by enforcing the law prior to such an event would help alleviate the likelihood of facing such a dilemma. Municipal governments have a role to play in supporting insurance penetration by (a) providing the lists of municipally owned dwellings and providing the budget for their insurance, (b) sending notification letters to the persons who did not use PAID for their dwellings, and (c) imposing fines on persons who own uninsured dwellings. It could help incentive these municipal governments to follow through with this law enforcing role by possibly linking post-disaster compensation to municipalities to their level of private insurance penetration for PAID. 78 AXCO Insurance Market Report, Romania: Non-life, 2020 85 ANNEX A – Stakeholders and their roles in Romanian spatial planning and flood risk management Urban, spatial and land use planning Spatial planning involves a number of public institutions that have roles and competences in this field clearly defined by law. The institutions with direct attributions in spatial development are: ▪ Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration; ▪ State Inspectorate of Construction; ▪ National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising; ▪ County Councils; ▪ Local Councils; ▪ National Investment Company. In addition to these institutions, the community has a very important role, due to the promotion of participatory urbanism in recent years. The direct involvement of the community is regulated by Order no. 2.701 of December 30, 2010 for the approval of the Methodology for informing and consulting the public regarding the elaboration or revision of territorial and spatial planning plans and through the local methodologies of informing and consulting the population, adopted by all county and local councils. The relations that are established between these public institutions and stakeholders are of several types (however, some of these relations are not regulated by law): ▪ Coordination / cooperation relations; ▪ Subordination relations; ▪ Corroboration; ▪ Indirect relations; ▪ Direct relations. The main actor in spatial planning is the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration which is coordinating the entire activity carried out at national level. It has directly subordinated the County Councils, Local Councils, The State Construction Inspectorate and has direct relations with the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising and the National Investment Company. The Ministry, as the main coordinator, has constant corroborating relations with other institutions at national level, both with those that have main activity in the field of flood risk management, and with those that have support activity in this field. 1. Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration – www.mlpda.ro (Governing rules of organization and functioning). The Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration is probably the most complex public institution because it has in its attribution a multitude of responsibilities and roles in various fields. It is a specialized body of central public administration, with legal personality, subordinated to the Government and it represents the authority for various areas including: regional development, cohesion and territorial development, cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation, spatial planning and architecture, maritime planning, public works, administrative-territorial reorganization, development of community services public utilities and others. This Ministry ensures, according to the law, the 86 elaboration of the normative and institutional framework for achieving the strategic objectives in its fields of activity. The roles performed by Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration are strategic planning, regulation and approval of documentation, representation, state authority in its fields of activity, administration, implementation and management of programs financed by various funds, monitoring and control and coordination and certification for the 2014-2020 Cross-Border Cooperation Programs. In carrying out its functions, the Ministry has, among others, the following attributions: elaborates strategies, policies, programs and plans for its fields of activity, coordinates their deployment, implements projects in public-private partnership or urban regeneration projects for public utility, manages the field of spatial planning, urbanism, urban mobility, and architecture, the field of public works, the field of constructions, management and real estate-urban development, emits notices and approvals of the spatial planning and urbanism documentation, according to the law, elaborates the General Urban Planning Regulation, collaborates with the other ministries, as well as with the other central public administration bodies, from the urbanism point of view, for substantiating sectorial strategic programs, and it collaborates as well with regional development councils, county councils and local councils, and follows the application of government programs and guidelines in the field of urbanism at regional, county and local level. 2. State Inspectorate of Construction – www.isc.ro Government Decision no. 63/2001 for the establishment of the State Inspectorate for Constructions - I.S.C.; Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010; Law no. 350/6.07.2001 for territorial and urban planning. The State Inspectorate for Constructions (ISC) is a specialized public institution, subordinated to the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, which exercises, according to the legislation in force, state control over the unitary application of legal provisions in the fields of constructions (their quality), landscaping and urban planning, authorization of construction works, supervision of the market of products for the field, approval of technical and economic documentation for investments financed from public funds. Role and Competences: ▪ State Authority - exercises control over the observance and application of the institutional framework, regulations and participates in establishing organizational and action measures in case of calamity (earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc.); ▪ Regulation and approval - approves the technical-economic documentation, issues agreements and authorizations, suspends agreements and authorizations in cases of non-compliance with the legislation, proposes the initiation of draft normative acts in the fields of activity, proposes the revision / updating of technical regulations in constructions, urbanism and spatial planning, develops, updates and publishes rules; ▪ Control and inspection authority - exercises control over the observance of legal provisions, to the specialized bodies of the local public administration, in the field of discipline in urbanism and landscaping, authorizes the execution of construction works and their reception, technical expertise construction (to reduce the risks to the safety of citizens' lives); ▪ Representation - cooperates, in the specific fields of activity, with the central public administration authorities, with other institutions with control attributions, with public or private institutions, as 87 well as with the representatives of the social partners, collaborates, in the specific fields of activity, with the educational institutions superior specialized, research, testing laboratories, in order to develop expertise, provides advice in the process of preparation and execution of works financed from public funds, as well as for those funded by the European Union. In terms of spatial planning, the I.S.C. ensures the state control regarding the application of the provisions contained in the spatial planning and urban planning documents, endorsed and approved according to the law, and, collaborating with the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration and with the county structures of the chief architect, collaborates permanently in order to fulfill legal provisions by: ▪ elaboration and updating of control procedures in the field; ▪ providing permanent information on the discipline in the field and taking the necessary measures; ▪ elaboration of guides and guidance for citizens and public administration authorities. Regarding flood risk management planning, the State Inspectorate for Constructions is the institution that has the responsibilities: ▪ exercises state control over the fulfillment of the essential requirements of constructions carried out in areas at high risk of flooding, namely mechanical strength and stability, operational safety, human health, environmental restoration and protection, insulation, water repellent, at all stages of design, design, execution, operation and post-use, in accordance with the technical regulations and legislation in force; ▪ exercises control over the observance of the provisions of the norms in force in the field of urbanism and spatial planning; ▪ approves the technical-economic documentation related to the new investment objectives for flood protection, as well as the intervention works on the existing constructions (repairs, modifications, rehabilitations, consolidations, restorations); ▪ participates in the joint commissions appointed by the prefects to assess the damage caused to the buildings affected by the floods; ▪ orders the owners, administrators or users of the buildings to carry out technical expertise on buildings located in flooded areas, regardless of their form of ownership and destination, as well as to stop using buildings located in flooded areas after technical accidents / disasters, according to technical expertise that concludes that the lives of citizens are endangered. 3. National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising – www.ancpi.ro Order no. 1445/2016 on the approval of the organizational chart of the offices of cadastre and real estate advertising, of the National Cartography Center, as well as of the regulations for their organization and functioning; Law no. 350/6.07.2001 for territorial and urban planning. The National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising is the institution of the central public administration, the only authority in the fields of cadastre, real estate advertising, geodesy, and cartography. It functions under the subordination of the Government and under the coordination of the Prime Minister. Role and Competences: ▪ Coordinates and controls the execution of topography, cadastral geodesy works, ensuring the registration of buildings in the integrated system of cadastre and land book at the county level; ▪ Approves and receives the specialized technical works, according to the legislation in force; ▪ Elaborates documentation / technical strategies in the field; 88 ▪ Technically approves the documentation / parts of the documentation, the expertise in the field, the topographic support plans necessary for the realization of the urban plans; ▪ Authorizes individuals who perform specialized work in the field; ▪ Checks and controls the activity of individuals performing specialized works; ▪ Participates, in partnership with other institutions / organizations, in the realization of projects in the field. Correlated with the field of territorial planning, the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising develops the support plans that are used in urban activities and spatial planning, approves works / documentation related to the field of planning, permanently monitors the cadastral, topographic, real estate situation for the coherence of technical documentation. Related to the issue of flood risk management, the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising provides plans and information about the real estate and cadastral system. 4. County Councils - Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 september 2010; Law no. 350/6.07.2001 for territorial and urban planning. The county councils are the authorities that coordinate the spatial planning and urban planning activities at county level. They are supported by the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, as well as other ministries and central public administration bodies. Role and Competences ▪ Establish the general guidelines on the organization and coherent urban development of the territories, based on specialized documentation - urban plans; ▪ Coordinates the activity of local councils, providing them with specialized technical assistance; ▪ Ensures the taking over of the provisions included in the urban planning documentation for the administrative territories of the component localities of the county; ▪ Elaboration of urban planning and landscaping documentation at county level. At the level of flood risk management, the county councils have the role of elaborating: Preventive measures and actions: ▪ Elaboration and implementation of spatial planning plans in correlation with the provisions of flood risk management strategies; ▪ Conducting and deciding the procedures for regulating land use in flooded areas and enforcing national legislation in the field of land use in those areas; ▪ Development of strategic flood protection at the county level, based on knowledge of physical, economic, cultural, social vulnerabilities; ▪ Coordinating the activities of elaboration of flood vulnerability maps (physical, economic, cultural, social) at the county level, as well as coordinating the elaboration of these documentation at the level of the component administrative-territorial units; ▪ Establishment of training and evaluation centers for staff in voluntary emergency services; ▪ Organizing the public consultation on the regional development strategy, based on the national flood management strategy and the corresponding surveys; ▪ Organizing consultations on all issues related to emergencies and taking appropriate views on the content of draft regulations; 89 ▪ Approval of annual and future plans for the security of human, material and financial resources, intended for the prevention and management of emergencies; ▪ Undertaking actions to inform, educate and prepare the population on the behaviour before, during and after the occurrence of the calamity and the role of individual protection; ▪ Providing the necessary funds for the execution of hydrotechnical constructions with the role of defense against local floods, for the establishment and completion of stocks of material and means of defense at the level of town halls, for operative defense actions at the level of town halls, for operative actions against flood protection; for the maintenance and repair of bridges and footbridges related to county and communal roads, hydrotechnical constructions of local interest, but also the maintenance of riverbeds in the areas of localities; ▪ Following the elaboration of flood risk maps for localities both from overflows of watercourses and from runoff from the slopes and their introduction in the general urban plans and the observance of the construction regime in the floodable areas, according to the provisions of law no. 575/2001 on the approval of the National Spatial Planning Plan - Section V - Natural risk areas. Operational measures and actions: ▪ Ensuring the necessary funds for operative intervention actions at county and local level. Measures and actions after floods: ▪ Coordination of actions to provide food, materials and temporary housing for people affected by floods; ▪ Restoration of essential public utility services; ▪ Implementation of the system for granting financial aid; ▪ Reviewing and updating the spatial planning plan; ▪ Coordination of the reconstruction activity and return to normal life; ▪ Development of studies to assess the economic, social and environmental damage caused by floods. 5. Local Councils - Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 september 2010; Law no. 350/6.07.2001 for territorial and urban planning. Local councils are institutions at the local level that aim at the coherent development of the local territory. This council uses information from all fields of socio-economic activity to fulfill its responsibilities in the field of urban planning and spatial planning. Role and Competences: ▪ Coordinates and is responsible for the entire urban activity in an area (administrative-territorial unit) and ensures the observance of the legal provisions and regulations included in the approved landscaping and urban planning documents, in order to carry out the urban development program; ▪ Cooperates with the county councils, being supported by them in the activity of land use planning and urbanism. ▪ Cooperates in the process of elaborating the urban development program of the localities and with institutions, economic agents, bodies, and non-governmental organizations of national, county and / or local interest. The protection and prevention of flood risks is a common joint responsibility of central and local authorities, the population and economic operators. Local authorities together with the population of the area at risk of floods must be prepared to deal with the phenomenon of floods, it being necessary to take 90 their own measures until the intervention of central authorities (they are the first to contact the phenomenon). At the level of flood risk management, the county councils have the roles listed below. Preventive measures and actions: ▪ Organizes the consultation, before adopting any decision of the associated structures of the local public administration authorities, on all the issues that concern them directly, according to the legislation, and taking over the opportune points of view in the content of the draft normative acts; ▪ Approves the annual and future plans in order to ensure human, material and financial resources for the prevention and management of emergencies; ▪ Manages the process of elaboration of the general organizational plans of the localities, correlated with the provisions of the hazard and natural risk maps, ensuring the observance of their provisions, as well as of the vulnerability maps; ▪ Establish their own objectives of protection of the population against floods and prevention and intervention measures in case of their occurrence; ▪ Ensures the control of the use of riverbeds and banks of non-cadastral watercourses; ▪ Ensures the proper maintenance of hydrotechnical infrastructures under the administration of local authorities and their safe operation; ▪ Informing and educating the population for flood situations and its involvement in carrying out flood protection projects, nature protection, and water resources management; ▪ Ensuring the drainage of water from precipitation on small watercourses or canals, ditches, within their administrative scope and maintaining and improving the transport capacity of riverbeds of small watercourses; ▪ Responsible for compliance with land use legislation in flooded areas; ▪ Ensures the implementation of the provisions of land use plans, taking decisions regarding the use of land in floodable areas; ▪ Ensures the rehabilitation of the evacuation capacity of bridges and footbridges from the communication routes; ▪ Ensures the conclusion of mutual aid agreements in case of floods with economic operators within the locality. Operational measures and actions: ▪ All actions included in the legislation in force on emergency management; ▪ Maintaining in working order the county roads and the access roads in the floodable areas; ▪ Ensuring public order and protection of life and property; ▪ Coordination of aid actions; ▪ Ensuring the necessary conditions for providing medical assistance; ▪ Coordination of actions to ensure the essential needs of isolated persons / communities; ▪ Ensuring the necessary conditions for maintaining the health of animals affected by floods; ▪ Organizing and training groups of volunteers to participate in rescue and evacuation of the population affected by floods. Measures and actions after floods: ▪ Mobilizing the community to the actions regarding the activities of removing the effects of the floods, of restoring the affected houses and households; ▪ Mobilizing the community for food, clothing and distribution, as well as for accommodation in temporary housing; ▪ Actions for the restoration of basic services and the supply of food, clothing, temporary housing and hygiene; ▪ Ensuring the conditions for health care; 91 ▪ Coordination of reconstruction and restoration activities of normal activity; ▪ Organizing the financial aid activity; ▪ Management of the answers to population calls; ▪ Reviewing emergency defense plans for emergencies; ▪ Elaboration of studies on economic, social and environmental damage caused by floods. 6. The community – Government Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035); Order no. 2701/2010 for the approval of the Methodology for informing and consulting the public regarding the elaboration or revision of spatial planning and urbanism plans; Law no. 350/6.07.2001 for territorial and urban planning. The community is one of the key actors in the spatial planning process (urbanism and spatial planning). Citizens are direct participants in the planning process, their participation and their involvement in all stages of the decision-making process, which ensures the right to information, consultation and access to justice, regarding land use and urban planning activities, according to the law and approved methodologies. Public consultation is the process by which central and local public authorities collect and take into account the options and opinions of the public regarding the objectives of socio-economic development in the development of the territory, according to the provisions of development strategies and programs. Role and Competences: ▪ Direct participation in the entire process of elaboration of urban planning and spatial planning documents – preparatory stage, stage of documentation and elaboration of substantiation studies, stage of elaboration of proposals to be submitted to the approval process, stage of final proposal, including all comments subject to the decision-making transparency procedure; ▪ Free expression of opinions regarding the documentation proposals; ▪ Challenging the development solutions stipulated in the development plans and strategies. Regarding the issue of flood risk management, citizens have the responsibility: ▪ To know and accept the fact that living in a flooded area carries risks; ▪ To adopt its own measures to reduce the risk of floods in homes and outbuildings, respecting the legal framework for construction; ▪ To participate in actions to maintain the transport capacity of the riverbed in localities; ▪ To know, to respect and to comply with the decisions of the bodies with attributions and responsibilities in the management of emergency situations regarding the protection, intervention, evacuation and recovery in case of floods; ▪ To participate as volunteers in the rescue and evacuation actions of the population affected by the floods, as well as in the restoration actions; ▪ To make flood insurance for their homes; ▪ To know how to behave before, during and after floods. 7. National Investment Company – www.cni.ro (Regulation of organization and functioning); www.mlpda.ro (Press Releases) The National Investment Company operates based on Ordinance no. 25/2001. It’s a legal entity in whose share capital 5 companies participated: National Company “Constanta Maritime Ports Administration” SA, National Railway Freight Transport Company “CFR-Marfa” SA, National Company “Bucharest-Otopeni 92 International Airport” SA, National Company “Administration of Navigable Canals” SA Constanta, National Company “Administration of Maritime Danube Ports” SA Galati. The main objective of National Investment Company is to supervise the design, the execution and the final reception of public works. National Investment Company realizes investment programs within the National Construction Program of public or social interest. According to the press releases found on the website www.MDPWA.ro the National Investment Company supports the local authorities in order to manage the damages produced by floods. It’s an institution subordinated to Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration. The National Investment Company can provide finance in order to prevent and mitigate the effects of natural hazards caused by floods, landslides, cave-in events through the subprogram of the first emergency works. These finances are for technical expertise, design and execution of reconstruction / consolidation / repair works for buildings affected by floods (information from a press release dated June 19, 2020)79. Information regarding the projects, their location and status, can be found accessing the following link: https://www.cni.ro/proiecte/proiecte. River basin and flood risk management 1. Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests - www.mmediu.ro It is organized and functions as a specialized body of the central public administration, with legal personality, subordinated to the Government. (GD 43/16.01.2020) The main roles and competences of Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests regarding to flood risk management are: ▪ elaboration of the National Strategy for Flood Risk Management; ▪ coordination of the plans for the climate change adaptation, for the river basins management and for the flood risk management, including prevention, protection, preparedness (including introduction of alarm-warning systems), response and recovery measures in order to minimize the effects of floods; ▪ participation in the implementation of new information systems for data collection and warning- alarm for flood cases; ▪ participation in the introduction of alarm-warning systems for the authorities and the population for cases of incidents and accidents at dams under the administration of the National Administration "Romanian Waters"; ▪ control and regulation of the use of riverbeds and river banks; ▪ coordination of the elaboration of flood hazard maps and flood risk maps at the level of river basins or groups of river basins; ▪ participation in the analysis and permanent evaluation of the potential damages that could be caused by floods in order to protect engineering infrastructures, transport infrastructures, constructions, tourism; 79 https://www.mdlpa.ro/subarticles/5/cnisprijinautoritatilocaleafectateinundatii 93 ▪ participation in the elaboration of a communication and education system of the population in order to know the risk of floods, its consequences and the behavior before, during and after the passage of the flood phenomenon; ▪ supporting the introduction of a system of property and personal insurance for floods, which can actively contribute in order to reduce potential damage by excluding or limiting exposure to excessive risks, while being a means towards flood resilience. ▪ elaboration / updating of the regulation regarding the management of emergency situations in case of floods, dangerous weather phenomena, accidental pollution and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions; ▪ coordination of the elaboration of flood defense plans at national level; ▪ periodic elaboration of analyses regarding the degree of protection provided by the existing protection systems and its increase; ▪ elaboration of proposals for normative acts regarding the acceptable degree of flood risk for the population, socio-economic and environmental features; ▪ responsibility for carrying out and implementing in accordance with the legislation in force the feasibility studies and the projects of national interest for the hydrotechnical infrastructure, under National Administration "Romanian Waters" administration, intended to reduce the flood wave peaks; ▪ endorsement of the operating regulations during high water periods by other owners of large reservoirs, as well as verification of their application in case of floods; ▪ ensuring the financing of defense works against floods of national interest under National Administration "Romanian Waters" administration; ▪ introduction of new concepts for watercourse arrangement, river renaturation and reconstruction of floodable areas. Operational measures and actions: ▪ ensuring the functioning conditions of the Ministerial Committee for Emergency Situations and of the Operational Center for Emergency Situations with permanent activity; ▪ ensuring the specialized technical coordination of the operative intervention actions at national level; ▪ warning the competent authorities and the population about the extent, severity and duration of the floods; ▪ activating their own structures involved in the management of specific emergencies. Measures and actions after floods: ▪ participation in the analysis of the physical and functional condition of the hydro technical infrastructures for protection against floods and the adoption of measures for the restoration of the destroyed or damaged ones; ▪ responsibility for developing techniques, methods and methodologies for assessing the economic, social and environmental impact of floods; ▪ periodic review of basin and county flood risk management plans; ▪ participation with qualified expertise in the activities of reconstruction and removal of the harmful effects of the environment, produced by floods. 94 2. Ministry of Internal Affairs – www.mai.gov.ro (Governing rules of organization and functioning - Emergency Ordinance no. 30/25 April 2007 on the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Internal Affairs emitted by the Government and published in Official Gazette no.309/9 may 2007; Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 september 2010 Ministry of Internal Affairs is a specialized body of the central public administration, with legal authority and it exercises, according to the Constitution and the laws of the country, its attributions (among others) regarding: implementation of strategies in the field of activity, implementation of partnerships with local authorities, administration of state reserves and ensuring civil protection of the population and property and management of emergencies. In order to achieve the objectives in its fields of competence, Ministry of Internal Affairs exercises the following functions: the strategy function, through which it elaborates the sectorial policies and the strategies for the implementation of the Government Program and of the community policies in its fields of competence, the regulatory function, through which it ensures the elaboration of the normative and institutional framework, the function of state authority, through which it ensures the implementation and observance of legal regulations, as well as the monitoring of the implementation of policies and strategies, the function of representation, through which it ensures, on behalf of the state or the Government, the representation internally, externally and within the institutions and structures of the European Union, the function of public management, through which it ensures the administration of the public and private property of the state, as well as the management of the financial and human services and resources, and three other functions, the function of managing authority for the Schengen Facilitation, the function of coordinating the use of non-reimbursable financial assistance and the function of managing external credits. Some of the attributions fulfilled by Ministry of Internal Affairs are represented by the issuance of approvals of territorial and urban planning documents which includes buildings or plots administrated by M.A.I.. Also, this institution is providing information to county and/or local public authorities in order to elaborate the territorial and urban planning documentation. It’s cooperating with other ministries and other specialized bodies of the central public administration and collaborating with local public administration authorities, their associative structures, employers and trade unions, associations and non- governmental organizations, with other legal entities, as well as with individuals, under the conditions provided by law. Regarding the risk situations caused by dangerous hydrological phenomena, Ministry of Internal Affairs has the responsibility to ensure the management of the National Committee for Emergency Situations, to coordinate the activity of the prefect's institutions that ensure flood risk management at county level, to promote the normative acts for the emergency financing of the works for the restoration of the socio- economic objectives under the administration of the administrative-territorial units affected by the floods and to inform to the population of the damage caused by floods and of the measures necessary to reduce them. 95 3. National Administration „ Romanian Waters” - www.rowater.ro ANAR is a public institution of national interest, with legal personality, financed from its own revenues, under the coordination of the central public authority in the field of waters, respectively the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. The main preventive measures and actions taken by National Administration Romanian Waters are: ▪ usage of information systems for flood warning and forecasting; ▪ elaboration of flood defense plans on river basins, which include the regulations for coordinated operation at times of high waters of all existing facilities in the basin, regardless of the owner; ▪ technical assistance for the elaboration of local flood defense plans; ▪ ensuring the management of the technical support group of the county committee for emergency situations in case of floods; ▪ proper maintenance of watercourses, according to legal provisions; ▪ maintaining the integrity and functionality of flood protection infrastructures under its management; ▪ establishment of stocks of materials and means of protection against floods for the hydrotechnical constructions under its administration. Operational measures and actions: ▪ permanent monitoring of watercourses during floods; ▪ ensuring a correlated exploitation of all the hydrotechnical works in the river basin, regardless of the owner, in order to diminish the effects of the floods; ▪ participation in warning the population; ▪ concentration of the means of intervention in the critical areas of the hydrotechnical constructions under its administration; ▪ the specialized technical coordination of the operative intervention actions at the river basin level; ▪ ensuring the transmission of the necessary information to the Ministerial Committee for Emergency Situations. Measures and actions after floods: ▪ preparation of summary reports on the effects of floods, based on information provided by local emergency committees and other flood related works owners; ▪ critical analysis of the exploitation mode of the hydrotechnical works (lessons learned); ▪ identification of critical sections (bridges, footbridges, bends, etc.) and proposals for measures to improve flow during flood periods; ▪ restoration of the administration works affected by the floods; ▪ proposals for new works to protect against floods and optimize existing ones; ▪ organizing the periodic verification of the evolution of the riverbed, of the hydrotechnical works and of the bridges; ▪ improvements in the forecast, warning and information on floods in the river basin. National Administration „ Romanian Waters” has as subordinates eleven River Basins Administrations: ▪ River Basin Administration Somes-Tisa (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-somes- tisa/) ▪ River Basin Administration Crisuri (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-crisuri/) 96 ▪ River Basin Administration Mures (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-mures/) ▪ River Basin Administration Banat (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-banat/) ▪ River Basin Administration Jiu (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-jiu/) ▪ River Basin Administration Olt (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-olt/) ▪ River Basin Administration Arges-Vedea (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-arges- vedea/) ▪ River Basin Administration Buzau-Ialomita (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-buzau- ialomita/) ▪ River Basin Administration Siret (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-siret/) ▪ River Basin Administration Prut Barlad (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-prut- barlad/) ▪ River Basin Administration Dobrogea-Litoral (https://rowater.ro/despre-noi/organizare-si-functionare/institutii-subordonate/aba-dobrogea- litoral/) The River Basin Administrations are administrative units related to each significant river basin or system of rivers, each River Basin Administration has subordinated structures organized at county level, called Water Management Systems. Also, subordinated to ANAR are another 2 institutions: National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management (INHGA) and the Complex Exploitation Site Stânca -Costeşti. 4. River Basin Committees - are subordinated to ANAR The role of the Basin Wter Committees is the approaval of the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment Reports, the Flood Hazard and Risk Maps and the Flood Risk Management Plans. 5. National Meteorological Administration - www.meteoromania.ro It is a legal entity, established by the reorganization of the National Company “National Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Water Management SA”, Law 2016/27.02.2004 The main roles and competences of National Meteorological Administration regarding the flood risk management are: ▪ elaboration of forecasts and meteorological warnings on various time intervals; ▪ maintenance of web applications for the dissemination of meteorological data and warnings, including cartographic products on temperatures and precipitation, radar images for areas affected by dangerous phenomena, and model data. 97 6. National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management - www.inhga.ro In 2002, as a result of the reorganization of the administrative structure of water management, the components of hydrology and water management are established in the National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management, under the authority of the National Administration "Romanian Waters". The main roles and competences of National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management regarding the flood risk management are: ▪ elaboration of hydrological forecasts and issuance of hydrological warnings; ▪ elaboration of concepts and methodologies for planning in the field of water management (hazard maps and flood risk maps; ▪ elaboration of the plans for the management of the river basins; ▪ elaboration of support studies for the implementation of the European Directives (Water Framework Directive, Groundwater Directive, Floods Directive, etc.) as well as research in the field of ecohydrology and restoration of watercourses. 7. The National Agency for Land Reclamation – www.anif.ro The National Agency for Land Reclamation was established by Emergency Ordinance no. 82/29 September 2011, as a public institution with legal personality, financed from its own revenues and subsidies granted from the state budget, subordinated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, by reorganizing the National Administration for Land Reclamation. The main roles and competences of National Agency for Land Reclamation are: ▪ maintaining in working order the arrangements for the evacuation of internal waters, those for protection against floods, as well as those for combating soil erosion under administration; ▪ endowment with high-capacity motor pumps for the evacuation of the water accumulated in the flooded agricultural premises; ▪ elaboration of flood defense plans of the Danube hydro-amelioration systems and of the administration defense works on the inland rivers under its administration, as a distinct section of the county defense plans; ▪ elaboration of regulations for high water exploitation for the arrangements with the role of flood protection under its administration; ▪ establishment of stocks of materials and means of protection against floods for the hydro technical constructions under its administration; ▪ participation in the technical support group for the management of emergency situations generated by floods of the county committee for emergency situations; Operational measures and actions: ▪ ensuring the operative intervention at the hydrotechnical constructions with a defense role under its administration; ▪ ensuring the evacuation of internal waters from the dammed enclosures through drainage arrangements or through additional sources. Measures and actions after floods: ▪ inventory of works affected by floods and their restoration; 98 ▪ proposals for carrying out new works with the role of flood defense and optimization of existing ones. 8. S.P.E.E.H. Hidroelectrica S.A. - www.hidroelectrica.ro Company established in 2000, after the restructuring in the electricity sector (GD 627/2000), with the main object of activity the production of electricity and its supply according to the law. The main preventive measures and actions regarding to flood risk management are: ▪ ensuring the safe operation of the hydropower infrastructure, which also has the role of attenuating flood peaks; ▪ implementation of warning-alarm systems downstream of the dams for cases of accidents or incidents; ▪ elaboration of studies regarding the transport capacity of the riverbeds downstream of the dams under its administration and adoption of actions and measures for the correlation of these capacities with the flows discharged from the reservoirs; ▪ elaboration of the regulations for high water exploitation and of the flood defense plans, for each hydropower arrangement under its administration. Operational measures and actions: ▪ application of the provisions of the regulations for the operation of dams and reservoirs in flood conditions, in accordance with the river basin regulations for the coordinated operation of reservoirs in the river basin in various scenarios of flood formation and occurrence; ▪ supervising the safe operation of dams and reservoirs under its management and monitoring compliance with regulations on the discharge of maximum flows. Measures and actions after floods: ▪ to do the analysis of the behaviour and of the physical and functional state of the hydrotechnical infrastructures under its administration and to do the repair, rehabilitation or reconstruction of necessary measures. 9. National Commission for the Safety of Dykes The main role of the National Commission for the Safety of Dykes is to coordinate the implementation of regulations and technical norms related to dykes safety, as well as the coordination, guidance and tracking the activity of supervising the dams for safe operation. 10. National Commission for the Safety of Dams and Hydro technical Works The main role of National Commission for the Safety of Dams and Hydro technical Works is the monitoring of dams, reservoirs and other hydrotechnical works. 11. National Environment Protection Agency. The National Environment Protection Agency has an important role in strategic environmental planning, monitoring the environmental factors and authorization of activities with environmental impact. 99 12. The National Environment Guard has responsibilities in applying the Government's policy on preventing, detecting and sanctioning violations of legal provisions on environmental protection, including non-compliance with regulations provided in specific laws in the field of industrial pollution control and risk management, hazardous substances and preparations, biodiversity and protected natural areas, environmental fund and other areas provided for by the specific legislation in force. This institution plays an active role in ensuring environmental security through actions to prevent risks and limit ecological threats, namely pollution of water resources, air, decreased soil fertility, transboundary pollution and others. 13. National Climate Change Experts. The National Climate Change Experts Commission has the role of coordinating the National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and economical increase based on low carbon emission (CRESC) during 2016-2030 with horizon to 2050. 14. National Committee of Emergency Situations The main roles and competences regarding the flood risk management of the National Committee of Emergency Situation are: ▪ involvement in the management of emergencies created by natural disasters, including floods; ▪ responsible for developing the Integrated Risk Management Strategy and creating a national platform for risk management; ▪ participates in international actions in the field of risks. 15. Ministerial Committee on Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests The main role and competences regarding the flood risk management of the Ministerial Committee on Emergency Situations are: ▪ flood emergency situations management, prevention actions, preparedness, Flood Risk Management planning and post-disasters actions; ▪ elaboration of the National Strategy for Flood Risk Management; ▪ coordination of the elaboration of flood defense plans; ▪ international actions in the field of flood risk. 16. General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations – www.igsu.ro Government Decision no. 1490/2004 for the approval of the Regulation on the organization and functioning and of the organizational chart of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations; Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Medium and Long-Term Flood Risk Management Strategy (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010. The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations is an institution / structure subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which deals, at national level, with the coordination of all organizations involved in the management of emergency situations, in accordance with the institutional framework and national and international regulations. 100 At the territorial, county level, the institution is divided into branches, called the County Inspectorate for Emergency Situations. The main objective underlying the activity of the institution is to streamline prevention and optimize the management of emergencies, in order to keep risks under control and to ensure the normality of life of human communities. This goal is achieved through a combination of prevention and intervention activities - such as firefighting, rescue and first aid, the limitation of flood damage, landslides, seismic movements, epidemics, epizootics, snowfall, drought, assistance to people in need (critical situations), intervention in case of technological, nuclear, biological accidents, or any other type of natural or anthropogenic calamity. General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations coordinates the actions of the institutions involved in the management of emergency situations, ensuring cooperation and relations with international governmental and non-governmental institutions / organizations with responsibilities in the field. Roles and Competences: ▪ Monitoring, evaluation and research of the causes of emergencies; ▪ Rescue and intervention on persons at risk, endangered goods, by ensuring rescue and evacuation measures; ▪ Information and preventive education of the population and warning and notification of public administrative authorities on the possibility of emergencies; ▪ Application of intervention measures specific to each type of emergency / risk situation - fires, floods, decontamination by specialized means, neutralization of dangerous material effects; ▪ Providing emergency medical assistance; ▪ Logistic provision of the intervention of its own structures and provision of other structures with materials and equipment necessary for the intervention; ▪ Regarding the territorial planning part, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations is responsible for preventing and ensuring compliance with the rules and regulations in the field (for design and urban planning processes) - regulation, approval, authorization, agreement, control and specialized technical assistance for emergencies, as well as counting and sanctioning the violation of this institutional framework; ▪ In the case of flood risk management, the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations is responsible, through the National Operational Center for Emergency Situations (within the National Committee for Emergency Situations) for the following actions: Preventive measures and actions: ▪ Monitoring specific hazards and risks, but also their negative effects; ▪ Management of warnings regarding the possibility of floods and transmission to local public administration authorities; ▪ Planning and preparing resources and services for related interventions; ▪ Participation in the elaboration of guides / documents containing activities, responsibilities of local authorities in the field of flood management, as well as how to act before, during and after the disaster; ▪ Participation in the elaboration of a system of communication and education of the population on the risk of floods, on the way of action before, during and after the floods and on the role of individual protection; ▪ Supporting local authorities in developing flood protection strategies; ▪ Development of materials (leaflets) for floodable areas, containing information on flood risk; ▪ Development of evacuation plans for people, animals and property during floods. 101 Operational measures and actions: ▪ Dissemination to local public authorities of warning messages in case of floods and warning the population through systems and technical means of public warning and alarm; ▪ Intervention and rescue of people at risk; ▪ Ensuring, together with the local public administration authorities, the taking of measures for the evacuation of endangered persons, animals and goods, according to the drawn-up plans, as well as the installation of disaster camps; ▪ Participation, according to the legal framework, in ensuring the transport of forces and means of intervention and of evacuated persons; ▪ Centralization of information on the damages caused by the floods and transmission of their situation in order to adopt the necessary reconstruction measures after the calamity, as well as for the realization and updating of the risk maps. Measures and actions after floods - participation with central public authorities: ▪ Transport and provision of humanitarian aid for the affected population; ▪ Assessment of flood damage in risk areas; ▪ Development of specialized studies / assessment of economic, social and environmental impact as a result of floods. 17. County Committees for Emergency Situations The main role and competences regarding the flood risk management of the County Committees for Emergency Situations are as follows: ▪ declares the state of alert at the county level or in several localities in the county, in the endangered areas, and verifies the assurance of permanence at the local committees; ▪ ensures, through the operational center of the county inspectorate for emergency situations, the transmission of warnings and forecasts to all localities and features in areas likely to be affected and monitors the measures taken by local committees, and owners of flood defense works; ▪ orders the permanent follow-up of the evolution of the specific risk factors and informs through operative reports through the technical support group on the specific situation in the field; ▪ ensures the technical coordination, through the technical support groups, of the operative intervention actions; ▪ provides accommodation, food, water, and medical assistance for the affected population; ▪ elaborates the operative county plans for flood defense in accordance with the existing specific legislation regarding the management of emergency situations; ▪ organizes the evacuation of people from the flooded area and ensures their needs for food, medicines and health care; ▪ coordinates the assurance of public order, protection of life and property; ▪ ensures the coordination of actions to help the population in the affected areas. 