Coastal Hazards

This week we will be addressing coastal hazards, their effect on the Dutch coastline, and what the Netherlands plans to do to mitigate them. The most prominent coastal hazards affecting the 620 miles of the Netherland’s coast are flooding and coastal erosion This is because the Netherlands sits in the delta of the rivers Rhine, Meuse, Scheldt, and Ems along the North Sea coast. This article states that about 26% of the Netherlands’ territory is below mean sea level, which has made approximately 60% of those regions vulnerable to floods from the North Sea, rivers, and lakes. Within these flood-prone areas, 60% of the population (approx. 17 million) and regions that create 60% of the gross domestic product (approx. 800 billion EUR worth) are at risk of facing damages that the floods could bring. Additionally, according to ClimateChangePost, coastal erosion has been estimated to occur over 83 miles, spreading across half of the Dutch coast. These considerable sections of the Netherland’s coast have been eroding for centuries (at some locations resulting in a retreat of 5 km in four centuries).

As I've mentioned in previous forums and blog posts, the Netherlands maintains one of the best flood defense systems worldwide due to following exact safety standards as to protect their citizens and GDP. Their flood risk management relies on building dikes high and strong enough to prevent flooding, as well as a system of dams, seawalls, storm surge barriers, dunes, pumps, sluices, and regular beach nourishments. In 2010, due to concerns that were brought by rising sea levels and climate change, the Dutch government initiated the Delta Programme- an initiative meant to develop and adapt the land and citizens to flood mitigation efforts. Because of this program, much the Dutch delta is not natural anymore: “rivers have been embanked and most floodplains have been turned into polder systems (thus cutting off from natural sediment supply), the coastline is artificially maintained with beach nourishments, the inlets and estuaries have been closed with dams or protected by storm surge barriers, and former lakes have been drained and turned into polders, with ground surface levels up to 6 m below the mean sea level.” On top of that, there is currently a study being done by researchers from Delft University of Technology, in which they focus on coastal erosion by examining sand movements and quantifying the erosional impact of waves against the beaches’ dunes. These dune act as the Netherland’s main defense against the sea and the basis of this project’s management, but the models are yet to be validated. Hopefully, with time, the results of this study will help improve mitigation efforts against coastal erosion.

Sources

• https://www.climatechangepost.com/netherlands/coastal-floods/
• https://www.climatechangepost.com/netherlands/coastal-erosion/
• https://oceanographicmagazine.com/features/understanding-coastal-erosion-in-the-netherlands/
• https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/10/1527