A flood resilience observatory in French Polynesia: results and research perspectives from the ILOTS project

Abstract

It has been pointed out that the French overseas territories are very concerned by flash floods, but this risk is poorly addressed by the national Government and local authorities. The need to innovate in flood risk management approaches in such areas is explained in particular by the awareness of the lack of consideration of vulnerable territories. This work aims to, first, providing a model to assess the level of resilience of Tahiti and Moorea to flooding. Secondly, it lays the foundations for long-term research with the design of a risk and resilience Information System in the Pacific islands being the start of a future territorial observatory. A first step of our work was to provide some contextual elements as well as perspectives for assessing resilience in the territories of Tahiti and Moorea in French Polynesia. Then, we set up different approaches for assessing resilience and try to operationalise this concept to finally develop a global model adapted to these particular territories.