18. Local Committees for Emergency Situations The main role and competences regarding the flood risk management of Local Committee for Emergency Situations are: ▪ assess the emergencies that have arisen in their administrative territory, establishing the specific measures and actions to be taken and monitor the implementation of these measures; ▪ analyzes and approves the local plan for ensuring the human, material and financial resources necessary for the management of emergency situations; 102 ▪ informs the county committee and the local council about the activities carried out; ▪ fulfills any other attributions and tasks established by law or by bodies or other superior institutions; ▪ organizes the permanence at the mayor's office in order to receive hydro meteorological forecasts and warnings, the decisions of the county committee and to transmit information on the evolution of dangerous phenomena, their effects, measures taken and necessary additional measures; ▪ uses all existing means to alert the population in case of weather events and accidental pollution; ▪ triggers the operative defense actions in the endangered areas, in accordance with the provisions of the approved defense plans, consisting mainly of: o permanent surveillance of risk areas; o directing forces and means of intervention; o raising and consolidating dams and riverbanks, depending on the maximum projected elevations; o the preventive evacuation of humans and animals and the safety of important goods. ▪ ensures the participation of the intervention forces made up of locals in the operative actions carried out by the specialists of the units holding works with the role of flood defense; ▪ locates the overflowed waters, as well as those coming from infiltrations and leaks from the slopes and directs them in the riverbeds, gravitational or by pumping; ▪ provides additional sources for water supply of the population during such events. 19. Non Guvernamental Organizations – Red Cross Romania - www.crucearosie.ro The attributions that the Red Cross has according to the Government Decision no. 557/2016 for approving the distribution of the main support functions provided by the ministries, the other central institutions and the non-governmental organizations regarding the prevention and management of emergency situations are: ▪ prroviding emergency medical assistance; ▪ prevention of mass diseases; ▪ providing water and food for affected or evacuated persons; ▪ ensuring the accommodation and shelter of the affected or evacuated persons; ▪ intervention logistics; ▪ rehabilitation of the affected area; ▪ restoring family ties; ▪ providing basic necessities and social, psychosocial and religious assistance. Support public actors with roles in flood risk management or spatial planning Support public actors are in fact other public institutions. They have no direct roles and competences in the field of flood risk management or spatial planning. However, they have indirect attributions and participate in issuing permits for urban planning documents and they also have attributions for adopting prevention and action measures in flood risk management. These institutions are: ▪ Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; ▪ Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure; ▪ Ministry of Health; ▪ Ministry of Education; ▪ Ministry of Communications and Information Society; ▪ Ministry of Finance; ▪ Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization; ▪ Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneuship and Tourism; 103 ▪ etc. The relations that are established between these public institutions and stakeholders are of several types (however, some of these relations are not regulated by law): ▪ Coordination / cooperation relations; ▪ Subordination relations; ▪ Corroboration; ▪ Indirect relations; ▪ Direct relations. Between national level public institutions (ministries) are established corroboration relations. Also, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations is subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and The National Company of Highways and National Roads from Romania is subordinated to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. All these public institutions have corroboration or indirect relations with the flood risk management and spatial planning public institutions and stakeholders. 1. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – www.madr.ro Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has the following responsibilities in the field of flood risk management: elaboration of normative acts and provision of funds for zoning of agricultural practices, identification of areas affected by soil erosion and actions to combat it, maintaining good functioning of drainage and flood protection measures. The Ministry must consider a series of preventive measures and actions such as zoning of the territory, sustainable agriculture practices, identification of risk areas, analysis of the current state, elaboration of a guide on the use of land in agricultural areas to prevent rapid floods, elaboration a guide for the use and management of land in floodable areas, participation in the implementation of a system of insurance of goods and persons for flood cases, operational measures and actions (supervision and ensuring the operation of flood protection infrastructures under management and coordination of operational intervention in the areas arranged with administration works) and measures and actions after the floods (ensuring the necessary funds for the restoration of the arrangements with flood protection role, analysis of the technical and functional state of the torrent arrangement works and of combating soil erosion and adoption of rehabilitation, restoration or reconstruction measures and reanalysis and amendment of agricultural land management plans in river basins with high erosion potential and submission of proposals to the water management authority regarding the amendment of river basin management plans with soil erosion control component in order to prevent, mitigate and combat the effects of floods). 2. Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure – www.mt.gov.ro (Tasks – HG no.90/2020 Government Decision no. 90/28 January 2020 on the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications emitted by the Government and published in Official Gazette no.127/19 February 2020); Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy for Medium and Long-Term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010 104 The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure is the specialized body of the central public administration, with legal authority, which is organized and operates under the Government. It establishes, at national level, the policy in the field of transport and transport infrastructure and elaborates the strategy and specific regulations for the development and harmonization of activities within the general policy of the Government, in the coordinated fields and fulfills the role of state authority in its field of activity. This ministry exercises in its fields of activity the following functions: strategic planning, regulation and approval, representation, state authority in its fields of activity, administration and implementation and management of programs and projects financed from European and national funds, as well as from other legally constituted sources, monitoring and control, coordination and public information and awareness in its fields of activity. Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has published on the website an interactive map with the state of the transport infrastructure, affected by the floods. The map shows in real time and in a dynamic way the sectors of roads with closed or difficult traffic as well as the detour routes on which the traffic takes place safely. It also presents the railway sectors with interrupted train traffic as well as the alternative routes. Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure is involved in flood risk management by providing information on the infrastructure necessary for the implementation of the River Basin Master Plan and/or the Flood Risk Management Plan, by approving the River Basin Master Plan and the Flood Risk Management Plan within the Inter-ministerial Committee on Water and by taking steps to ensure the necessary funds for the execution of works to protect the transport infrastructure against floods and for the restoration of the ones affected by floods, under the conditions provided by the Master Plan of the river basin and, subsequently, by the Flood Risk Management Plan. The Ministry must also consider a series of preventive measures and actions such as reanalyzing the condition of bridges and footbridges, conducting studies and projects on flooding of national roads, of railways, ensuring the execution of embankments of national roads and railways so that they may constitute flood defenses, operational measures and actions (the adoption of actions and measures and the mobilization of resources to protect critical transport infrastructure and to ensure traffic on national roads and railways), but also measures and actions after floods that involve the analysis of the physical and functional condition of the transport infrastructure under the administration of Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the adoption of measures for their repair, rehabilitation and reconstruction. 3. Ministry of Health – www.ms.ro (Government decision no. 144/23 February 2010 on the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Health emitted by the Government and published in Official Gazette no.139/2 March 2010); Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy for Medium and Long- Term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010 The Ministry of Health is a specialized body of the central public administration, with legal authority, subordinated to the Government and involved in flood risk management through its departments, the Operational Center for Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Health, as follows: educating the population through health promotion departments on the dangers of disease during floods and prevention measures, specific professional training for the medical staff involved in risk management, preparation of the antiepidemic reserve of the Ministry of Health and of the decentralized units in the country with the necessary vaccinations, medicines and sanitary materials in the flooded areas, daily monitoring, 24 hours a day, for 7 days, of the situation in the flooded areas, providing specialized 105 technical assistance for the location and endowment of temporary shelters (location of food storage, kitchen, toilet, etc.), for sanitation and disinfection of flooded wells and toilets, for disinsection, rodent control, disinfection actions in flooded households, solving various operations efficiently regarding public health problems that may occur in flooded areas, verification through its own laboratories of the potability of drinking water sources after the withdrawal of flood waters, providing medical care and medical transport for the population in areas affected by floods. Also, the Ministry of Health elaborates and promotes preventive measures and actions (informing the population, setting up first aid points, identifying risk groups), operative measures and actions (adoption of antiepidemic measures, water quality control) and measures and actions after floods (monitoring quality water, assessment of the health status of the affected population, provision of medical assistance). 4. Ministry of Education – www.edu.ro (Government decision no. 765/10 September 2020 on modification of Government decision no. 24/2020 the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Education and Research emitted by the Government and published in Official Gazette no.840/14 September 2020); Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy for Medium and Long-Term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010 The Ministry of Education is a specialized body of the central public administration, with legal authority, which is organized and operates under the Government and which has a role of synthesis and coordination in the field of education, training. The Ministry of Education, as a state authority, designs, substantiates and implements national strategies in the field of education, vocational training. In implementing the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on the medium and long -term, the Ministry of Education has the following responsibilities: promoting and supporting the implementation of projects and programs aimed at forming and developing, in children and young people, a responsible attitude towards flood risk. This ministry is only responsible for preventive measures and actions. These are represented by monitoring the quality of educational activities aimed at training and developing attitudes and behaviours in flood situations, responsible for the development of books and games for children and youth, designed to understand the phenomenon of floods, the risk associated with them and how to behave before, during and after the phenomenon and the launch of award-winning school projects intended for the correct perception of the watercourse as a complex eco-hydro-system of great importance for human life and health. Also, Ministry of Education is ensuring the accommodation of persons evacuated following floods. 5. Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization– www.research.gov.ro Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-Term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010 According to National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization ensures the operation of the necessary communication links in emergency situations generated by floods. 106 6. Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism – www.economie.gov.ro (Government decision no. 44/16 January 2020 on the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Entrepreneurship); Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010 Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism functions as a specialized body of the central public administration, subordinated to the Government. In Annex I of Decision 846/2010 on the National Medium and Long-Term Flood Risk Management Strategy (period 2010-2035), this Ministry does not appear in its current form, instead there are listed as the attributions of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism. That being said, regarding the management of the flood risk, the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Entrepreneurship aims to ensure the financing of investment programs for the realization of hydropower facilities that also have the role of attenuating flood waves, while the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism has as its main responsibility the elaboration and homogenization of the norms regarding human settlements, including the areas exposed to floods. The Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration together with Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests elaborates and submits for approval the legislative framework on spatial planning, urbanism and quality control in the field of construction safety and it organizes the elaboration, endorsement and approval of technical regulations on land use, location and construction in floodplains in order to establish through land use planning and urban planning documents modalities to reduce the vulnerability of these areas. 7. Ministry of Finance – www.mfinante.gov.ro Decision no. 846/2010 for the approval of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035), Annex 1 published in Official Gazette First Part, no.626/6 September 2010; Government Decision no. 208/2005 for the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Public Finance and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration. The Ministry of Financeis a specialized body/institution of the central public administration, subordinated to the Government of the country, which has the role of governing –by the application of strategic directions of the Strategy and the Government Program - in the field of public finances. This institution ensures the proper functioning of the financial system, using financial leverage in line with the economic requirements of the market and stimulating the initiatives of economic operators. The Role and Competences of the Ministry of Finance are: strategic - ensures the elaboration of the implementation strategy of the Government Program in the field of public finances; regulatory and synthesis - ensures the elaboration of the institutional framework necessary to achieve the objectives of public finances; development and implementation - regarding the budgetary and fiscal policy of the Government, the legal framework in the field of accounting; correlation - fiscal and budgetary policies with other socio-economic policies; administrative - manages the state revenues, contracts and manages the public debts, the resources developed through the State Treasury; exercise - internal public financial control; insurer - the centralized record of the goods constituted in the public domain of the state; representation - insurer of the internal and external representation of the Romanian state in the field of finance; state authority - ensures the exercise of unitary and coherent application, compliance with the 107 regulations of the field, as well as the optimal functioning of subordinate institutions; central authority of the specialized public administration - ensures the elaboration and implementation of the policy regarding the financial management and control systems of the state public institutions. In the field of territorial planning, the Ministry of Finance intervenes indirectly in the development process by elaborating, approving and managing the budget to ensure the necessary funds for interventions in the field. Regarding the flood risk management, the Ministry of Finance is the main institution responsible for: ▪ Endorsement of technical-economic indicators of feasibility studies for investments subject to Government approval, having as objective the management of flood risk and carried out from public funds, according to the competence established in the legal framework, or from external funds/credits contracted or guaranteed by the state, regardless of their value; ▪ Elaboration of economic mechanisms aiming at ensuring the necessary funds for increasing the safety of flood risk management works, as well as for the development of new works. 108 ANNEX B – The legal and administrative context in Romania Flood risk management The national law that regulates the water management activities in Romania is Water Law 107/1996. It transposes the provisions of the EU Directives in the water domain. The EU’s Floods Directive makes very little mention of specific flood risk reduction measures. It makes only a single reference to spatial planning, when it indicates that “flood risk management plans shall take into account relevant aspects such as … spatial planning (and) land use”. It does, however, make several other references to “land-use”, without specifying that what they are considering here is land use planning. Thus: “flood risk management plans may also include the promotion of sustainable land use practices”. There is much reference to “coordination”, but no specifics as to what this means in practice for the integration of spatial and urban planning and flood risk management. It would seem that much is left to Member States to prioritise such integration. The implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the legal context in Romania is a demanding process with numerous challenges like an extremely demanding timetable, the complexity of the text, the diversity of possible solutions to scientific, technical and practical questions and the problem of institutional capacity of stakeholders. Despite the fact that European directives have been transposed into Romanian legislation, there are not too many clear measures to integrate flood risk management into spatial planning. The only concrete provision is the interdiction of building in the floodplain, but this does not solve the problem of those living in these areas. The second provision of the legislation is the promoting of appropriate land use practices with reference to agricultural and forestry land, respectively by avoiding stripping of soils and, especially, of slopes; increase of forest area in torrential river basins; afforestation of degraded lands; the establishment of forest protection curtains, the correction of torrents. In natural risk areas, geographically delimited and thus declared according to the 575/2001 law, specific measures are instituted regarding the prevention and mitigation of risks, construction and land use, which have to be included in urban and land use plans. They have to be the basis for drawing up protection plans and disaster response, but unfortunately, although these measures are planned to be included in spatial planning, they are not described and in many cases they are not included in the general urban plan. Table 14 – Flood risk management legal framework Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning Law no. Water Law The law aims at conservation, development and 107/1996 protection of water resources, ensuring free flow, protection against any form of pollution, achieving environmental objectives for surface and groundwater bodies, ensuring water supply to the population, conservation of aquatic systems, sustainable management, and also measures for flood risk management and flood defense. A very important connection with spatial planning is the interdiction to build in the flood plain and the pointing of the protected areas around natural 109 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning lakes, reservoirs, dykes, channels, dams, and other hydro-technical works to be considered in spatial development(Appendix no. 2 to the Water Law).This law integrates the issue of flood risk in the following articles: Article 13: The Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests and the National Administration "Romanian Waters" are entitled to take measures to limit or temporarily suspend the use of water, in order to deal with a danger or with the consequences of accidents, drought, floods or a risk of lack of water due to over exploitation of the resource. Article 44: The information necessary for the elaboration of framework schemes and development programs, including those necessary for the establishment of water requirements, capitalization of hydropower potential and flood defense throughout the national territory, in stages of development, will be made available to the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests and National Administration "Romanian Waters" by ministries, autonomous administrations, county councils and local councils, by the main water users, as well as by non- governmental organizations. This information will also be made available to the River Basin Committees. Article 49: (1) The setup of new economic or social facilities, including new housing, shall be prohibited in the floodplain. (2) It is exempted from the provisions of par. (1) the special cases for which the National Administration "Romanian Waters" can approve such locations. The site permit is issued only with the consent of the residents and after the advance completion of the works and the necessary measures to avoid the danger of flooding and to ensure the flow of water. (3) The location permit mentioned in par. (2), obtained based on the methodology developed by the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, does not exclude the obligation to obtain the water management permit and other necessary permits, according to the law. Article 64: 110 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning (1) The legal entities which have in administration or operation hydro technical works (water outlets, dams and reservoirs) have to use them according to the dispatcher schedules, based on the monthly exploitation programs and, in correlation with the energy production, to ensure the necessary flows needed for industry, agriculture and population. (2) The owners of dams, with the afferent reservoirs, and of other hydrotechnical constructions, have the obligation to mount the equipment necessary to follow their behavior in time, to organize their tracking system and to carry out the expertise of the works within the established terms. Article 67: (1) Protection against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and accidents in hydrotechnical constructions is an activity of civil protection of the population, of national interest. (2) For the purposes of this law, the protection against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena, and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions means: a) prevention measures and preparation for interventions; b) urgent operative intervention measures after the onset of dangerous phenomena with serious consequences; c) subsequent intervention measures for recovery and rehabilitation. The activities provided in par. (2) are an obligation for all people and legal entities, with the exception of the disabled, the elderly and other disadvantaged groups. (4) The elaboration of the strategy and concept of protection against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions is the responsibility of the Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environmental Protection. Article 68: (1) The owners with any title of hydro technical constructions whose damages or destructions can endanger human lives and goods or can bring damage to the environment are obliged to equip these works with measuring and control equipment necessary to follow their behavior in time, to install 111 