Component 2 of Serbia national disaster risk management plan (NDRMP): Flood hazard and risk mapping

This paper assesses Serbia as it is a flood-prone country which has experienced several significant floods in the past decades, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and causing billions of euros in damages. Following the 2014 floods, the Serbian Government approved a National Disaster Risk Management Program (financed by EU IPA II funds) to develop a long-term risk management system, including the generation of flood risk information. The country is aligning its water legislation with the EU: in the case of flood management, the UE Floods Directive is almost fully transposed into the Water Law in Serbia.

The Project successfully accomplished key achievements, including:

• The development of a replicable methodology for flood hazard and risk mapping in close consultation with water sector institutions. The methodology is in line with the EU Floods Directive as well as the national guidelines and has thus contributed to harmonization with the EU legislation in Serbia.
• The preparation of actionable flood hazard and risk maps based on the limited data available, including suggestions for improvement in data acquisition and sharing for the next mapping cycle. A dataset of as- sets at risk was created for all areas covered under the Project, which will be valuable for spatial planning and future mapping activities.
• The development of capacity among water sector staff, allowing staff to thoroughly understand the pro- cess of preparing flood hazard and risk maps, the limitations imposed by the data, and the importance of improving datasets. This strengthened capacity will enable staff to guide and supervise future mapping efforts.