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Since 2015, the construction and reconstruction of landslide and anti-landslide structures have been suspended in Ukraine, and the financing of capital repairs of water management structures that perform the functions of flood protection has been suspended since 2009. That is, the system of flood protection of the state is not actually created, and the functioning of existing facilities is not ensured at the proper level.
This is stated in the Joint report on the results of the International coordinated audit on prevention and consequences elimination of floods. The Member of the Accounting Chamber Viktor Bohun is responsible for the Audit from the SAI of Ukraine.
The International audit was carried out in the framework of the EUROSAI Working Group on the Audit of Funds Allocated to Disasters and Catastrophes, under the coordination of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine and with the participation of the SAIs of Belarus, Georgia, Poland, Serbia, Turkey and the European Court of Auditors.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, floods are one of the most common natural disasters in the world, with losses amounting to about $ 40 billion annually. According to the UN, during the years 1997-2017, 76 million people were affected by floods in the world – this is 86% of all victims of all natural disasters during this period.
Thus, in Ukraine during 2005-2015, events related to the water factor escalated into emergencies in 56 cases. The total damage from the 2008 flood amounted to more than UAH 5.7 billion. UAH 3.5 billion was allocated from the state budget to eliminate the consequences of this natural disaster. In addition, the Government has allocated half a billion hryvnias from the reserve fund to pay material assistance to the families of the dead and the affected population.
Given the threatening flood situation in their countries, all SAIs-participants in the International audit emphasize that the issue of flood prevention and elimination is extremely important and relevant for all countries.
In general, audit issues at the national level were studied by the SAIs-participants in 2015-2018. Since then, the governments of the SAIs have taken some steps to approximate national legislation to that of the EU in terms of adopting a number of laws and regulations. However, the problems identified by national audits in the field of flood protection and the recommendations provided have not lost relevance today. As an example: the western regions of Ukraine are once again suffering from devastating floods.
The international audit found that flood protection measures were not implemented effectively in most of the SAIs. The flood financing system needs to be improved and does not meet the need for funds. There is a need to improve the predictability of future flood risks.
Participants in the international coordinated audit are unanimous that in the process of natural disaster management, the amount of money invested in disaster risk reduction is the most cost-effective. Flooding cannot be prevented, but proper and timely measures to prevent flooding can significantly reduce their negative consequences.
Therefore, supreme audit institutions pay special attention to the need to clearly define preventive flood control measures, as well as indicators of the effectiveness of such activities. UNDP data confirm that, on average, for every euro invested in flood prevention, the damage caused by floods is reduced by seven euros.
The study of this problem allowed to form key recommendations to governments and responsible authorities of the countries, aimed at: improving the regulatory framework in the field of flood protection, in order to specify policies and harmonize relevant policy documents with other legislation, preparation of flood risk management plans at the level of river basins, including transboundary, elimination of shortcomings in the system of financing flood control measures and increase the efficiency of their implementation.
The SAIs-participants of the audit also emphasize the need for ongoing monitoring of the flood situation by their governments.