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning warning-alarm systems in case of danger and organize surveillance activity. (2) For the coordination, guidance and monitoring of the supervision of dams, reservoirs and other hydrotechnical works, for their safe operation, the National Commission for the Safety of Dams and Hydrotechnical Works functions under the Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environmental Protection, consisting of representatives of the ministries, autonomous utilities and public institutions concerned. Article 69: (1)The organization and management at national level of actions for the prevention and defense against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions shall be carried out, in accordance with the law, by the Central Commission for Defense against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions, hereinafter referred to as the Central Commission, which functions under the Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environmental Protection. The Central Commission is made up of representatives of the ministries, autonomous administrations and public institutions concerned. (2)The Central Commission shall cooperate permanently and shall report, in the event of disasters, to the Governmental Disaster Defense Commission established by law. Article 72: (1) People or legal entities, who own or use objectives in areas that may be affected by the destructive actions of waters, dangerous meteorological phenomena or accidents in hydrotechnical constructions, have the obligation to ensure the proper maintenance and operation of works. existing defense. (2) In case of destruction or damage of flood defense works or of hydrotechnical constructions due to floods, the holders of any title of such works have the obligation to restore or repair these works as soon as possible. Article 74: (1) The Regulation on protection against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and 112 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning accidents in hydrotechnical constructions and the Framework Regulation for endowment with materials and means of operative protection against floods and ice shall be developed by the Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environmental Protection, in consultation with the Central Commission. and basin committees, shall be endorsed by the Governmental Disaster Defense Commission and approved by Government decision. (2) The application of operative defense measures is carried out in a unitary way, based on the defense plans against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena or accidents at hydrotechnical constructions, which are elaborated on hydrographic basins, counties and localities, as well as on the objectives that may be affected. of such phenomena or accidents. (3) The elaboration of the defense plans provided in par. (2) shall be made with the consideration of land use plans and the restriction of the construction regime and with the consultation of the people and legal entities concerned. (4) The operative coordination of the defense activity against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions belongs to the National Administration "Romanian Waters". (5) The prefect of the county where the headquarters of the basin branch of the National Administration "Romanian Waters" is located has the attributions of coordinating the defense activity against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions on the respective hydrographic basin. Article 76: In order to ensure the stability and integrity of dams and other defense works against the destructive actions of waters, it shall be prohibited: a) extraction of earth or other materials from dams or other defense works, as well as from their protection areas; b) planting trees on dams and other defense works; 113 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning c) grazing on dams, on banks or in minor riverbeds, in the areas where hydrotechnical works are performed and in their protection areas; d) the realization of gravel pits or excavation works in the riverbed, in the area of water catchments from the river, of the catchments with infiltration through the shore, of the sub-crossings of pipes or other works of art. GD no. 846/2010 Government Decision for the The National Flood Risk Management Strategy on approval of the National medium and long-term (period 2010-2035) aims to Flood Risk Management define the framework for the coordinated direction Strategy for the Medium and of actions, in order to prevent and reduce the Long Term. consequences of floods on socio-economic activities, human life and health and for the environment. This GD integrates the issue of flood risk with the spatial planning in the following paragraphs: The main activities of flood risk management consist of: a) Preventive activities (prevention, protection and training). These actions are focused on preventing / reducing the potential damage caused by floods in the basins hydrographic in order to increase resilience through integrated measures: 1. Avoiding the construction of houses and social, cultural and / or economic objectives in potentially floodable areas, with the presentation in urban planning documentation of data on the effects of previous floods; adapting future developments to risk conditions at floods; 2. Carrying out structural protection measures (dams, embankment, large water diversions, bank consolidations, wetlands, etc.); 3. Implementation of non-structural measures (control of the use of minor riverbeds, elaboration of basin plans to reduce the risk of floods and programs of measures; introduction of insurance systems, warning / alarm systems, public information, etc.); 4. Detailed identification, geographical delimitation of natural risk areas for floods on the territory of the administrative-territorial unit, the inclusion of these areas in the general urbanism plans and the provision in the local urbanism regulations of the 114 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning specific measures on flood risk prevention and mitigation, construction and land use; 5. Promoting appropriate land use practices with reference to agricultural and forestry land, respectively by avoiding stripping of soils and, especially, of slopes; increase of forest area in torrential river basins; afforestation of degraded lands; the establishment of forest protection curtains, the correction of torrents, as well as the application of best agricultural practices; 6. Implementation of forecast, warning and alarm systems for flood cases; 7. Maintenance of existing flood protection infrastructures and riverbeds; 8. Execution of protection works against the riverbeds in the area of existing bridges and footbridges; 9. Communicating with the population and educating them about the risk of floods and how to act in emergency situations. b) Operational management activities (emergency management) which are undertaken during the floods: 1. Real-time data collection, validation and creation of back-up systems for operational information; 2. Detecting the possibility of floods and probable floods; 3. Forecasting the evolution and propagation of floods along watercourses; 4. Warning the authorities and the population about the extent, severity and time of floods; 5. Organizing and responding actions of the authorities and the population for emergency situations; 6. Providing resources (material, financial, human) at county level for operative intervention; 7. Activation of operational institutions, mobilization of resources, etc: 8. Adaptation of the coordinated operation of reservoirs and other hydro technical works, regardless of the owner, to the estimated characteristics of the hydrological events, respecting the operating regulations. c) Activities undertaken after the floods: 115 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning 1.Helping population to meet the immediate needs of the disaster-stricken and returning to normal life; 2. Reconstruction of damaged buildings, infrastructures and the flood protection system; 3. Reviewing flood management activities in order to improve the intervention planning process in order to make against future events in the affected area, as well as in other areas; 4. Reconsideration of areas of vulnerability and risk after each historical flood. GD no.663/2013 Government Decision for the In the spatial planning of an urban area, it is taken approval of Methodological into account the flood hazard map, which shows norms regarding the the potentially floodable areas in the major river elaboration and content of courses for flood flows with a maximum outflow the natural risk maps for characterized by the following exceedance landslides and floods probabilities: 0.1% (low probability), 1% (medium probability) and 10% (high probability). Art. 1 - The rules for developing flood hazard and flood risk maps and the rules concerning the content of such maps, further on referred to as the rules, set the general framework for the sequence of operations to be pursued in drafting flood hazard and flood risk maps and developing the content of such maps. Art. 2 - (1) A flood hazard map is the document that shows the potentially floodable areas in the major river beds for flood waves with a maximum outflow characterised by the following exceedance probabilities: 0.1% (low probability), 1% (medium probability) and 10% (high probability). A flood risk map is the documentation that indicates the potential material and human damage in the floodable areas of territorial- administrative units, per various annual exceedance probabilities. Flood hazard and flood risk maps can also be drafted for annual exceedance probabilities of 5%, 0.5%, 0.2%, depending on the particular characteristics of the analysed areas. Art. 3 - (1) Flood hazard and flood risk maps are components of the flood risk management plans per river basins. The flood hazard map and the flood risk map are components of the county land use planning 116 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning documentation, and are included in the general, zonal and local urban plans of the settlements of each county and of the Bucharest municipality; they are subject to the same legal, financing and approval regime established by law for the land management documentation and the urban planning documentation. The flood risk map is the document based on which the county council can declare an area as an area exposed to potential flood risk. Art. 4 - The authorities of the local public administration together with the territorial units of the National Administration “Romanian Waters” use the flood risk maps to: ▪ identify, declare and monitor flood risk areas; ▪ ensure emergency management in case of floods; ▪ as applicable, establish measures for prevention, protection and mitigation of the flood risk, as well as the requirements for authorising execution of buildings in those areas; ▪ provide details on the minimum requirements concerning the content of urban planning and land planning documentation for areas exposed to flood risk. Law no. Law on the approval of the This law was taken in order to approve the National 575/2001 National Spatial Planning Plan Spatial Planning plan for Natural risk areas. - Section V Natural risk areas Article 3 (1) The geographical delineation of the natural risk areas is based on specific studies and research elaborated by specialized institutions, realised through natural risk maps approved by the specialized competent bodies of the local and central public administration, according to the law. (2) The declaration of an area as a natural risk area is made by decision of the county council based on the natural risk maps approved according to par. (1). Article 4 In natural risk areas, geographically delimited and thus declared according to the law, specific measures are instituted regarding the prevention 117 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning and mitigation of risks, construction and land use, which are included in urban and land use plans, also being the basis for drawing up protection plans and disaster response. Article 5 (1) The financing of the necessary studies and researches in order to elaborate the natural risk maps, to establish the afferent databases, as well as to the works of prevention and attenuation of the natural risks is made from the state budget. GD no.1286/2004 Decision no. 1286/2004 on Decision was taken in order that the ministries and the approval of the General other public administration bodies (which have Plan of preventive measures responsibilities in the field) know how act in order to avoid and reduce the to avoid and reduce the effects of floods, within the effects of floods stipulated deadlines. Reanalysis of the areas at risk of floods and landslides and vulnerable points in the administrative territory of counties, municipalities, cities and communes is proposed in the plan. GD no.972/2016 Government Decision no. 972 The flood risk management plans related to the 11 of December 21, 2016 for the River Basin Administrations and the one for the approval of the flood risk Danube river on the territory of Romania, are management plans related to approved and provided in annex *) at GD 652 / the 11 River Basin 07.07.2010. Administrations and the one The management plans must be taken into account for the Danube river on the in the development of localities. Romanian territory GD no. 529/2013 Government Decision for the Contains the approval of the National Romanian approval of the National Strategy for climate change 2013-2020 and the Romanian Strategy for National Action Plan for the implementation of the climate change 2013-2020 National Romanian Strategy for climate change. repealed by 739/2016 GD for Unique article: Romania's National Strategy on the approval of the National Climate Change, 2013-2020 is approved and it’s Romanian Strategy for provided in Annex *) at GD 529 / 12.2013. climate change and economic Measures to be taken for flood risk management: growth based on low carbon a) the choice of flood protection works at the local emissions for the period level destined for some localities and socio- 2016-2020 and the National economic structures instead of large flood Action Plan for the protection works; implementation of the b) choosing the regularization of watercourses, National Romanian Strategy slowing down, and reducing floods as they occur, for climate change and instead of raising existing dams or building new economic growth based on dams; c) the use of the latest methods and technologies 118 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning low carbon emissions for the for the rehabilitation/construction of dams and period 2016-2020 execution protection works in correlation with the territorial urban planning plans; d) the elements of the flood risk management plans must be reviewed periodically and, if necessary and where appropriate, they need to be updated, taking into account the possible effects of climate change on the occurrence of floods; e) raising awareness of the risk of floods among the exposed population, appropriate measures before and after their occurrence, the conclusion of insurance contracts and others like it; f) Improving the response capacity of the local public administration authorities with attributions in emergency management generated by floods, accidents at hydro technical constructions and accidental pollution. GD no.1422/2012 Order of Forest and An approval of a regulation for emergencies Environmental Minister and generated by floods. Ministry of Administration In the Regulation regarding the management of the and Interior for the approval floods can be found information about the types of of Regulation regarding the risk generating emergencies, the establishment of management of emergencies defense thresholds, roles and responsibilities for caused by floods, dangerous the management of emergencies generated by weather phenomena, floods of the institutions involved. accidents in hydro-technical Article 1 constructions, accidental The Regulation on the management of flood pollution on watercourses emergencies, dangerous meteorological and marine pollution in the phenomena, accidents at hydro-technical coastal area repealed by constructions, accidental pollution on 459/78/2019 Order for the watercourses, and marine pollution in the coastal approval of the Regulation area, provided in Annex **) at Order 1422 / regarding the management of 05.2012 is approved, which is an integral part of emergency situations this order. generated by dangerous Article 2 hydro meteorological The structures at the central and local level phenomena having the effect involved in the management of emergencies of floods, hydrological generated by floods, dangerous meteorological drought, as well as phenomena, accidents at hydroelectric incidents/accidents in hydro constructions, accidental pollution on technical constructions, watercourses, and marine pollution in the coastal accidental pollution on area will carry out the provisions of this order. watercourses and marine pollution in the coastal area, 119 Flood risk management legislation Connection with spatial planning and the Regulation from 7 march 2019. Law no.171/1997 Law no. 171 of November 4, The provisions of the National Spatial Planning Plan 1997 on the approval of the - Section II Water are mandatory for public National Spatial Planning Plan administration authorities and must delineate the – Section II Water lands necessary for water works that are subject to law, which are established by spatial planning documentation and must deal with withdrawal of land from agricultural production. Order 1163/2007 Order on approving some This order sets the general framework to enable a measures to improve the homogeneous approach regarding the elements technical solutions for the related to the design and execution of hydro design and execution of hydro technical works on water courses, in order to technical works on water diminish their negative impact on the environment courses with a view to and ensure sustainable development. meeting the environment goals in the field of water In the Water Law, no. 107/1996, with subsequent amendments and completions, it is mentioned that the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment, the flood Hazard and Risk Maps and the Flood Risk Management Plans are prepared according to a methodology developed by the central public authority in the field of water, and the plans are approved by Governmental Decision. A preliminary flood risk assessment (provided by the central public authority in the field of water; carried out at the level of each river basin district) aims at assessing potential risks. In reliance upon the information and identification of the impact of climate change on the occurrence of floods, potential risk assessment shall include at least the following elements: ▪ maps of the river basin, at a suitable scale, including the boundaries of river basins, of the coastal area and information on the topography and use of land; ▪ the description of floods having occurred in the past and which entailed significant negative effects on human health, on the environment, on the cultural heritage and on economic activity, for which the probability of similar future events is still relevant, both in respect of the extent thereof floodable areas, and in relation to the assessment of negative effects which they might cause; ▪ the description of significant historical floods, with probability of event re-occurrence, which would entail similar future negative consequences; ▪ the assessment of potential negative consequences of future floods on human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity, looking into issues such as the topography, the position of watercourses and their general hydrological and geomorphological features, including major beds as natural retention areas, the efficiency of defense infrastructure for flood protection, the position of populated areas, areas with economic activity, areas favourable for long- term development, taking into account the effects of climate change on the occurrence of floods. In respect of each river basin district shared with other riparian states, the identification of areas and the preliminary flood risk assessment shall be coordinated among the competent authorities of the involved states. 120 For the identified areas, hazard maps and flood risk maps, shall be drawn up, in accordance with the methodological regulations issued by the central public authority in the water field, in order to be approved by government decision. In the case of trans-boundary rivers, floodable areas maps and flood risk maps shall be prepared in reliance upon the exchanges of information among riparian states. Flood hazard maps shall contain the geographical areas prone to flooding in the following cases: ▪ floods with low probability or scenarios of extreme events; ▪ floods with average probability for which the probable return period is longer than or equal to 100 years; ▪ floods with high probability, as the case may be. The central public authority in the water field ensured the reporting to the European Commission of the flood hazard maps and flood risk maps before 22 December 2013, under the following conditions: ▪ flood hazard maps are drawn up by the central public authority in the water field; ▪ flood risk maps are drawn up by county councils, with the support and under the coordination of central public authorities holding powers in the field of preparing natural risk maps; ▪ all central public authorities carrying out activities in the areas facing significant flood risk shall deliver, free of charge, all information and data required for drawing up the flood hazard maps and the flood risk maps; ▪ preparation of the flood hazard maps and flood risk maps is financed from the State budget, through the budgets of central public authorities. The preliminary flood risk assessment was revised and, where necessary, updated before 22 December 2018 and then it will be re-updated every 6 years. The Flood Hazard and flood risk maps should have been revised and, where necessary, updated before 22 December 2019 and then re-updated every 6 years. The central public authority in the water field shall provide to the European Commission the preliminary flood risk assessments, covering the potentially significant flood risk areas, the flood hazard maps, the flood risk maps and the flood risk management plans and the revisions thereof or, as the case may be, updates thereof, within 3 months after the deadlines stipulated in the European Floods Directive. Flood risk is treated in the National Flood Risk Management Strategy, approved by GD 846/2010. The National Flood Risk Management Strategy on medium and long-term (period 2010-2035) aims to define the framework for the coordinated direction of actions, in order to prevent and reduce the consequences of floods on the socio-economic activities, human life and health, cultural heritage and on environment. a. Preventive activities (prevention, protection and training): These actions are focused on preventing/reducing the potential damage caused by floods by: ▪ avoiding the construction of housing and social, cultural and/or economic objectives in the potentially floodable areas, with the presentation in the urban planning documents of the data regarding the effects of the previous floods; adapting future developments to flood risk conditions; promoting appropriate land and agricultural and forestry land-use practices; ▪ carrying out structural protection measures, including in the area of bridges and footbridges; ▪ carrying out non-structural measures (control of the use of minor riverbeds, elaboration of basin flood risk reduction plans and measures programs; introduction of insurance systems, etc.); 121 ▪ detailed identification, geographical delimitation of natural flood risk areas on the territory of the administrative-territorial unit, the inclusion of these areas in general urban plans and provision in urban regulations of specific measures on flood risk prevention and mitigation, construction and land use; ▪ implementation of forecasting, warning, and alarm systems for flood cases; ▪ maintenance of existing flood protection infrastructures and riverbeds; ▪ execution of protection works against the riverbeds in the area of existing bridges and footbridges; ▪ communicating with the population and educating them about the risk of floods and their way of acting in emergencies. b. Operative management activities (emergency management) which are undertaken during the flood phenomenon: ▪ detecting the possibility of floods and probable floods; ▪ forecasting the evolution and propagation of floods along watercourses; ▪ warning the authorities and the population about the extent, severity, and time of floods; ▪ organizing and responding to actions of the authorities and the population for emergencies; ▪ providing resources (material, financial, human) at the county level for operative intervention; ▪ activating operational institutions, mobilizing resources, etc. c. Activities undertaken after the passage of the flood phenomenon: ▪ helping to meet the immediate needs of the disaster-stricken population and returning to normal life; ▪ reconstruction of damaged buildings, infrastructures, and those in the flood protection system; ▪ reviewing flood management activities to improve the intervention planning process to deal with future events in the affected area, as well as in other areas. The Government Decision no. 663/2013 approves the methodological norms regarding the elaboration and content of flood hazard maps and flood risk maps, which present the general framework on the sequence of flood hazard mapping and flood risk mapping operations and their content. The qualitative assessment of the risk of floods by risk classes is provided in the annex to the methodological norms approved by GD 663/2013: Figure 13 - The qualitative assessment of the risk of floods by risk classes 122 In Government Decision no. 529/2013 for the approval of the National Romanian Strategy for Climate Change 2013-2020 can be found some measures to be taken for flood risk management: ▪ the choice of flood protection works at the local level for some localities and socio-economic structures instead of large flood protection works; ▪ choosing the regularization of watercourses, slowing down, and reducing floods as they occur, instead of raising existing dams or building new dams; ▪ the use of the latest methods and technologies for the rehabilitation/construction of dams and executing protection works in step with the territorial urban planning plans; ▪ the elements of the flood risk management plans must be reviewed periodically and, if necessary and where appropriate, they need to be updated, taking into account the possible effects of climate change on the occurrence of floods; ▪ raising awareness of the risk of floods among the exposed population, with appropriate measures before and after their occurrence, and the completion of insurance contracts and similar compensation arrangements; ▪ improving the response capacity of the local public administration authorities with relation to emergency management generated by floods, accidents at hydro technical constructions and accidental pollution. Another important aspect for Flood Risk Management is referring to the Dam Safety. The Water Law 107/1996 provides the guidelines for management procedures to ensure dam safety, assigning to all dam owners the obligation to maintain, repair and operate under safe conditions the structures in their ownership. Specific provisions regarding the dam safety policy, classification of dams, dam safety obligations, rules for dams’ operation and maintenance, responsibilities for periodic inspections have been enacted through the Law of Dam Safety 466/2001 (which approved the Government Ordinance 244/2000). In addition, 14 technical norms specific to dam safety have been further approved, creating a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for sustainable dam safety. The latest set of regulations regarding the assessment and evaluation of dam risk, transposing the international practice on risk assessment (recommendations issued by the ICOLD) was enacted in 2012. The Law on Safety of Dykes 259/2010 also complemented the Water Law providing more specific rules and regulations for construction, management, maintenance and monitoring of dykes to ensure their safety and resilience in case of floods, in order to properly protect population and socio-economic life in their associated area. Dyke Safety is another important legislation, provided for safety dyke management and associated risks, as 259/2010 Law. The effectiveness of the flood risk management legal framework The latest amendments to the Water Law no. 107/1996 allow the construction in the major riverbeds only in special situations for which ANAR approves in advance the locations and is obtained the water management permit, as well as the other necessary permits. In the law are not provided the conditions for the special constructions. Here will be necessary a connection with the test used in the sequential approach proposed by “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. 