Coastal Defense Strategies in the Wadden Sea Region: Coping with Climate Change

Abstract

Recent floods such as the one in New Orleans (2005), the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and extreme weather events all influence the way people perceive the problem of climate change and the necessity for action. We analyzed the coastal defense policy in three Wadden Sea countries, The Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. We looked at policy development in relationship to the anticipated climate change. We combined literature research on legislation and management with interviews of 11 decision makers in the areas of coastal defense and land-use planning policy. We found that coastal defense policy relies mainly on dikes and sand nourishments in the current defense strategy. In anticipation of climate change, some efforts are being made to develop alternative solutions. Land-use planning is involved in flood defense to a limited extent only. As long as budgets and technical solutions can keep the Wadden Sea region safe from major flood disasters, we found it unlikely that any fundamental policy shift will occur. There are, however, initiatives for improved management solutions.