Developing Ideas, in this year-end issue, looks at flooding and its relationship to sustainable development. DI #1 - Natural Disasters - How Natural? - establishes that while 'nature' provides the 'trigger event' it is more often than not human activities which modify the environment that dictate the extent and severity of the disaster. Flood Risk Culture - DI #2 - outlines a typology which deftly illustrates how different people and cultures understand and manage risk. Our third DI questions the extent to which water control structures actually help or hinder in a flood situation and examines some of the long-term implications for ecosystem health. DI #4, Flood Compensation-Perverse Subsidy?, explores the implications of both flood insurance and flood assistance - do they subsidize unsustainable activities in flood-plains? Our last DI provides a possible solution to the flooding dilemma - integrated water development and management - an approach with much potential in today's water scarce world. Lastly, TrendWatch identifies several rising trends related to flooding and sustainable development that are bound to appear repeatedly in the near future.

Our guest writer for this issue, Jon Tinker, lives and works in British Columbia, Canada. Jon is a well known writer on sustainable development.