Over time, three storylines emerged around the idea of adaptation: (1) a water accommodation storyline, (2) a climate proof storyline and (3) a safe delta storyline. These storylines are elaborated below. Table 3.2 presents an overview of the policy documents that are discussed in this section.
3.4.1 The water accommodation storyline
Dutch water managers embraced the adaptation concept in the beginning of the twenty-first century. In the preceding period, attention for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) had been on the rise since the mid- 1980s (Mostert, 2006; Wesselink, 2007). Following large-scale flooding events in the 1990s2, questions arose in the governmental and academic discourse as to whether traditional technological interventions would be sufficient to cope with future impacts (Voogd, 2006). The water management discourse then became more holistic and collectively addressed the increasingly manifesting complex and interdependent problems of climate change impacts, increasing urbanisation and soil subsidence (UvW, 2002). The new water governance approach covering both IWRM and water-related adaptation was formally introduced in a national position paper in 2000 (Min. V&W, 2000). It stated that a new approach of proactive (e.g. adaptive) governance was preferred over the traditional reactive response.
The emphasis on anticipating future developments included the principle of ‘accommodating water’, which soon became the general storyline in the wa- ter management discourse (Wiering & Immink, 2006)3. Inextricably bound to
2
In 1995, 250,000 people and even more livestock had to be evacuated from the Riv- ierengebied (‘Rivers Area’) when water levels of the Rhine and Meuse rivers rapidly rose threatening the dykes of the area.
3
Many activities for the EU Water Framework Directive correspond to the new water 62
3.4 Storylines on adaptation in the Dutch context
Table 3.2 Overview of policy documents presented
Period Name Contents Author/participanta
2000 Water Policy for the 21st century
Position paper on water accommodating policy including IWRM and adaptation
Ministry V&W 2003 National
Agreement on Water
Agreement to jointly prepare the water system for the 21st century including adaptation
Ministry V&W, provinces (IPO), municipalities (VNG), water boards (UvW) 2007 Updated
National Agreement on Water
Implementation plan of the previous National Agreement on Water
Ministry V&W, provinces (IPO), municipalities (VNG), water boards (UvW) 2009 National
Water Plan
This national policy plan (2009-2015) describes measures to keep the country safe from flood risk, to have sufficient and clean water in the future and to make use of the (economic) water related
opportunities. It includes River Basin Management Plans as required by the European Water Framework Directive
Ministry VROM, Ministry V&W, Ministry LNV 2007 Make Space for Climate! National Adaptation Strategy
This national strategy targets to climate proof the country. In the long term, the aim is to embed adaptation in awareness, policy and regulation. In the short term, the aim is to initiate an impulse for climate adaptation measures
Ministry VROM, Ministry V&W, Ministry LNV, Ministry EZ, provinces (IPO), municipalities (VNG), water boards (UvW) 2007 Climate
Agreement State- municipalities
Joint agreement on measures to prepare for climate change impacts. It includes inventorying local ‘hooks’ for adaptation
State, municipalities (VNG)
2009 Delta programme
This programme aims to protect the Netherlands against flooding and to ensure supplies of freshwater in the future. Areas related to the plan include the environment and the economy, nature, agriculture and recreation.
Implementation of the programme is directed by the Delta Commissioner whose position is anchored in the Delta Act
Ministry V&W, Ministry LNV, Ministry VROM
a
Chapter 3 Translating the global climate change discourse to the local
the new approach, adaptation was quickly integrated into the discourse. The storyline interprets climate change in general as increasing extremes in precip- itation that result in enlarging (local) flooding risks. Hence, ‘solutions’ include measures for water storage and adjusted discharge capacity. It is emphasised that measures should be integrated in terms of the parties involved, its geo- graphical scope and mutual connections. However, the water accommodation story restricts its appeal to the major water authorities.
The storyline was brought into practice in water policies drawn up in the early years of the twenty-first century. In 2003, a governmental agreement was reached between the national, regional and local authorities on the new ambitions in water management (see Table 3.2). Aspiring to meet various complex water questions, it was agreed that the entire Dutch water system should be ‘in good order’ by 2015 in terms of water safety, water shortages and water quality - and that it is kept at that status from then on. The agreement was updated by 2006 to include a practical approach and it was agreed that the new approach would be incorporated into existing policies, such as the urban local zoning plan and regional planning. The first National Water Plan in 2009 formalised the previously agreed arrangements (Min. V&W, 2009).