123 The responsibility for coordinating the actions in case of floods belongs to the prefect of the county where the River Basin Administration has its headquarters, and the operative responsibility belongs to ANAR. The organization and management at national level of actions for the prevention and defense against floods shall be carried out, in accordance with the law, by the Central Commission for Defense against floods, dangerous meteorological phenomena and accidents at hydrotechnical constructions, which functions under the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. In the law it cannot be found who will be responsible for the coordination of the actions from ANAR. In spite of that, in the Regulation for the organization and functioning of ANAR, the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU) within ANAR stipulates that the Operational Center for Emergency Situations is managed by the General Director and that ANAR ensures through the River Basin Administrations in periods of high waters or floods the implementation of measures, mandatory operations in connection with the exploitation of reservoirs. The owners will have the responsibility for the administration and maintenance of dams and other hydro technical works; they will install the equipment necessary to follow their behavior in time. The exploitation of the dams will be done according to the dispatcher schedules. An awareness campaign is needed, on the provisions of the law regarding them, to which the owners of dams and hydrotechnical constructions with a role in fighting floods will be invited. The strategy approved by GD 846/11.08.2010 comprises a set of actions at national and basin level, which includes: planning, programs, framework policies, coordination, facilitation, awareness raising and social consolidation, resilience. Local actions are also proposed, such as: educating the population in areas at risk, training, regulating local flood protection plans (at level of localities and units), reporting, forecasting, alarm-warning and information to the population in areas at risk of floods, insurance, evaluation, financing and rehabilitation. The Strategy must be changed in order to include the new provisions of the Water Law no. 107/1996 modified in 2020. Annex no. 1 of the GD 846/11.08.2010 with the responsibilities of the public authorities has to be updated. For the urban planning can be found only one recommendation: for each urban locality exposed to the risk of floods to propose a unique conceptual program regarding the collection and discharge of rainwater, with a view to future damage reduction through a systematic annual reduction, compensation to the increase of the degree of waterproofing by measures to increase infiltration (for example: increase of green spaces and buildings) and by using temporary flood storage tanks. The rules from the GD 447/10.04.2003, together with the qualitative assessment of the flood risk per risk classes is described in the appendix that is an integral part of this methodology, are very helpful because they enable the categories of measures to be designed for managing flood risk, which can include: ▪ changes in terms of land use; restrictions and, as applicable, interdiction to deploy buildings and installations, depending on the category of use and the limitations imposed by the flood risk; ▪ taking additional engineering measures where applicable; ▪ designing programs regarding flood insurance for assets and people; ▪ monitoring floods in order to set up forecasting and warning systems; ▪ wise allocation of funds for the implementation of measures aimed at reducing the risk of floods; ▪ drafting the flood defense plans. GD 575/22.10.2011: In natural risk areas, geographically delimited and thus declared according to the law, measures have to be taken regarding the construction and land use and have to be included in the urban plans. This is a useful provision. 124 GD 663/27.07.2013: As a result of Romanian obligations as an EU member state, Romania transposed Directive 2007/60 / EC on flood risk assessment and management into national legislation (into Water Law no. 107/1996, with the amendments and subsequent additions). In accordance with its provisions, new rules have been imposed for elaboration of flood hazard and flood risk maps as well as new deadlines for their elaboration. Thus, in a first stage, flood hazard maps are made during floods mandatory for annual probabilities of exceeding the maximum flows of 0.1%, 1% and 10% by the care of the central public authority in the field of water and in the stage 2 next flood risk maps by county councils through National Administration ”Romanian Waters” in order to ensure a unitary elaboration on substantiated scientific principles. The qualitative assessment of flood risk by risk class is set out in the Appendix integral part of the methodological norms approved by GD 663/2013. These are useful legal provisions. GD 972/12.2016: The Flood Risk Management Plans contain much important information regarding the areas in which constructions are proposed, and therefore they must be taken into account in the spatial planning development of urban areas.GD 1422/05.2012: In the Regulation regarding the management of the floods can be found information about the types of risk generating emergencies, the establishment of defense thresholds, roles and responsibilities for the management of emergency situations generated by floods of the institutions involved. This is a useful requirement. 125 For urban and spatial planning and its consideration of flood risks The legal framework for spatial planning in Romania includes a series of laws meant to describe in detail the administrative and design activity in territorial and urban planning. Also, it describes the interdisciplinary dimension that this activity must have. Spatial planning is a field that involves the participation of urban planners and architects as coordinators of urban planning documents, but also of a large number of specialists in related fields, as they are described in Decision no. 101 / 29.07.2010 of the Register of Urban Planners in Romania. The interdisciplinarity of this field implies the consideration of issues in a large number of areas, including flood risk management. Being one of the many fields related to spatial planning, the legal framework has mentions regarding flood risk but some of them may be supplemented by additional information for a better protection of the cities against floods. Most of the legislative provisions for spatial planning prohibit any construction in floodable areas, but do not provide measures to mitigate floods or for climate change adaptation. But the latest legislative changes have begun to include in more detail the issue of urban floods and the effects they have on urban development. All of this are described in the following table which details spatial planning legal framework: Table 15 – Spatial planning legal framework Spatial planning legislation Connection with flood risk management Law no. Territorial and urban This is the main law used in Romanian spatial 350/6.07.2001 planning planning. Its role is to describe the objective and the main activities carried out in the process of territorial and urban planning. Also, this law regulates the role of public administration in this field and the minimum content of spatial panning documentation. This law integrates the issue of flood risk in the following articles: ▪ art. 31^1 paragraph (4) which mentions the obligation of including the existing natural risk (floods or landslide) in the process of issuing the building permit, even if they were or not included in the spatial planning plans; ▪ art. 41 paragraph (4) which regulates the National Territorial Planning Plan mention the obligation of including in this plan a section for areas with natural risks; ▪ art. 46 paragraph (2) and paragraph (3) regulate the content of the General Urban Plan. This document must contain short-, medium- and long-term regulations regarding natural risk areas. Also, this document must include measures for flood risk prevention and 126 Spatial planning legislation Connection with flood risk management mitigation and construction conditions and rules in the areas with natural risks; ▪ art. 51 paragraph 1^1 Ministry of Regional Development, Public Administration and European Funds has the obligation to fund the natural risk maps; ▪ art. 51 paragraph (2) Local Public Administration has the obligation to fund the natural risk maps; ▪ Appendix no. 2 – defines the informal settlement as a group of more than 3 houses built without permit sometimes in natural risk areas (flood or landslide); ▪ Appendix no. 2 – defines natural risk areas as an area which has a potential risk for the production of destructive natural phenomena which can affect population, economic activities, natural and built environment and can produce material and human losses. Order no. Methodological Norms for These are the methodological norms of the main law 233/26.02.2016 the application of Law no used in Romanian spatial planning. It gives more 350/2001 on territorial and details about the content of territorial and urban urban planning and on the planning plans. Also, it includes new documentation, elaboration and updating of such as territorial, periurban and metropolitan spatial planning strategies and Mobility urban plans. documentation This law integrates the issue of flood risk in the following articles: ▪ art. 5 regulates the content of the Regional and Zonal Territorial Plan P.A.T.Z.R. This spatial planning plan should contain a section dedicated to natural risks; ▪ art. 20 paragraph (3) and Appendix no. 2 mentions two types of preliminary studies for spatial planning: analytical and prospective studies. The study for establishing areas of natural risk is, according to this order, an analytical study; ▪ art. 32. paragraph 2 is detailing the reviewing method of the spatial planning documentation. Thus, these documents (written and drawn parts) have to be constantly updated, both digital and analog with the restriction imposed by natural risks. ▪ Regarding the informal settlements (defined by 350/2001 Law) art. 38^3 paragraph 3 describes all the criteria that determine the identification of these settlements. One of these criteria is the 127 Spatial planning legislation Connection with flood risk management preliminary assessment of exposure to natural, biological and anthropogenic risks, in relation to protection areas defined in urban planning documents, risk maps and information available in the field of environment. ▪ Art. 38^6 is mentioning that population from informal settlements should be relocated in another location from the same administrative zone if they are in a natural risk area. If this is not possible due to the lack of social housing, art. 38^7 describes the alternatives solutions for solving the problem. Government General Regulation of This is the basic law of urban planning Decision no. 525 Spatial planning documentation (General Urban Plan, Zonal Urban / 27.06.1996 Plan and Detailed Urban Plan). This law is used in the process of making the Local Regulation of Spatial Planning, as a part of urban planning documentation. This law integrates the issue of flood risk in the following articles: ▪ art. 7 paragraph (1) and (2) mention the interdiction of construction on the rivers and lakes, except for bridges, railways and roads which cross the rivers, as well as water management works; these constructions are allowed only with the approval of the mayor and of the water management authorities and by taking measures to prevent deterioration of surface and groundwater quality; also, these constructions are allowed only if the water protection areas are respected; ▪ Art. 10 paragraph (1) and (2) makes the interdiction for any building in areas exposed to natural risks, including floods, except for the ones which can mitigate flood risk. Order no. 13N / Methodology and the The General Urban Plan has a dedicated section for 10.03.1999 framework content of the the current situation regarding natural risks and also General Urban Plan for measures which should be taken in this area. Also, this information should be represented in drawn pieces (maps; diagrams; etc), as Order no. 13N/10.03.1999 mentions. Order no. Methodology and the This methodology stipulates that one of the M.L.P.A.T. nr. framework content of the categories of problems to which Zonal Urban Plan is Zonal Urban Plan addressed are the delimitation measures until the 128 Spatial planning legislation Connection with flood risk management 176/N/16 elimination of the effects of some natural and august 2000 anthropogenic risks. This methodology also lists the preliminary studies required for the Zonal Urban Plan phase, but the flood study is not mentioned in any situation. The obligation to approach the issue of natural risks appears in the written pieces, in the chapters dedicated to this topic (both in the description of the existing situation and in the proposals), but also in the drawn pieces. Order no. Methodology and the This document has no reference to the issue of 009/2000 framework content of the urban floods Detailed Urban Plan Order M.L.P.A.T. Guide for elaboration of the This guide has an article dedicated specifically to nr. 80/N/1996 Urban Planning Local water resources. This article prohibits the Regulation construction of buildings of any kind in minor riverbeds and lake basins, except for bridge works, railway and river crossing works, and water management works. These permitted works can only be carried out with the provision of measures to protect buildings against floods, measures to prevent the deterioration of the quality of surface and groundwater, to respect the protection zones against the banks of watercourses and against management works and water capture. Also, article 10 mentions exposure to natural hazards. Thus, the authorization of the execution of constructions or arrangements in areas exposed to natural risks, except those aimed at limiting their effects, is prohibited. Order of the Methodology for informing This law is regulating the process of informing and Ministry of and consulting the consulting the population about territorial and Regional population on the spatial planning plans. Nothing about natural risks is Development elaboration or revision of mentioned but indirectly, by informing the and Tourism no. spatial planning and urban population about these documents, additional data 2701/30.12.2010 planning plans can be made public such as flood risk areas. Government Methodological Norms The Methodological Norms have the following Decision no. regarding the minimum objectives: to provide a way to determine the 382/02.04.2003 content requirements of minimum content requirements of territorial the spatial planning planning and urban planning documentation for documentation for the areas with natural risks and to match these areas with natural risks additional requirements with the guides for the content of this documentation. 129 Spatial planning legislation Connection with flood risk management Also, these norms mention the obligation that county and local administration have to elaborate two type of studies: County study of natural risk factors, containing written and drawn pieces (natural risk maps) on natural hazards in the county and Local study of natural risk factors, containing written and drawn pieces (risk maps). This law also defines the framework content of these county and local studies on natural risk factors. For each category of documentation (territorial and urban documentation), a minimum mandatory content of information on natural hazards (regarding the existing situation and proposals for prevention, mitigation and acceptance) to be integrated in the general planning and spatial planning documents is described. Annex 4 to Government Decision no. 382/02.04.2003 describes a framework matrix for the flood risk factor, which details prevention, mitigation / elimination and acceptance measures to be included in spatial planning and urban planning documentation. Order no. Specifications regarding the This document has no reference to the issue of 34/N/7.11.1995 approving process of the urban floods territorial and urban planning documentation and the technical documentation for authorizing the buildings Decision no. 101 Regulation on the This decision regulates the possibilities of obtaining / 29.07.2010 acquisition of the right to the right to sign territorial and urban planning sign the spatial planning documentation. It also mentions the types of documentation and the preliminary studies to be carried out for urban Regulation regarding the planning documentation. Among them are 2 studies organization of the Register that contain flood risk management information: the of Urban Planners in natural environment and the quality of the Romania environment (at the territorial level) and the quality of the environment (at the urban level). The specialists who can sign these studies are: ▪ the natural environment and the quality of the environment–qualified planners, master planners, qualified landscapers, master landscapers, geographers, biologists, ecologists and environmental engineers; 130 Spatial planning legislation Connection with flood risk management ▪ the quality of the environment: qualified urban planners, master urban planners, geographers, urban planners, ecologists, qualified landscapers, master landscapers, urban engineers, specialized engineers. Law no. Authorization of the This document has no reference to the issue of 50/29.07.1991 execution of buildings urban floods Order no. Methodological Norms to This methodology describes how to emergency 839/12.10.2009 apply the Law no. authorize the execution of constructions (including 50/29.07.1991 regarding flood works). In this case, the authorization must be the authorization of the issued immediately by the competent public execution of buildings administration authority. Mention shall also be made of the issue of building permits for buildings which present a public danger in the event of floods. Among the emergency intervention constructions are considered those for maintaining/ modifying the existing configuration and function of the construction/ related installations consisting in reducing the number of levels and/ or removing parts of construction/ installations that present an unfavourable behaviour from natural risks/ anthropogenic or at high risk of dislocation/ collapse, etc. At the same time, constructions are allowed outside the city for prevention of destructive natural forces (floods, etc.). Civil Code This document has no reference to the issue of urban floods Law no. The quality of constructions This document has no reference to the issue of 10/18.01.1995 urban floods As can be seen from the data presented in the table above, the Romanian legislation in spatial planning has incorporated and integrated the issue of flood risk management. The main comprehensive law, with the role of detailing how to integrate it in territorial and urban planning plans, is Government Decision no. 382 / 02.04.2003 which approves Methodological Norms regarding the minimum content requirements of the spatial planning documentation for the areas with natural risks. This Decision has two objectives: ▪ to provide a way to determine the minimum content requirements of territorial and urban planning documentation for areas with natural risks; ▪ to bring these additional requirements in line with the framework content of the territorial and urban planning documentation. 