Vulnerable to Flooding?Nature Development and 'Room for the River': A Governance Perspective

摘要

The Netherlands is vulnerable to flooding by the sea and major European rivers. Climate change, socio-economic developments in low-lying areas and continuing land subsidence have significantly increased the risk of flooding. Real problems are expected to arise if the sea level rises to such an extent that river water can no longer discharge into sea, leading to safety risks in large areas of the country. The flood protection policies for the rivers being developed by the Dutch government have recently shown a shift from building ever higher and stronger dikes towards nature development (habitat creation and repair) and giving rivers more space (the Room for the River programme), since a more natural river system is regarded as the best protection against climate change. The implementation of this major transformation in the area along and between the major Dutch rivers requires many different public authorities and private stakeholders to cooperate in such a way that their different values, beliefs, needs and interests merge into coordinated action. Attempts to realize the high policy ambitions for the area along the rivers have led to a regional, multi-stakeholder initiative. The underlying philosophy of this approach is governance, that is, coordinated action by actors representing the government, the business community and civil society to cope with complex societal problems. A Dutch project in the river basin of the Rhine –called Gelderse Poort– is used here as a case study to show what governance with respect to climate adaptation policies might mean in practice. The chapter also shows the impact of unexpected events such as extremely high water levels in rivers on ongoing planning and policy processes.