The new national water strategy has considerable local effects as it pre- scribes that municipalities carry out the ‘municipal water task’, which is the obligation for municipalities to adjust their urban water system so it can cope with future climatic changes. This implies technical measures such as addi- tional water storage, smart discharging, and decoupling rainwater discharge from the sewer system. In order to reach their goals, all governmental layers agreed to use their respective powers - and to finance the measures themselves (Min. V&W, 2009).
3.4.2 The climate proof storyline
Global climate negotiations provide a framework for the development of na- tional adaptation policies. Adaptation has increasingly gained international attention since 2001 (Schipper, 2006). At the Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the UNFCCC in 2002, adaptation was stated as being of high priority to all countries (Adger et al., 2005). In addition, at the latest CoP, in 2011, it was decided that ‘planning for adaptation at the national level is a contin- uous, progressive and iterative process, the implementation of which should be based on nationally identified priorities, including those reflected in the relevant national documents’ (UNFCCC, 2011, p. 80).
governance approach, e.g. aiming at sufficient supply of high quality surface water and groundwater as needed for sustainable water use (EC, 2000).
3.4 Storylines on adaptation in the Dutch context
For the Netherlands, it was not until 20064 that adaptation was given broader policy attention outside of the water governance discourse discussed above. Inspired by a senator’s appeal in 2005, the country’s first long-term vi- sion on spatial planning was developed that would also include climate change impacts. As a result of multiple government efforts, a National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) was drawn up in 2007 by four ministries and the regional and local governments. The new storyline strongly relates adaptation to spatial planning and covers the country as a whole (Min. VROM, 2007b). The climate proof storyline has a much broader view on climate change and adaptation than the water accommodation storyline has. Climate change is interpreted in terms of scenarios including a wide variety of climatic and weather changes. This is directly linked to societal impacts regarding safety, the environment, biodiversity and the economy. Solutions are sought in the direction of spa- tial measures, together with societal and governmental efforts. The storyline aims for spatial adaptation that would result in the ‘climate-proofing’ of the Netherlands. In order to reach this goal, all levels of government are expected to contribute.
The relevance of the local level was formalised in a ‘hotspot’ approach. This approach identifies geographical areas of relative high vulnerability and analyses these locations in the two leading national research programmes on climate change (Climate Changes Spatial Planning from 2004-2011, followed by Knowledge for Climate from 2007-2012). While the first programme re- searched adaptation options for three local sites, the second programme turned the hotspot approach into its backbone and has been investigating eight re- gional and local hotspot areas. Acting as ‘experimental gardens’ for the appli- cation of adaptation in particular geographic conditions, the hotspots acted as bottom-up studies on areas with particular geographic, economic or natural conditions.
Despite its elaborated scope and options for responding, progress on the NAS was impeded due to political competition over the adaptation issue be- tween the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (Biesbroek et al., 2010). As a result, the climate proof storyline was soon ‘taken over’ by a new storyline as expressed in the Delta programme.
4Prior to this, climate change research has been facilitated in the Climate Changes Spatial
Planning (2004-2011) research programme ‘feeding’ policy making for the NAS. This pro- gramme was supported by the Dutch Government from the Economic Structure Enhancing Fund (FES).
Chapter 3 Translating the global climate change discourse to the local
3.4.3 The safe delta storyline
Initiated by one of the leading water management authorities, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management presented the Delta pro- gramme in 2010. This extensive national adaptation programme represents the third storyline, namely that of ‘the safe delta’. It associates climate change with natural hazards such as the North Sea flood of 1953 that took 1,800 lives. The storyline argues that the hazardous impacts of climate change, particularly increasing flooding risks and shortages of freshwater provisions, require drastic measures to prevent disasters in the future. Flood protection, interpreted as being of vital importance in the safe delta storyline, is one of the key ‘solutions’ to keep the Netherlands safe for future generations (Min. V&W, 2010). Compared to the previous storylines that emphasised the need for multi-governmental efforts, the national government has now taken the lead in directing the adaptation process. Framing adaptation as a national priority in terms of flood protection legitimises a strong role of the national government.
Some of the climate proof storyline still remains in the safe delta story- line, as spatial planning is the subject of one of the sub-programmes, ‘New construction and restructuring’. This sub-programme “explores how spatial measures can contribute to limiting the consequences from flooding, extreme rain, a longer period of drought and extreme heat” (own translation, taken from Delta Commissioner, n.d.). The programme, run by the relatively new Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, is currently preparing tools for regional and local planners to improve the consideration of adaptation in new projects that involve restructuring the build-up environment. Given the recent emergence of the safe delta storyline, a full analysis of the discourse surrounding it is not yet possible and only preliminary results can be used in the remainder of this chapter.