131 This law details the steps to be taken in the development of territorial and urban planning documentation for areas with natural risks, as well as the minimum content in both written and drawn pieces. Although this law appeared after the approval of the guidelines for the elaboration of urban planning documentation, these guides have not been updated so far with the information from Government Decision no. 382 / 02.04.2003. At the same time, the basic law of urbanism (Law no. 350 / 6.07.2001 for the approval of territorial and urban planning) integrates the issue of flood risk and addresses briefly the information about these areas. Also, some additional information is presented in the norms of application of this law ( Order no. 233 / 26.02.2016 for the approval of Methodological Norms for the application of Law no 350/2001 on territorial and urban planning and on the elaboration and updating of spatial planning documentation), such as data on informal settlements, located in areas with natural risk. The most common mentions in the spatial planning legislation regarding flood risk management are the prohibitions to carry out any construction in the minor riverbed area and in areas with natural risk, except for some types of constructions (bridges, water management works, etc.). Other important mentions are those regarding the preliminary studies of the territorial and urban planning documentation. Among them, studies on the natural environment, which must also include the natural risk component, are mentioned as mandatory, both at territorial and urban levels. However, these studies are not the same as flood studies. In fact, flood studies are not reported anywhere in the spatial planning legal framework. According to Decision no. 101 / 29.07.2010 for the approval of Regulation on the acquisition of the right to sign the spatial planning documentation and the Regulation regarding the organization of the Register of Urban Planners in Romania these studies for natural risks can be elaborated by specialists such as urban planners, master planners, landscapers, geographers, biologists, or ecologists. Unfortunately, some laws do not contain any mention of natural hazards: ▪ Order no. 009/2000 – Methodology and the framework content of the Detailed Urban Plan; ▪ Order no. 34/N/7.11.1995 - Specifications regarding the approving process of the territorial and urban planning documentation and the technical documentation for authorizing the buildings; ▪ Law no. 50/29.07.1991 - Authorization of the execution of buildings; ▪ Law no. 10/18.01.1995 - The quality of constructions. In conclusion, the analysis here shows that existing spatial planning legal framework has detailed provision about flood risk management, but in order for a better protection against floods few additional information and rules can be included: ▪ Restrictions / prohibitions / conditionings in natural risk areas; ▪ Matching of legislative acts regarding the areas where these restrictions / prohibitions / conditionings are imposed: water protection areas, floodable areas, etc .; ▪ Matching of legislation with the terms and areas identified in the risk maps (types of floodable areas, etc.); ▪ Establishing the minimum requirements for constructions located in floodable areas; ▪ Inclusion of flood studies as mandatory preliminary studies to be carried out and published in urban planning documents; ▪ Clear specification and regulation of the specialists who can carry out preliminary studies for areas with natural risk. 132 The effectiveness of the flood risk management legal framework The Law 350/2001 regulates the obligation of including the flood risk in the process of issuing the building permit, but frequently this is not happening if this risk is not included in a spatial planning documentation. For this reason, updating the spatial planning documentation in order to include natural risk areas is a must. The General Urban Plan is the main spatial planning plan which must include flood risk areas. But because of the long and difficult process of approving the plan many cities do not have an updated one. Many of these cities even have a plan that is older than 10 years or maybe out of date. Even if the spatial planning legal framework has sufficient provision regarding flood risk management, there are still some cities with recently updated General Urban Plans with few or summary measures for floodable areas. The most common measure for flood risk management is the building interdiction in these areas. The causes are: ▪ The Law 350/2001 does not regulate the minimun specialists and experts which should be in the spatial planning team for each territorial level; because of that, often water engineers which have the responsability to make studies for flood risk are not recruited in the spatial planning team; ▪ The Law 350/2001 does not mention the obligation to make the flood risk study and to delimit the floodable areas, as a preliminary spatial planning study. The General Regulation of Spatial Planning (GD 525/1996) has also integrated the issue of urban floods in spatial planning. The main mention is the interdiction of construction on rivers, lakes and in their protection area. But, as the hazard maps have shown so far, the protection area is not similar to the flood risk area. Consequently, it is necessary an amendment to this law to include construction possibilities in risk areas. Furthermore, rules and measures to mitigate flood risk outside the risk area could be useful information. Order 233/2016: The study for establishing areas of natural risk mentioned in the Order is not usually treated as a Flood Study. Thus, this study contains regularly a description of natural risks (flood risk areas and landslides) but does not spatially delimit areas with flood risk. The Order mentions the constant, necessary update of the spatial planning documentation each time flood risk areas are modified or new floodable areas are identified. But due to the difficult process of approval of the spatial planning plans, in reality this does not happen. This Order was published very late after the 350/2001 Law, but it comes with some useful additions. Although these additions are made recently, in 2020, they are regulating the issue of informal settlements, neglected so far. Informal settlements are an old issue for which some steps have already been taken to find solutions. Since now, studies were conducted that aimed to achieve statistical evidence to this problem (Analysis of the informal settlements in Romania – a study carried out by the Ministry of Regional Development in 2014) and subsequently mapping these settlements (a recently initiative, since 2020 - https://locuireinformala.ro/en/2020/mapping-informal-settlements-in-romania/). Therefore, the provisions of Order 233/2016 regarding informal settlements have not been yet implemented, but can be easily realized, thanks to the work done so far. 133 Relevant policies in Europe The European Green Deal is a response to climate and environmental related challenges (the atmosphere is warming, the climate is changing with each passing year). It is a new growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. It also aims to protect, conserve and enhance the EU's natural capital, and protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. Strengthening the efforts on climateproofing, resilience building, prevention and preparedness is crucial. Work on climate adaptation should continue to influence public and private investments, including on nature-based solutions. It will be important to ensure that across the EU, investors, insurers, businesses, cities and citizens are able to access data and to develop instruments to integrate climate change into their risk management practices. It is needed to do more to prepare Europe’s building stock to withstand the impacts of climate change. Extreme weather and long-lasting climatic changes can damage buildings and their mitigation potential e.g. solar panels or thermal insulation after hailstorms. However, buildings can also contribute to large-scale adaptation, for example through local water retention that reduces the urban heat island effect with green roofs and walls. Flood risk management and urban and spatial planning legal framework intersections Table 16 - Intersection between flood risk management and spatial planning legal framework Flood risk management Spatial planning Restrictions and interdictions in floodplain and flood protected areas Law 107/1996 - Water law: Law 350/2001 – Territorial and urban development: Forbids Conditioned Forbids Conditioned Building socio- Building socio-economic PUG including urban PUG/PUZ including urban economic objectives in objectives only in flood development in development by planning flooding protected areas - Art floodable areas or existence of the flood areas/floodplains - 49 (2) protected areas Art. 49(1) GD 663/2013 includes norms for landslides and GD 525/1996 forbids constructions (urban flood hazard maps and risk maps methodological development measures) in areas with natural elaboration and their contents. According to art. risks, others than those limiting the damaging 25, the flood and hazard risk maps include three effects (lowering risks) types of potential risk areas: areas with high flood risk, areas with medium flood risk and areas with low flood risk. Each of this area has detailed flood risk management measure which must be taken. Flood risk management and spatial planning tools Law 107/1996 - Water law imposes each 6 years GD 525/1996 approving the General Urban up-dates of the flood hazard and risk maps (FHRM) Regulation - includes Inundability Maps in PUG and EC reporting (Ordinance 3/2010, Art. 76(3) for documentation, mentioning (PUG will be up-dated FD provision transposition) every 10 years according to Law 350/2001) 134 Public institutions and Stakeholders – roles and competences GD 663/2013 set responsibilities: the development OUG 3/2010, art. 76(3), (b): Development of risk of risk maps can also be done through National maps is the attribution of county councils, with the Romanian Waters, based on a protocol concluded support and coordination of central public with County Councils, with the support and authorities with competence and in the field of coordination of MEWF and MDPWA (Ministry of natural risk maps Development, Public Works and Administration) - Common Ministerial Order 170/3423/2013 - approval of the protocol. GD 270/2012 – River Basin Committees defined the No obligation for flood hazard and risk maps attributes and responsibilities at the River Basin participatory approach exists and no legal Administration level. One important responsibility mechanisms to be involved in local/urban flood is the stakeholders’ involvement and public risk management elaboration. consultation for water management decisions implementation and SEA process application. The importance class of constructions related to flood risk areas GD 846/2010 National Flood Risk Management STAS 4273-83 Hydrotechnical constructions - The Strategy for the Medium and Long Term, provides a classification in classes of importance, the long-term objective: to ensure the protection of category of hydrotechnical constructions related localities for flash floods exceedance probabilities to public circulation paths (crossings and defenses between 1% and 0.01%, differentiated according in the area of watercourses and lakes) varies to the rank of localities, under the conditions of the between 3 and 4, which corresponds to the classes application of technical, economic, social and of importance III and IV. Under normal operating environmental criteria. conditions, these classes of importance correspond to the annual flood exceedance probability of 2 % and 5 % respectively. (It is a non-correlation between the annual probability of overshoot corresponding to the classes of importance to which the hydrotechnical constructions related to the public roads are classified and the provisions of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy). Building permits Methodological norm referring to issuing the Law 350/2001 forbids any building in the building location permits - "aviz de amplasament" floodable areas. (implementation of Law 107/1996 - Water Law art. Order no. 839/12.10.2009 describes how to 49) specifies the interdiction for building in emergency authorize the execution of floodplains other economic-social objectives than constructions (including flood works). In this case, flood protection works the authorization must be issued immediately by GD 447/2003 forbids final buildings sites in areas the competent public administration authority. with major natural risks and proposes a list of Mention shall also be made of the issue of building possible local flood protection works, in areas with permits for buildings which present a public reduced risks (no Building agreement/aurora - danger in the event of floods. "autorizatie de construire" will be issued for this area) Common ministerial Order 459/78/2019 specify that the mayor will not provide the building agreement "autorizatie de construire" - for new buildings in floodable areas 135 ANNEX C – Tools for flood risk management and spatial planning The relevant planning tools used in Romania for flood risk management The integration of Flood Risk Management with spatial planning requires various specialists to work together under a joint flood management strategy or policy. While the overall aims and objectives of such policy are usually explicitly provided, the consequences for the application of various principles are far less understood. In this context flood management tools could be described as any methodology or instrument to facilitate the application of these principles of multi-disciplinary and participatory decision making in their pursuit to provide integrated and sustainable flood management solutions. National Plan o The National Strategy on Flood Risk Management defines the legal framework to perform the inter-sectoral coordination of the actions to prevent and reduce the negative effects of the floods on population, economic activities, environment and cultural heritage. Regional Plan o The Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA) Reports involves identification of the significant historical floods that had significant consequences for the communities, environment, cultural heritage and economic activity, but as well the delineation of the Areas with Potentially Significant Flood Risk (APSFR) for each Unit of Management (associated with the RBAs and 1 for the Danube river) o The Flood Hazard Maps According to GD 663/2013, the flood hazard maps shall contain the geographical areas prone to flooding in the following cases: a) floods with low probability or scenarios of extreme events; b) floods with average probability for which the probable return period is longer than or equal to 100 years; c) floods with high probability, as the case may be. In respect of each case facing a significant flood risk, the following elements shall be indicated: d) surface area of the flooded area; e) depth or level of water; f) flood wave velocity or flow rate of the corresponding flood. Flood hazard maps are developed in an integrated system, using databases, digital maps in GIS environment and specialised software. The following stages shall be pursued in drafting flood hazard maps: ▪ conducting topographic and geodesic surveys; ▪ conducting hydrologic and hydraulic studies; ▪ conducting other complementary studies; ▪ drafting the flood hazard maps showing the borders of floodable areas and the magnitude of hazard (water depth values). 136 Flood hazard maps are general maps which contain the following elements for each annual exceedance probability: ▪ the flood limit, namely the extension of the water for each of the individual cases; ▪ the depth, or the level of the water. Flood hazard maps shall include the following basic information: ▪ title of the map (including the name of the river and of the river sector); ▪ scale (shown graphically and in figures); ▪ flood characteristics: flood limit; water depth, and water velocity for the 2D modelled areas; ▪ the “north” shall be marked on the map; ▪ the legend; ▪ the classes for the numerical values; ▪ the geographic coordinates in the Stereo ‘70 projection system and Black Sea reference level 75; ▪ the authority in charge and the institution that has drafted the map; ▪ a smaller-scale map of the entire river basin, on which the analysed area is indicated as a part of the entire river basin. Flood hazard maps are elaborated by the National Administration “Romanian Waters” under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. o The Flood Risk Maps The flood risk maps shall be developed in an integrated system, using digital databases and maps and shall be drafted based on the flood hazard map and on the analysis of the data concerning the elements exposed to hazard (the totality of people and assets that could be affected by the occurrence of floods) and their vulnerability (the extent to which the elements exposed to flood hazard are affected). According to GD 663/2013, the following stages shall be pursued in drafting the flood risk maps for each county: ▪ drafting of the map with the borders of the floodable areas for flows with various annual exceedance probabilities; ▪ identifying the potentially affected features; ▪ assessing the vulnerability of the objects exposed to hazard; ▪ estimating the potentially affected population (expressed in numbers) and the risk, expressed quantitatively or qualitatively, based on the vulnerability of the exposed elements and the characteristics of the hazard; ▪ creating the county-level flood risk database in GIS; ▪ drafting the flood risk map; ▪ breaking down the flood risk map per settlements; ▪ having the flood risk maps approved by the river basin committees; ▪ having the flood risk maps approved by the Inter-ministerial Committee on Water working at the central public authority for water. The following risk receptors have to be identified in drafting the risk maps: ▪ human settlements; ▪ potentially affected population (number of people affected); ▪ social-economic units: hospitals; schools; industrial objects; water plants and water treatment plants; ▪ infrastructure: airports; roads; railways; train stations; bridges; hydrotechnical constructions; 137 ▪ protected areas, forest area, wetland areas; ▪ IPPC installations; ▪ cultural assets, monuments, archaeology sites etc. The risk shall be estimated quantitatively, based on “depth-damage” functions, or qualitatively, per risk classes, depending on the exceedance probability and the depth of the water in the flooded area. The flood risk maps will show the distribution of the material flood damage, estimated qualitatively or quantitatively. Flood risk maps may be drafted through the National Administration “Romanian Waters”, on the grounds of a protocol signed with county councils, according to the law, with the support and under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration. Preparation of flood hazard maps and flood risk maps is financed from the State budget, through the budgets of central public authorities. According to EU Floods Directive, the Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Maps shall be revised and, where necessary, updated every 6 years The flood risk maps developed for the countries shall be integrated by the related River Basin Administration at river basin level. o Flood Risk Management Plans Flood risk management plans for river basins/ river districts shall be developed and adopted in accordance with the deadlines set out in Directive 2007/60 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on the assessment and management of floods. The flood risk management objectives shall focus on mitigating the potential negative effects of floods on the human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity, adopting both non-structural measures and structural measures for mitigating the flooding probability. The Flood Risk Management Plans shall include measures for fulfilling the objectives established for a good management of flood risk in the areas identified. Such flood risk management plans shall take into consideration relevant issues, such as: a) costs and benefits, flood extent and flood conveyance routes and areas which have the potential to retain flood water, such as natural floodplains, environmental objectives for surface and groundwater bodies, laid down in accordance with the provisions of Articles 21 and 22, plans concerning soil and water handling, land planning, land use, nature conservation, as well as the navigation and port infrastructure; b) flood risk management matters, with focus on prevention, protection, preparedness, including the forecasting of floods, warning and alarm under specific conditions for a certain river basin or sub-basin; c) the promotion of practices for sustainable land use, improving the water retention capabilities in the river basin, as well as controlled flooding of certain areas in case of major events. The main components of the first flood risk management plans are: ▪ the conclusions of the preliminary flood risk assessment, ▪ flood hazard and flood risk maps; 138 ▪ a description of the appropriate flood risk management objectives; ▪ a summary and an order of priority for the measures enacted with a view to achieving the respective flood risk management objectives, including the measures adopted in accordance with Article 764, and flood-related measures adopted in reliance upon other Community enactments, including Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment and Council Directive 96/82/EC of 9 December 1996 on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programs on the environment, and Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy; ▪ whenever available, for common river basins or sub-basins, a description of the methodology defined by the relevant Member States on the cost-benefit analysis used in assessing transnational effects. The flood risk management plans are accompanied by the implementation plan which includes: ▪ a description of the order of priority and of the manner in which plan implementation progress is to be monitored; ▪ a summary of public information and consultation measures/actions taken; ▪ a list of competent authorities and, as the case may be, a description of the coordination process in any international river basin district, but also coordination with Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. Flood risk management plans shall be revised and, where necessary, updated, in accordance with the methodological regulations set out in Article 764 paragraph (3), before 22 December 2021 and afterwards every 6 years. In Appendix no. 7 of the Water Law (107/1996) can be found the components of the first flood management plan and of subsequent updated plan. o River Basin Management Plans The main tool for implementing the Water Framework Directive, regulated by Article 13 and its Annex VII, is represented by the River Basin Management Plan, based on the knowledge of the state of water bodies, sets the target objectives for a period of 6 years and proposes measures to achieve "good" water status. The National Administration “Romanian Waters” is the competent authority for developing the River Basin Management Plans according to the Water Framework Directive. The following Units of Management are set at the national level: Someș – Tisa RBA, Crișuri RBA, Mureș RBA, Banat RBA, Jiu RBA, Olt RBA, Argeș – Vedea RBA, Buzău – Ialomița RBA, Siret RBA, Prut - Bârlad RBA and Dobrogea – Litoral RBA and Danube river. The River Basin Management Plans at the level of a river basin/ systems of rivers contain the following elements: ▪ an overview of the river basin district characteristics o In respect of respect of surface water: a) outlining the water bodies and their boundaries on the map; b) outlining the ecoregions and types of surface water bodies on the map; c) identification of reference conditions for surface water body types; 139 o In respect of groundwater: outlining the groundwater bodies and their boundaries on the map; ▪ a summary of significant pressures and the impact of human activities on the surface and groundwater status, including: o estimation of pollution from point sources; o estimation of pollution from diffuse sources, including a summary of land uses; o estimation of pressures on the water quantitative status, including on abstractions; o analyses of other impacts by the human activity on the water status; ▪ identification and outlining on the map the protected areas (set out in Article 51 and in Annex no. 12 of the Water Law); ▪ a map of monitoring networks and an illustration on the map of the output of monitoring programs carried out in accordance with Article 35 and Annex no. 11 of the Water Law, concerning the status of: o surface water bodies (ecological and chemical); o groundwater bodies (chemical and quantitative); o protected areas; ▪ a list of environmental objectives for surface and groundwater bodies established for surface water, groundwater and protected areas; ▪ a summary of economic analysis of water uses; ▪ a summary of the program or programs of measures adopted; ▪ register of all detailed programs and of the guideline schemes for that river basin district, particularly for sub-basins, sectors, parts or types of water, together with a summary of their content; ▪ a summary of public information and consultation measures adopted, the outcome thereof and the amendments to guideline schemes, as a result of the said actions; ▪ a list of competent authorities; ▪ contacts and procedures for receiving the underlying documentation and information related to public information and consultation. For each river basin/ system of rivers, a program of measures shall be set up, taking into account the characteristics of the river basin, the pressures generated by human activities and the environmental impact thereof, as well as an economic analysis of water uses. These tool attempts to provide rapid access to information on risk sharing mechanisms for flood managers and in particular those that are involved in formulating flood management strategies and policies. As such it intends to provide a conceptual “bridge” between the classically engineering focused flood management professionals and the sectors specialized in risk management, such as the insurance and re- insurance as well as capital market actors hedging against certain hydro-meteorological risks. Other tools for planning flood risk management activities in Romania o The defense plans against floods, ice and accidents of the hydrotechnical works and accidental pollution of the hydrotechnical systems are elaborated by the Water Management Systems within the National Administration "Romanian Waters", the hydropower systems within the SPEEH "Hidroelectrica" - SA, the hydro-amelioration systems within the National Administration of Land Reclamation and by other systems organized on hydrotechnical works with a flood defense role. 140 o Defense plans against floods, ice and accidental pollution at the county or locality level presents the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery measures at the level of the county or a locality. o The prefect’s manual and the mayor’s manual for emergency situations management in case of floods are guidance documents to support the activities lead by the mayors for flood risk management. o The tool Land Use Planning have to identify the processes and policy principles that necessitate a linkage of land use planning in integrated flood management. It provides an overview of land use planning instruments considered applicable in the flood management context, to identify the challenges and opportunities to a closer linkage between the various sectors concerned and to provide guidance as to how those sectors can work together. The relevant planning tools used in Romania for urban and spatial planning National plans o National Territorial Development Plan (PATN) (Law no. 350/2001) The National Territorial Development Plan is the planning document that has a guiding character, representing the synthesis of medium and long-term sectoral strategic programs for the entire surface of the country. This document is composed of several specialized sections, namely seven sections - Roads, Water, Protected Areas, Network of Localities, Natural Risk Areas, Tourism, Rural Development. The provisions of the national spatial planning plan and of the sections that comprise it become mandatory for other documentation and lower-level spatial planning plans, which detail them. All lower planning documentation will be reported and subject to the directives of this national level plan. The financing of this document is made through the state budget and is subordinated to the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration. Within this documentation, Section V - Areas of natural risk - is the one that is correlated with the issue of flood risk management. Each section is approved by the Parliament, becoming law; Section V became valid by Law no. 575/2001. Based on this law of the National Territorial Development Plan - Ministries and other institutions such as county councils involved in flood risk management must formulate and adopt methodological rules on how to develop and implement risk maps, on minimum content requirements of urban planning and spatial planning documentation for areas with potential risk. Moreover, in the content of this section are found areas that are identified throughout the country that have the potential to be damaged by destructive natural phenomena such as floods, by mapping areas vulnerable to floods and by centralizing them into a table. In the areas of natural risk, geographically delimited, specific measures are instituted regarding the prevention and mitigation of risks, construction and land use, included in urban plans and spatial planning. o National Strategy (Law no. 350/2001) The National Strategy (Romania's Territorial Development Strategy - SDTR) is the long-term programmatic, strategic, spatial development, sustainable and integrated document and is still under approval process80. Strategies, policies and programmes for sustainable development of the territory are based on the Territorial Development Strategy of Romania. 