A review of typologies, trends, and evolution of actor and institutional involvement in implementing local flood early warning systems (L-FEWS).

Flooding is the most severe natural disaster, impacting millions of people globally. Governments and institutions must prioritize flood risk management as land use changes, urbanization, and climate change increase the frequency of floods. Flood early warning systems (FEWS) are critical in mitigating flood effects on local communities. In theory and practice, an effective FEWS is widely acknowledged to value the involvement of various actors and institutions and adopts a people-centered approach, particularly at the local level, where vulnerable populations are often concentrated. However, current research on actor and institutional involvement in FEWS implementation at the local level is fragmented, suggesting the need for more comprehensive and geographically representative studies. Learning from the various case studies worldwide is a better way to paint a holistic picture of the actor and institutional involvement in L-FEWS. While L-FEWS is critical for addressing the immediate needs of local people, comprehensive insights on actor and institutional involvements are imperative to track common challenges and inform best practices for enhancing future social implementation of EWS worldwide. To bridge this gap, we review the existing literature and critically assess the extent of actor and institutional involvement in local FEWS (L-FEWS) implementation across all four components of early warning systems. The study employs deductive and inductive content analysis to analyze 158 peer-reviewed articles and gray literature, exploring the status of social actor involvement in L-FEWS implementation. Additionally, the review examines the extent of regulatory and policy instruments guiding social actor responsibilities over time. We then synthesize the typologies and trends to present an evolutionary framework of actor and institutional involvement across the four components of L-FEWS operations. The findings from this global review will yield key insights to enhance the effectiveness of the social implementation of L-FEWS. The study’s results will also inform future research and policy efforts toward developing inclusive mechanisms for flood risk management.

Keywords: Floods, early warning systems, local, social actors, institutions, frameworks, involvement, trends, evolution.