Adaptation in the Netherlands

1
Adaptation in the Netherlands

• Bas Clabbers
• Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
• the Netherlands

2
Adaptation strategy

• No specific adaptation strategy or policy plan ?
  integrated in other policy areas
• Sector specific vulnerability assessments (most
  common in water sector)
• Adaptation policies most strongly developed in
  water sector (both planning and implementation)

3
The Netherlands

• Around 50 of the country lies below sea level
  and it lies on the delta of three rivers (Rhine,
  Maas or Meuse and Schelde)
• Lowest point Zuidplaspolder 7 m.
• Highest point Vaalserberg 322 m.

4
Floods in January 1996
5
Flooding caused by extreme drought (August 2004)
6
Resulting in
7
Adaptation strategy (continued)

• Research dominates policy agenda in other sectors
  (e.g. spatial planning, agriculture, nature)
• Costs of adaptation are largely unknown and not
  budgeted for

8
Hurdles

• Uncertainties of impacts of climate change
• National policy versus local/regional
  implementation
• Transboundary measures are sometimes needed
• Climate change is only one of the influences on
  different policy areas
• Mid-term focus of most policy areas versus long
  term impacts
• The climate changes gradually

9
Concluding remarks

• An overall national adaptation strategy may not
  be needed
• Hurdles in national adaptation strategies might
  be even bigger in an international strategy or
  instrument
• Joint research and sharing experiences on methods
  and tools might be useful