80 https://senat.ro/legis/lista.aspx?nr_cls=L181&an_cls=2017#ListaDocumente 141 Through this strategy, the territorial development guidelines are established, based on a strategic concept, as well as the implementation directions for a period of over 20 years, at regional, interregional, national scale, integrating relevant aspects at cross-border and transnational level. The National Strategy is based on a system of territorial public policies and with the evolutions in the field at the level of the European Union, observing the territorial dynamics, and, subsequently, elaborating territorial development scenarios. The document focuses on the creation of inter-institutional, intersectoral and territorial partnerships for the promotion and implementation of strategic projects aimed at territorial cohesion. The central authority subordinated to this documentation is the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, which coordinates the elaboration of the strategy, under the coordination of the Prime Minister, as well as the elaboration of public policies in accordance with its objectives. To support the implementation of this strategy, at the level of the central public authority responsible for territorial and urban planning, within the specialized directorate, a secretariat will be set up with permanent activity. The partnerships will be developed on the basis of cooperation protocols of central public authorities with local and business ones, professional associations, universities, research institutions and civil society. The framework content of these protocols is approved by an order of the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration. This document includes the topic of flood risk management by analyzing and identifying in the territory of areas exposed to this risk, and, subsequently, by formulating objectives and measures, in order to prevent and properly manage natural phenomena such as floods. The measures and interventions target / mention both land use, as well as major interventions that prevent flooding phenomena (regularization of watercourses, dams, consolidation of banks, etc.). There are also actions related to the implementation of integrated natural risk management systems. It is necessary to create intervention plans and allocation of resources in mutual consultation at lower territorial levels (regional, county, local), including the issue of flood risk management; regional, county and local authorities are designated with this task. County plans o County Territorial Development Plan (PATJ) (Law no. 350/2001) The County Territorial Development Plan is a master document, representing the spatial expression of a socio-economic development program of a county. The plan correlates with the higher level one (National Territorial Development Plan), being subordinated to it, as well as with the Zonal Territorial Development Plan, with sectoral government programs, but also with other development programs. The provisions of this document become mandatory for the other spatial planning and urban planning documents that detail them. It is mandatory for each county to have a County Planning Plan, updating it periodically, in between 5 to 10 years, depending on the policies and development programs of the county. The county administration (the county council and the president of the county council) are the main actors responsible for this document. The county council establishes the general guidelines regarding the arrangement of the territory, the organization and the urban development of the urban and rural areas, through the initiation and approval of the plans for the arrangement of the county territory. It is mandatory to take over the provisions and priority investments of national interest from the national level plan. The document is subordinated to those placed on the higher level (national) and is subordinated to lower-level documents (local). The approval of the document falls under the attributions of the County Council. 142 The implementation of the planning instrument directives is done through the specialized departments of the county council's own system, as well as by the State Inspectorate for Constructions, by elaborating control procedures, elaborating guides and guidance for citizens and public administration authorities. The structure of this planning tool includes the issue of natural phenomena such as floods, starting from the analysis, where both vulnerable areas and dysfunctions that generated / increased the occurrence of the phenomenon are identified, and to the proposals, where they are developed and formulated objectives, directions of action and specific measures to combat floods. The document operates in conjunction with and is dependent on other relevant flood risk instruments, such as risk and hazard maps, flood risk management plans and strategies. o County Strategy (Order 233/2016) County Strategy (County Sustainable Development Strategy) is the medium-term, long-term strategic programming document of sustainable and integrated spatial development of county's territory. This strategy is subordinated to the one related to the national territory, taking over the guidelines of the latter, by formulating policies and programs that have the purpose of development of the county area. The county strategy must be correlated with the County Territorial Development Plan, but subordinated to the national level documents, taking from them directives that, subsequently, to implement in its content. Subordinated to this document are the lower-level ones, the local ones, as well as other planning tools such as management plans. The implementation of the provisions stipulated in the strategy and the control of their implementation / observance will be carried out through specialized departments of public administration subordinated to the central level, the main responsible for implementation being the County Council and the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration has the responsibility to verify their correlation with the strategic documents of higher level (e.g., PATN, SDTR). Responsible for the elaboration and implementation of this strategic document are the county councils, together with the presidents of the county councils. The document involves the issue of flood risk management, both as part of the analysis of the existing situation and at the level of the current strategy, interventions to improve, prevent and combat this phenomenon. Local plans o General Urban Plan (PUG) (Law no. 350/2001, Order no. 13/N/1999) The General Urban Plan, together with the Local Urban Regulation, is the document with a managerial and strategic character, but also with a regulatory character, which represents the instrument of urban planning, constituting the legal basis for the realization of development programs and actions, on short and medium terms. Each territorial-administrative unit must have such documentation, updating it at a maximum of every 10 years, depending on the foreseeable evolution of social, geographical, economic, cultural factors and local needs. The local councils are the institutions that supervise the process of elaboration and implementation of the General Urban Plan, as well as the initiation of the steps to update or extend such a document, being supervised by the county council apparatus. The approval of this type of planning documentation is performed by several institutions, among which the most important is the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, as well as the county councils. The regulations of the General Urban Plan have the purpose of coherent development of the territory through the direction of the evolution of the locality, of functional development in the territory, by the development of socio-economic systems, technical infrastructure, land use and buildability, zoning and 143 organization of territorial-administrative unit functionality, constantly taking into account the directives of higher-ranking plans and strategies. Within the General Urban Plan are highlighted the areas of natural risk delimited and declared as such, in correlation with the legislation in force, as well as the specific measures aimed at preventing and ameliorating risks and land use in those areas. o Zonal Urban Plan (PUZ) (Law no. 350/2001, Order no. 176/N/2000) The Zonal Urban Plan, together with the Local Urban Regulation, is the specific urban planning and regulation instrument, which coordinates the integrated urban development of some areas of the locality, characterized by a high degree of complexity or an accentuated urban dynamic. This document ensures the correlation of the integrated urban development programs of the area with the General Urban Plan. The Zonal Urban Plan includes regulations regarding the organization of the technical and traffic infrastructure, the architectural-urban organization and land use methods, being mandatory in its elaboration for certain areas with special character, stipulated and delimited by the General Urban Plan. The Zonal Urban Plan establishes, according to the analysis carried out in advance (socio-economic, cultural-historical, urban and architectural context), regulations regarding the construction regime, functionality of the area, maximum allowed height, land use coefficient, occupancy rate of the land, building withdrawals, architectural features. The authorities responsible for this documentation are the ones at the local level, the apparatus of the local council that deals with the approval of the documentation. This type of documentation may be the result of a request (through the General Urban Plan) for the elaboration, in order to regulate in more detail, the areas exposed to natural risks, such as floods, in order to develop areas respecting the principle of risk improvement or elimination. The targeted areas that are vulnerable to natural risks will be analyzed, and then measures will be developed to prevent and/or mitigate these risks, through the solutions proposed in the Zonal Urban Plan. o Detailed Urban Plan (PUD) (Law no. 350/2001, Order no. 37/N/2000) The Detailed Urban Plan is the documentation that has a specific regulatory character for a plot, in relation to the neighbouring plots. This plan cannot modify the higher-level plans, taking over from them the regulatory directions. The Detailed Urban Plan establishes regulations regarding car and pedestrian accesses, withdrawals from the plot boundaries, architectural-urban conformity, land use, design of public spaces, being the detailed design tool. It is elaborated only for the detailed regulation of the provisions established by other higher ranking planning documents - the General Urban Plan and the Zonal Urban Plan. The approval is made by involving several institutions at central, county and local level, and the approval is the responsibility of the local councils. The beneficiary of this plan is responsible for the implementation and observance of the provisions stipulated in the documentation. One of the objectives of this type of documentation is to implement environmental protection measures (as well as tackle areas at risk of flooding - the proposal must be feasible in terms of the nature of the floodplain, the location not being affected by the construction ban for areas floodable). 144 o Local Strategy (SIDU, SDL) (Law no. 350/2000) The Local Strategy (Integrated Urban Development Strategy, Local Development Strategy) is the short-, medium- and long-term planning tool, which, through the proposed actions and measures, determines a coherent and unitary development of the local territory. The strategy, together with the policies and programs of sustainable development, is the expression of the transposition of the development directions, being a specific activity for the arrangement of the territory and urbanism, being followed in the whole application process in accordance with the approved specialized documentation. The strategy will consider solving the economic, environmental, climatic, social problems of the respective locality. The local strategies are based on the principles of the Territorial Development Strategy (national), as well as those of the intermediate level (county). The local level (the specialized apparatus - the local council and the mayor, together with the chief architect) is the one responsible for the elaboration and implementation of this strategy, ensuring the correlation of the document with the General Urban Plan. The mayor is responsible for acting to comply with and implement the provisions of the local strategy, approving this document, as well as managing, recording and updating, which is the responsibility of the chief architect, periodically transmitting to the relevant ministry (Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration) on the record keeping and updating of documentation. The issue of flood risk is also addressed at the level of local strategies, the causes being identified, and the part of the proposal will expose certain interventions and measures that lead, gradually, to reduce and / or eliminate the risk of flooding. Other tools for urban and spatial planning activities in Romania o Regional Zonal Territorial Development Plan (PATZR) (Law no. 350/2001, Order no. 233/2016) The Regional Zonal Territorial Development Plan is a planning document with a leading role, which is made in order to solve certain problems specific to some territories, in this case some regional territories. This document sets out the general framework for long-term spatial development, which links sectoral public investment at the regional level at regional level. This plan correlates with the National Territorial Development Plan, but also with sectoral government and development programs. At the same time, the documentation is correlated with the regional development plans, its provisions being mandatory for the lower ranking territorial planning documents and for the urban planning documents. The Regional Zonal Territorial Development Plan aims to ensure territorial cohesion and balanced development of regions, as well as identify opportunities for cooperation between counties in the region and partnerships for interregional, regional and local development. The Regional Zonal Territorial Development Plan is composed of specialized sections, respectively: communication routes, water, protected areas, network of localities, areas of natural and technological risk, tourism, rural development, social and educational infrastructure. The authority of the central public administration responsible for the field of territorial planning and urbanism initiates and coordinates the elaboration of the Regional Zonal Territorial Development Plan and proposes its approval by a decision of the Government, in accordance with the law. The topic of flood risk management is included in the plan, seeking to reduce and / or eliminate, through interventions and measures, the vulnerability of areas exposed to flood risk. 145 o Inter-County Zonal Territorial Development Plan (PATZIJ), Intercommunal Zonal Territorial Development Plan (PATZIC), Interurban Zonal Territorial Development Plan (PATZIO) (Law no. 350/2001, Order no. 233/2016) Inter-County Zonal Territorial Development Plan, Intercommunal Zonal Territorial Development Plan, Interurban Zonal Territorial Development Plan are planning documents that are developed to solve certain specific problems in areas that include, in part or in full, the administrative territory of several territorial-administrative units. In the case of these types of documentation, the target areas are treated differently according to the proposed objectives and are supplemented by a specific chapter on inter-municipal, inter-city or inter- county cooperation. If the territory covered by the spatial planning plan is located in a border region, the emphasis will also be on cross-border cooperation, as a complementary way of socio-economic development. The authorities responsible for implementing the guidelines of the plans are those at local level - local councils (for inter-urban and inter-communal plans) and those at intermediate / county level - county councils (for inter-county plans). o Regional Development Policy Regional Development Policy is the development tool that addresses all regions and cities in the European Union, by supporting and creating jobs, providing business competitiveness, growth, sustainable development and improving the quality of life. This instrument has a strong impact in many areas, and its investments contribute to the fulfillment of many EU policy objectives, which complement other EU policies, such as education, employment, energy, the environment, the single market, research and innovation. Regional policy ensures, in fact, a unitary, cohesive and coherent development of the territory, by ensuring an optimal investment framework necessary to meet the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, to ensure a smart, sustainable, and favourable growth for territorial inclusion. Development policy, through its pronounced instrumental character, and through funds (Cohesion Fund, Structural Funds, Solidarity Fund) contribute to the financing of other sectoral policies, such as agricultural policy, social policy, environmental protection policy, etc. This instrument is complex, underlined by the way in which the EU's priority objectives are integrated - economic and social cohesion and extending the application of the principle of subsidiarity and sustainable development. The legal basis of the Community's regional development policy is laid down in Title XVII of the Treaty on European Union (XIV in the Treaty of Rome), which defines the objective of regional policy – ‘reducing disparities between the levels of development of different regions and lagging behind" less developed regions, [...] including rural areas. The Council Regulation is added to the Treaty No. 1260/996, which establishes the general functional provisions of the Structural Funds (and amended by Regulation No. 1447/20017). Due to its complexity and scope, regional development policy includes several areas of activity, which results in a large number of institutional actors involved in its development and implementation. In Romania, the development policy began to take shape with the operation of the PHARE program, in 1996, and two years later, in 1998, the legal framework for its development was established (Law no. 151/1998 on regional development in Romania), which establishes the objectives of development of the national policy in the field of territorial development, institutions involved, specific competences and instruments. It is complemented by a number of other laws, ordinances and government decisions, which create or regulate the mechanisms for implementing regional policy. 146 The institutional framework for the development and implementation of regional development policy is structured on two levels - national and regional. At regional level, the main actors responsible for implementing a coherent and unitary development are: The Regional Development Council, the Agencies for Regional Development, and the Regional Committee. At national level, the main responsible actors are: The National Council for Regional Development, the relevant Ministry, and the Inter-institutional Committee. Related to the issue of flood risk management, regional development policy takes into account this issue, precisely because of its nature - adaptation to climate change and risk prevention (including those related to floods) - being a priority for the cohesive development of the whole territory. o Operational Program / Regional Operational Program The Operational Programme is a tool aimed at territorial development on several levels and areas. This multi-annual strategic document (for a period of 7 years), presented by a Member State and adopted by the European Commission, defines a development strategy in line with the thematic objectives and investment priorities of EU Cohesion Policy, assumed by the Partnership Agreement. These strategic tools are broken down into several areas, being named according to the topic addressed - Large Infrastructure Operational Program; Regional Operational Program; Administrative Capacity Operational Program; Human Capital Operational Program; Operational Helping Disadvantaged People Program; Competitiveness Operational Program; Technical Assistance Operational Program; European Territorial Cooperation Operational Program; National Rural Development Program; Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Operational Program. At the same time, the operational programs are divided into other subunits - priority axes, depending on the theme / topic approached, axes which in turn are broken down by thematic objectives. Related to the flood risk management part, the operational programs (usually - Major Infrastructure Operational Program) include an objective related to the issue of floods, which aims to reduce the effects and damage to the population caused by natural phenomena associated with major risks accentuated by climate change - floods and erosion. * ** Currently is under development the draft Code of Territorial, Urban Planning and Construction that proposes the creation of a clear, coherent legislative instrument, adapted to the context of contemporary European, national and international realities, aimed at information about the quality of people's lives.81 The draft Code of Territorial, Urban Planning and Construction will be implemented through the project "Systematization of legislation in the field of spatial planning, urbanism and construction and strengthening the administrative capacity of specialized structures in central public institutions with responsibilities in the field", SIPOCA 50, through the Public Procurement Contract of services no. 232 of 12.07.2019. The project SIPOCA 50, which has a duration of 54 months (09.05. 