Flood vulnerability and the quest for resilience: urban planning and development challenges in Matola, Mozambique

Abstract

Increased flood occurrence due to heavy rainfall associated with cyclones is recognized worldwide. Urban environments in developing countries, such as Matola in Mozambique, suffer greatly from the negative impacts of floods, and the 2000 floods were the most devastating, which pose great challenges to urban planners and local communities to promote flood resilience. This study investigates the challenges of promoting resilience to urban floods in Matola, Mozambique. The study focuses on how have flood hazards and risks been distributed in Matola and what mitigations and adaptations strategies, measures, and actions urban planners and communities used to promote flood resilience. This is a case study based on a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodological approach. The study applies geoprocessing techniques to geospatial data in order to assess flood vulnerability and risk in Matola, in 2000, 2020, and 2040, using ArcGIS software. The main qualitative methods used are semi-structured interviews with urban planners and community members, and focus group discussions with community members, complemented by observations. The findings indicate an increase in the extent of low-risk areas of flooding, and a decrease in the extent of medium/high-risk areas from 2000, through 2020, to 2040. However, there has been an increase in the number of inhabitants exposed to combined medium/high-risk areas of medium/high-hazard classes of flooding ranging from 0.5 m to approximately 5 m in depth, due to the increase in the horizontal expansion of land occupied by socio-economic infrastructure, particularly housing. The findings indicate that the mitigation actions during the 2000 floods focused on evacuating and accommodating people besieged by the floods. After the 2000 flood, adaptation measures were gradually implemented by supporting the return of residents to their homes, resettling households whose homes were permanently flooded in 2000, resettling residents of areas at high risk of flooding, and excavating drainage channels. The main strategy to promote flood resilience in Matola after the 2000 floods was capacity development through staff training, gradually hiring new staff by municipal administration, with different specializations essential for planning and managing land use and adaptation measures, and developing a new urban plan taking account of the flood hazards. The study reveals that during the 2000 floods, social capital, characterized by pre-existing strong social cohesion and mutual trust among community members, was a vital factor helping people come together to support and rescue community members besieged by floods. Community adaptation measures after the 2000 floods were the improvement and reconstruction of flood-destroyed houses, raising yard levels with fill, and adherence to the resettlement promoted by the municipality. The municipality’s official collaboration network with communities through elected leaders favoured continuous connection between the parties and in organizing the gradual resettlement of residents who had lost their homes in the floods.