TY - JOUR
T1 - Between adaptability and the urge to control: making long-term water policies in the Netherlands
AU - Restemeyer, Britta
AU - van den Brink, Margo
AU - Woltjer, Johan
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Triggered by recent flood catastrophes and increasing concerns about climate change, scientists as well as policy-makers increasingly call for making long-term water policies to enable a transformation towards flood resilience. A key question is how to make these long-term policies adaptive so that they are able to deal with uncertainties and changing circumstances. The paper proposes three conditions for making long-term water policies adaptive, which are then used to evaluate a new Dutch water policy approach called 'Adaptive Delta Management'. Analysing this national policy approach and its translation to the Rotterdam region reveals that Dutch policy-makers are torn between adaptability and the urge to control. Reflecting on this dilemma, the paper suggests a stronger focus on monitoring and learning to strengthen the adaptability of long-term water policies. Moreover, increasing the adaptive capacity of society also requires a stronger engagement with local stakeholders including citizens and businesses.
AB - Triggered by recent flood catastrophes and increasing concerns about climate change, scientists as well as policy-makers increasingly call for making long-term water policies to enable a transformation towards flood resilience. A key question is how to make these long-term policies adaptive so that they are able to deal with uncertainties and changing circumstances. The paper proposes three conditions for making long-term water policies adaptive, which are then used to evaluate a new Dutch water policy approach called 'Adaptive Delta Management'. Analysing this national policy approach and its translation to the Rotterdam region reveals that Dutch policy-makers are torn between adaptability and the urge to control. Reflecting on this dilemma, the paper suggests a stronger focus on monitoring and learning to strengthen the adaptability of long-term water policies. Moreover, increasing the adaptive capacity of society also requires a stronger engagement with local stakeholders including citizens and businesses.
KW - adaptive policies
KW - strategic planning
KW - flood risk management
KW - flood resilience
KW - water management
KW - netherlands
KW - watermanagement
UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjep20
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/journal-environmental-planning-management-between-adaptability-urge-control-making-longterm-water-po
U2 - 10.1080/09640568.2016.1189403
DO - 10.1080/09640568.2016.1189403
M3 - Article
SN - 1360-0559
VL - 60
SP - 920
EP - 940
JO - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
IS - 5
ER -