2018 - 09.11.2022), aims to achieve a set of actions that will lead to the achievement of the following specific objectives: • Ensuring the systematized and optimized legislative framework by elaborating the Code of Territorial, Urban Planning and Construction; 81 http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/240172 147 • Providing methodological, operational and information and communication tools for the application of amended legislation; • Formation of an efficient administrative apparatus based on objective, quantifiable and easy to monitor and update tools.82 The principles that basis the Code are: • The principle of full integration with the principles of national law and the principles and rules of European law; • The principle of considering cultural heritage and the natural environment as resources of national identity and communities; • The principle of coherent and appropriate regulation; • The principle of unitary definition of the domain and terminology; • The principle of clarifying the relationship between the development of public strategies and policies, the process of implementing and approving plans and that of making public and private investments; • The principle of coherence and effectiveness of spatial planning tools; • The principle of the prevalence of the general interest over the private one; • The principle of preserving medium and long-term land reserves; • Principle of simplification of procedures and differentiated approach in the process of authorizing the execution of construction works; • The principle of coordination and vertical and horizontal correlation of spatial planning and urban planning documentation; • The principle of transparency and free access to specific information; • The principle of multidisciplinary approach to spatial planning tools; • The principle of public responsibility; • The principle of professional responsibility and deontology; • The principle of a coherent and complete approach to the investment life cycle; • The principle of relevance of the type of contracting of construction works; • The principle of mandatory monitoring and control; • The principle of professionalism and specialization; • The principle of clarity and coherence of roles and responsibilities; • The principle of harmonized representation of interests; • The principle of compatibility of functions; • The principle of risk and insurance integration; • The principle of incremental information development; • The principle of redefining the categories of sanctions; • The principle of using fiscal instruments to increase discipline in construction.83 82 https://www.mdlpa.ro/pages/scurtadescriereproiectsipoca50 83 http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/240172 148 ANNEX D – Findings from related external and Romanian studies There are a number of reports in the area of flood risk management and spatial and urban planning that are useful and serve as a context to some of the conclusions drawn in this report. Some extracts are taken from them here. “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests. The document “Supporting study for preparation of land use rules and regulations in the floodable areas, including construction codification procedure in such areas and their adaptation rules in order to mitigate the flood-generated damages” has been prepared in 2020 for the Ministry of the Environment, Waters and Forests. This is an integrated report containing the main ideas of the study performed. The report is a summary of parallel reports delivered under the contract, as follows: ▪ Report 1 on "Identification in the applicable legislation of existing rules and regulations for the land use in the floodable areas" and "Preparation of new rules and regulations for the land use in floodable areas, adapted to the requirements of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on the medium and long-term "; ▪ Report 2 on "Preparation of the construction codification procedure in floodable areas to mitigate the flood-generated damages"; ▪ Report 3 on „Proposals for draft normative for the definition of rules and regulations for the land use and construction adaptation in floodable areas”. In the Report 1 is described the EU relevant legislation for the Water field (as Directive 2007/60/CE), the national legislation for transposing the EU Directives, the instrument used for implementing the directives, the national legislative context in the field of spatial planning and the relevant public institutions and stakeholders with their responsibilities. Report 1 aims to identify in the existing legal framework the rules and regulations for land use in floodable areas. Based on this analysis new regulations are proposed, adapted to the requirements of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on the medium and long-term. In Report 2 can be found some interesting information regarding: ▪ The codifying procedure of the constructions from the floodable areas to diminish the damages caused by the floods (Part I of the report); ▪ Set of rules for adapting constructions in floodable areas to reduce damage (Part II of the report). Report 3 provides a guide for defining rules and regulations for land use and construction adaptation in floodplains, together with the annex, an integral part of the draft normative act proposal, which is structured in two main parts: Part I - Land use in floodplains and Part II Adaptation of buildings in 149 floodplains refers to existing buildings. However, Part II has a broader objective, dealing not only with the adaptation of existing constructions but also with the protection of new ones. The Integrated Report is structured in 11 chapters (including the Bibliography), having 2 annexes (ANNEX I – The status on the national land use in the floodable areas as it results from flood hazard and risk maps prepared in the process of implementing Directive 2007/60/EC and ANNEX II - Case studies. Lessons learned and recommendations). Annexes A, B, C, D are an integral part of the normative proposal (see Chapter 7 Proposal for the draft normative on the rules and regulations for land use and construction adaptation in floodable areas). Annexe E is associated with Chapter 8 Proposals for the amendment of the other normative interfering with the draft normative for the definition of rules and regulations on land use and construction adaptation in the floodable areas. Case studies and their input In “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests are two types of case studies: First type of case studies is from the Report 1 which analysis best practices around the world, organized according to 6 criteria: 1. Flood risk-based development strategy (local level); 2. Integrating flood risk into spatial planning; 3. Example of spatial planning to increase flood resilience (national plans); 4. Financial and economic instruments to increase flood resilience; 5. Regulation of floodplains (regional examples); 6. Successful experiences in building codes for flood resistance. These case studies are very relevant because they show the integration of flood risk management into spatial planning process. Also, they reveal the analysis of the process of carrying out the various types of plan - from the strategic ones at a national level, to the zoning ones at a local level. These case studies in the Annex 1 to the Report no. 2 – First Draft Inputs for the report on International Best Practices were summarized, but because of the brief treatment of some of them, additional information was needed. However, these case studies presented in Report 1 were not sufficiently capitalized in the proposals made in the Integrated Report. Most of the proposals were only based on Ireland’s case study. Second type of case studies is from the Integrated Report. These case studies were performed on pilot river basins representative for the application of the proposals from this report. To select the representative river basins, a series of criteria were established to allow the selection of a diverse range of case studies, but especially in terms of given their purpose, concerning the proposed approach. The representativeness of hydro morphological conditions has been ensured by setting criteria such as: ▪ The sources of flooding of the area in scope; ▪ Landform conditions; ▪ Living environment; ▪ Existence of the flood protection infrastructure. 150 One of the conditions for the selection of pilot areas for the application of the proposals was that the area is defined in the process of implementing the Floods Directive as a APSFR. The areas for which there were flood hazard maps at different annual probabilities of exceeding the maximum flows (based on hydraulic models) were identified. There were presented 6 case studies, 4 of them are on the territories managed by Olt River Basin Administration (Cibin river), Siret River Basin Administration (Suceava river), Prut-Bârlad River Basin Administration (Bârlad river) and Dobrogea-Litoral River Basin Administration (Danube river) and the other 2 are case studies taken over from the Irish practice. 2 case studies considered a pluvial source, 5 were in a plain area (only with river source) and 4 had protection to floods infrastructure. Finally, the focus has been, as much as possible, on the pilot studies selected to have urban planning documentation approved (P.U.G. / P.U.Z.), to emphasize, for some of the case studies proposed, how the urban planning documentation (General Urban Plan – Local Urban Planning Regulation) is currently prepared under the relevant legislation and how the approach proposed might be integrated into the urban planning field. These case studies are mostly concerned generally to demonstrate the viability of the proposals made and less for a real understanding of the problem at each level (national, regional, local) or to find customized solutions. Proposals for existing flood management and spatial planning legal framework In the Integrated Report a brief overview of the domestic legislative background concerning the land use and construction adaptation in floodable areas was made. The main issues were identified, as follows: ▪ Some contradictions regarding the interdiction versus acceptance for constructions in the floodable area were found. Also, some issues related to the regulations for land use in floodable areas were identified (Law 107/1996, GD 846/2010, GD 525/1996, order 459/78/2019); ▪ Another issue is that Annex 4 from Government Decision GD 382 /02.04.2003 cannot be put into practice because of the lack of financial resources (the costs for the actions mentioned in Appendix 4 are not estimated); ▪ In Order 233/2016 the content of the natural risk study is not detailed; there is not a legal relation and obligations between the author of the risk map and the urban planning documentation author; ▪ Analyzing Law 350/2001 regarding the period when urban planning documentation must be updated, it is not clear who is responsible for making these studies and which are the legal responsibilities after the approval of those documentation; ▪ The report noted the fact that there are no legal deadlines in the legislation for updating General Urban Plans when flood risk management plans change in a clear period; ▪ Another problem stipulated in the report was the poor involvement of authorities responsible for spatial planning in making Flood Risk Management Plans. Despite these disfunctions of the legal framework, no analysis of the effects of the deficiencies in existing laws and orders is presented. It is just taken as read that the whole system needs to change. Consequently, proposals for legal framework were made. But not all the measures proposed were accompanied by tools and explanations so that they can be implemented. Many of them are too general. 151 The proposal to modify Law 350/2001 is pertinent and it is a good idea to update General Urban Plan once the flood risk maps are updated during the Floods Directive implementation and those maps are available in the public domain. Also, referring to legislative provisions on transportation and agriculture, in the report it is mentioned the lack of correlation between the annual probability of exceedance corresponding to the important classes including the hydro-technical facilities related to public pathways and the provisions of the National Flood Risk Management Strategy on the medium and long-term, approved by GD 846/11.08.2010. Thus, proposals to modify a large number of regulations in order not to leave room for interpretation and to bridge the gap between the Forest Code and GEO 34/2013 are presented. However, some changes proposed as a “must” in the Romanian legislation (both flood risk management and spatial plannning) are possible only with the change of other important regulations. For implementing these changes are needed specialized employees in the teams of national and local authorities and stakeholders involved in the process, to have the experience to make national, zonal and local strategies, modifications of the laws, establish partnerships between research institutions, public institutions, experts, involving the community, and as a final step changing in the way of thinking. New normative (the key proposal) A very specific position taken is to introduce a whole new paradigm, with many details, as to how spatial planning and flood risk management should be integrated. This is called a sequential approach and it is accompanied by a series of substantiation tests (justifications for various actions). The change of the paradigm „fight against the water” with „living with water” (which underlines the sequential approach) is the key element of the public policies and territorial strategies in the world. This change in the way of thinking is made by integrating the structural elements with non-structural ones for flood protection. Also, changes were made by using a normative framework and the coordination of actions of public institutions in charge with the prevention, mitigation and regeneration after a natural disaster. Based on these proposal, significant changes to legislation and practice were proposed, accompanied by significant training of many people concerned. All these changes are presented as a necessity and an obligation, based on a series of remedial orders and rules for their application. The most important issue of this proposal is that there is not based on a clear main problem. Also, no timescale is suggested to incrementally adopt these changes. Between the black-and-white approach (prohibitive approach) which needs the identification of floor risk- bearing areas and more forbiddance of developments in such areas and the Grey approach (sequential approach), which involves the exploration of all possibilities, namely opportunities of localization for new developments vulnerable to flood in the area with the lowest flood risk, the “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests’, recommended the Grey approach (sequential approach). The key principles of the sequential approach for flood risk management in terms of the land planning system are as follows: ▪ Avoid the development in areas subject to flood risk; 152 ▪ If this is not possible, consider the replacement/ substitution of the construction/development with one of a lower flood vulnerability class (less vulnerable). ▪ Flood risk mitigation and management, when the avoidance and replacement are not possible. Exceptions from the restriction to locate constructions/developments in flood risk-bearing areas are allowed by reading the Substantiation Testing, showing the need for the implementation of construction/development on the requested site and emphasizing. The term “sequential” is defined on page 117 as “step by step”. This definition needs to be clarified. Not with standing that, there is little or no attention to a step-by-step process whereby this new paradigm is introduced and pursued over several years, so the audience is probably baffled by the detail and overwhelmed by the task proposed. Probably nothing is seen to be incorrect by those receiving the report, but the magnitude of the problem is not articulated, nor the solutions to these problems fitted into the nature of that magnitude. The main issues and disadvantages of the sequential approach are as follows: ▪ It will require a change of thinking, needed during the stage for the planning of such an approach; ▪ Already existing developments and initiatives for their regeneration may limit the application of the risk-based approach; ▪ It requires a higher and more precise understanding of flood risks from all flooding sources, considering several scenarios, such as the breach of defense works and extreme events. The additional modelling of risks coming from pluvial sources may be necessary; ▪ It may need the reexamination of the current area included in the plans prepared so far and there may be resilience to the need of delineating certain lands already included in these plans; ▪ It will need a longer period to fully implement this type of approach and it may need the training/use of experts for the complex flood risk assessment (modelling); ▪ The sequential approach needs an extra-investment in training and development of technical skills; it involves political will and wider consultation on issues related to the flood risk and land development. 153 World Bank Reports: Report “Inputs to the urban policy 2020-2035” - Companion paper 1: Spatial Planning Framework for Sustainable Development This report is important for the integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning because it calls for a comprehensive system of spatial planning incorporating a consideration of all sectors. The sector of importance to this report, and the reason that it is now reproduced partly in this Annex D, is the field of water and in particular within that the field of flood risk management. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (extract) “This report addresses the role of spatial planning in sustainable development and proposes its redefinition as an umbrella framework for sectoral policy integration and coordination. In the aim to achieve sustainable cities through an integrated urban policy, a paradigm shift is required towards sustainable development as a governing framework for urban policymaking. However, for sustainability principles to be implemented, spatial planning should be redefined as an umbrella framework for sectoral policy integration and coordination. A significant body of work emphasizes the role of spatial planning in coordinating the territorial and spatial development objectives of sectoral policies and harmonizing the interaction between national, regional, and local dimensions. “The power of spatial planning rests in its capacity to address a wide spectrum of interdependent urban development challenges originating from the form and structure of the city. Spatial planning is both an enhancer of potential and an instrument of control over challenges, with direct influence on both growing and shrinking cities in becoming more inclusive, resilient and competitive. For dynamic cities that organically attract people and capital, spatial planning is a tool to enhance land use productivity and sustainability, while for shrinking cities is can become an instrument to turn the process of scaling down into an opportunity to improve the quality of built environment and public space. Overall, spatial planning contributes to the quality of urban life. “The national urban policy has a dual role in shaping urban development: a visionary role in formulating a set of clear goals to guide development towards the path of sustainability and a coordinating role in strengthening the institutional capacity and policy instruments available to advance sustainable development. The National Urban Policy for Romania aims for cities to become: i) green & resilient, ii) just & inclusive, iii) competitive & productive, and iv) well-governed. “Urban planning and these four goals are increasingly interdependent. Even though the general agreement is that the capacity to address unsustainable development should concentrate on the regional and local government levels, the adoption of the principles of sustainability requires changes in policies, legal framework, governmental structure, institutions, procedures and instruments, which can be best integrated through a national strategy. In light of Romania’s dual challenge of urban decline, and urban sprawl, this framework proposes four universal policy directions or objectives that all cities should follow in order to move towards spatial sustainability, even though the approach and focus might differ between growing and shrinking cities: 154 1. Strengthening the authorizing environment for spatial sustainability. This policy direction responds to the need to establish a common vision to advance spatial sustainability and enhance the institutional capacity to promote sustainable urbanization patterns, by signalling the shared responsibility of all stakeholders and levels of government to act towards the respective goals and their interdependence on spatial planning. Policy recommendations in this scope entail aligning national sustainability goals with sectoral policies and local strategies; facilitating metropolitan cooperation and peri-urban growth management; and responding to urban challenges through a localized territorial approach. 2. Containing and controlling urban sprawl. This policy direction aims to guide development and facilitate integrated planning of peri-urban development to shape compact, connected and diverse communities while containing uncontrolled expansion and addressing deficiencies in physical and social infrastructure in the existing peri-urban communities. Areas of action in this policy direction include monitoring spatial dynamics; developing a local urban growth management strategy and compact city measures; guiding expansion to cohere, densify and diversify urban and peri-urban clusters; and facilitating integrated planning. 3. Revitalizing urban areas. This policy direction aims to capitalize on the existing urban asset such as patrimony and brownfields and to improve the attractiveness of the existing urban residential neighbourhoods by acting upon the aging building stock, parking overcrowding and limited public spaces and social infrastructure based on the principles of circular reuse and integrated planning. Measures included under this policy direction call for integrated neighbourhood regeneration; retrofitting ageing building stock; reclaiming open space and diversifying public amenities; urban brownfield redevelopment; and vacant property management and functional reconversion. 4. Enhancing connectivity between urban areas. This policy direction aims to enhance connectivity within and between the urban and peri-urban areas based on the principles of accessibility and policy integration of land-use and infrastructure planning, in order to reduce sprawl induced car use and enhance equitable access to resources. Progress in this direction requires fostering metropolitan transit-oriented development; improving land use mix and accessibility within urban and peri-urban clusters; and implementing peri-urban management to close public infrastructure gaps. 155 Report for the World Bank on land acquisition for flood risk management purposes This is an important report simply because the minutiae details in laws and other directions can determine the potential for sensible flood risk management measures, and indeed the integration of spatial and urban planning into flood risk management itself. In terms of the aims and objectives of this Land Acquisition report, the following four extracted points make this clear: (a) Only measures and obligations referring to the phase of flood prevention and rivers were assessed. No other phase related to the floods (e.g., emergence of the flood, post-flood measures) or to other parts of waters (e.g., seaside, the Danube) was part of the present assessment, except when expressly set out herein. (b) The Report focuses on matters of civil and environmental law, excluding extensive presentation of aspects deriving from, inter alia, competition, EU funds, public finance and fiscal legislation. (c) The Report refers to aspects of land planning only insofar such appear relevant for the completion of land acquisition or for implementing other schemes including restrictions and/or compensations for flood risk management purposes. Extensive land planning topics are to be covered by the World Bank as part of the technical support it provides to the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests (“MEWF”) and the Romanian Administration “Romanian Waters” (“ANAR”) under the Services Agreement No. P170989 (the “ Technical Support”). Certain elements of the Land Acquisition report were selected for reproduction below where they are particularly relevant to spatial planning and its relationship to flood risk management. It should be noted that the 7 items in this table are a substantial minority of the sections in the original Land Acquisition report (totalling 31, and providing much more detail than is contained in the table below). What is shown in the table below is that any change in legal instruments necessary for the better integration of flood risk management into urban and spatial planning is likely to be quite minor. This is in direct contrast to the recommendations in the “Study-support for the elaboration of the norms and rules of the use of the lands in the floodable areas, including the procedure of codification of the constructions in these areas and rules of adaptation to reduce the damages caused by the floods” developed under the Program for monitoring, studies, research and development in the field of climate change, Beneficiary: Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests , which is seeking a much more fundamental change. Table 17 - Necessary changes in legal framework Recommendation Why is needed? 1. Include a new specific objective under Art. 21 of the In order to cover a wider area related to floods’ Waters Law indicating the need to create more space objectives, including in relation to environmental for waters as a manner of achieving the final scope to objectives. reduce floods. 2. Reassess the categories of areas where any building Currently the prohibition to perform building works is prohibited (Art. 49 para. (1) of the Waters Law) to is applicable within floodplains of major riverbeds determine if new locations (e.g., wetlands) need to and protection zones and does not cover all areas be included. Corresponding compensation should be referred to for this type of measure in the National expressly regulated. Flood Risk Management Strategy for Medium and 156 Recommendation Why is needed? Long-Term (period 2010-2035). 3. Assess the need for additional obligations – non- To address possible need to supplement the existing structural measures (such as the obligation to grow measures for flood risk management via appropriate certain crops/plants upon floodplains/wetplains, the land use practices with reference to agricultural and obligation to change the destination of the land etc.) forestry lands provided under the Waters Law. Only and regulate them via an organic law (i.e., Waters limited provisions currently exist in this respect Law), depending on the technical solutions proposed under the Waters Law. for flood risk management. 4. Supplement the Waters Law with the express To cover the lack of express provisions on the competence of ANCPI to register with the land book obligation to register with land book the information information about flood risk management. related to flood management risk. This will facilitate the information of the interested parties about the limitations brought to the ownership right for flood risk management purpose. 5. Reassess if the prohibitions or restrictions set out in To correlate with the new flood risk management Art. 76 of the Waters Law need to be updated plans. considering the measures contemplated as necessary under the new flood risk management plans. 6. Assess additional actions required for ensuring that To mitigate the risk that urban certificates are issued local authorities properly indicate in urbanism without indicating the need to obtain the water certificates when the water management authority’s management authority’s point of view and that point of view is needed. building permits are issued in the absence of the relevant approval/permits. 7. Although the lack of cadastral documentation for a One of the problems met by the public authority in great number of lands in Romania is considered in the expropriation procedure is the lack of cadastral general as a risk in acquisition of lands, especially in registration for a large number of lands located in the what concern agricultural lands, in case of expropriation corridor, which may expose the legal expropriation procedure the following specific rules situation of such lands to uncertainty. are provided under Law 255/2010 which overcome the risk of delay in expropriation procedure. 157