Abstract
This contribution presents case studies of nine Dutch municipalities. Interview-based data show that the drivers of local climate adaptation in these cases are determined more by local contextual factors than by past experience with flooding or an expected increase of climate change risk. The presence of larger institutional capacity did not prove to be determinative of the level of action in climate change adaptation policies. Only in urban cases where a green party administrator was responsible for environmental affairs was a high level of ‘adaptation action’ observed. Another mediating factor appeared to be the variation in quality of climate change information.
An extended version of this text is published as Van den Berg MM, Lafferty WM, Coenen FHJM (2010) Adaptation to climate change induced flooding in Dutch municipalities. In: Martens P, Chang P (eds) The social and behavioural aspects of climate change: linking vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation. Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield, UK (2010).
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Notes
- 1.
This database can be found online at http://www.emdat.be.
- 2.
In 1953, parts of southwestern Netherlands flooded resulting in 1,800 casualties. In 1993 and 1995, the high waters threatened the river dykes in the middle of the country. During the 1995 ‘near-flooding’ event, the largest postwar evacuation in the country took place: 250,000 people (and a million livestock) were forced to move.
- 3.
These regional risk maps are available at http://www.risicokaart.nl (in Dutch only).
- 4.
The Delta Committee was appointed in 2007 by the Dutch Cabinet as the Sustainable Coastal Development Committee, with the mandate to formulate a vision on the long-term protection of the Dutch coast and its hinterland. In 2008, it presented its advice and with that the committee was adjourned.
- 5.
The current water embankments are not designed to withstand sea level rise or structurally higher water levels. In 2008, the Delta Commission therefore recommended the national government to enforce all dykes tenfold (Deltacommissie 2008).
- 6.
The agreement also mentions sustainable procurement and energy saving measures in utility buildings as examples of local action.
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van den Berg, M.M. (2011). Climate Change Adaptation in Dutch Municipalities: Risk Perception and Institutional Capacity. In: Otto-Zimmermann, K. (eds) Resilient Cities. Local Sustainability, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0785-6_27
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