BUILDING WITH NATURE: CREATING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR MARINE AND INLAND WATER CONSTRUCTIONS: NEW RESEARCH INITIATIVE TOWARDS A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

摘要

Restrictions and limitations placed upon the construction of large-scale, marine and inland water projects actually lead to missed opportunities, not only for developers, but also for society and for nature. Ports and marine construction industry suffer due to market limitations; society suffers since large-scale, marine and inland water constructions are essential for economic growth; and nature suffers when opportunities are missed for creating and restoring valuable habitats, which should in fact be seen as an integral part of the design and construction procedures for such projects. Social and political acceptance of these projects is severely delayed by environmental laws and regulations that often only attempt to restrict undesirable consequences of a project by imposing restrictive - and usually poorly justified - norms and standards. A truly integrated assessment, on the contrary, should recognise that effects on an ecosystem are dynamic in nature and can be both negative and positive. The "Building with Nature" approach presented in this paper adopts the natural environment as a starting point for project development and evaluation.Additional research is needed to better understand the dynamics and the relationships in the chain-of-effects between the project, the construction techniques and ecosystem development so that decision-making can be based on both economic and ecological benefits and costs. The major players in the Dutch dredging industry have launched an initiative to boost the research at the interface of ecology and construction in the marine and inland water environment. A consortium of industries, universities, research institutes, consultants and government bodies in the Netherlands have jointly developed an ambitious research programme.The aim of the new research programme is to identify and fill-in the gaps in knowledge that currently pose restrictions on "Building with Nature". Realisation of a paradigm shift in our appreciation of marine, coastal and inland water construction works requires scientific breakthroughs in research related to:ecosystem dynamics (i.e. resilience, recovery, regeneration, regime shifts) and habitat development in response to changes brought about by water-related constructions derivation of measurable norms and standards (both biotic and abiotic) related to desired and/or allowablechanges in an ecosystem that are also socially and politically acceptable 1. economically-viable design methods and construction techniques for water-related constructions that fulfil the norms 2. development of a governance model based on a better understanding of the motivators of various stakeholders and partnership arrangements (regional, national and international) 3. advanced monitoring strategies, data processing techniques and predictive skills.The combined five year research programme will be carried out through a "virtual" organisation by teams of researchers working together at their home institutes and at a designated research location. The resulting knowledge and experiences will be gathered in a Centre of Excellence, which can be translated and adapted to other international situations and policy frameworks and will be published in the form of Best Practices.