The challenge of Adaptation in the Netherlands

The challenge of Adaptation in the Netherlands

The Netherlands are one of the countries which are most exposed to climate risk, as 50% of them is below sea level

The expected sea level rise, between 0.5 and 1.5 meters by 2100, could lead to the disappearance of cities such as Rotterdam and The Hague

Meanwhile, the longer and stronger storm season will increasingly put to a test the Dutch dams and dykes

This is already happening: on the 3rd of January 2018 the huge Maeslantkering, one of the world’s largest moving steel dams, was closed to protect the city of Rotterdam hit by storm with 140 kph winds, and the same happened to the other four major barriers in the country

It has never happened before.

Yet, Dutch people are not unprepared. In 2016 they published one of the most advanced adaptation strategies in the world

Adaptation in the Netherlands is serious business, and it concerns both cities and people

Rotterdam, for instance, has its own, complex adaptation plan

It does not only include the construction of dams and flood protections, but also the redesign of urban areas, such as the Zomerhofkwartier neighbourhood, and the creation of spaces able to drain rain water

Similarly, the city of Dordrecht is considered a model for global coastal adaptation

Everything, even doors and windows, are design to resist the increasingly frequent flooding

Even the architects and engineers planning the extension of the Rotterdam port are taking climate change into account.

Deepening ➞

In the islands, instead, adaptation involves different skills and needs

Martin Baptist, a professore from Wageningen University, is leading an ambitious project to nourish beaches and dunes in the north of the Netherlands, to protect inland areas from waves and flooding and to recreate an almost disappeared ecosystem

On the island of Texel, Marc van Rijsselberghe has instead built a salt farm, an experimental facility where he cultivates edible plants with saltwater

This is the result of mixing genetic mapping and past agronomic experiences: adaptation means also updating and strenghtening knowledge

From the old way, to the building with nature.

Netherlands

Building barriers

Deepening

Rotterdam was the major coastal hub in the world for almost half a century, just until the recent rise of the Asian ports of Shanghai and Singapore. Today, it is a 105 squared kilometres large
area of concrete and steel, 40 kilometres wide and were 100,000 people work. One third of its surface is covered by the Europoort, the futuristic hub rebuilt in the 1960s after the Second World War bombings. It now hosts the largest fuel storage of all the EU.

While the Europoort was rising again, the Dutch were also building the Maasvlakte, an artificial extension of the port which was constructed in an area full of shoals and sand banks that made navigation particularly dangerous for large boats. Thus, in order to build this new area, new land was created, taking it from the North Sea through dykes and nourishments which used sand taken from the high sea and then redistributed where the construction works were going to take place. Similarly, a four kilometres dam allowed the construction of the Maasvlakte 2 a few years ago. This is a further extension of the Rotterdam port, some 20 kilometres large.

The Maasvlakte 2 now hosts factories and core infrastructures, such as the great steel building, located in the middle of the port, the Dutch use to demolish ships at the end of their operations.

The new port area has also allowed to increase the traffic of large cargos passing through Rotterdam. Following the trend of building ships able to carry more than 20,000 teu (circa 800,000 cubic meters), thanks to its location near the high sea and deep waters, the Maasvlakte 2 will become a key port for the future of trade in Europe.

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