NL needs long-term view, fewer permanent decisions for climate-proof spatial planning

The Netherlands really needs to adjust its spatial planning to prepare for a future of more floods, longer droughts, and an increasingly higher North Sea, according to a report by the Council for the Living Environment and Infrastructure (Rli). Turn the decision making around and first look at the long term before making decisions for the future, the Rli said, NOS reports.

For example, refrain from building permanent housing in places that will later be needed for water storage or adapt agriculture to the area’s natural water levels. That is the idea behind “water and soil-guided” decision-making, which has been the official starting point for spatial planning in the Netherlands since 2022.

“We pay lip service to this credo but don’t yet seem to realize enough what it means,” Rli chairman Jan Jaap de Graeff told the broadcaster. For example, a municipality and project developer can decide to build a new residential area, paying more attention to sustainable homes and extra greenery. But the first question should be whether this is a climate-proof location to build homes in the long term, De Graeff explained. That requires direction from the central government and considering water interests as early as possible and on the largest possible scale.

A cultural shift is needed, De Graeff said. “We have become accustomed to the complete manufacturability of this country, that we can do whatever we want and no longer have to take water management conditions into account.” Planners and politicians have paid little attention to this for a long time, and that needs to change, he said.

A big obstacle is that politicians and administrators are “afraid of undermining investor confidence,” the Rli said in its report. According to De Graeff, he “regularly” comes across the warning to not start talking about safety in the Randstad because “that only creates unrest and leads to a decline in value.” Protecting investor confidence to this extent can lead to the government avoiding unattractive dilemmas, while a broad discussion about the climate future of the Netherlands is vital, De Graeff said.

The Rli also said that more financial incentives for behavioral change are needed. Current property prices do not sufficiently reflect the costs that may be incurred in the future due to the changing climate. Land prices are much higher in the low-lying and relatively vulnerable Western Netherlands than in the drier Eastern Netherlands. But the East also does not take sufficient account of things like increasing water scarcity, which affects agriculture and drinking water supply and risks irreversible damage to nature.

The Rli advocates for a water calendar that shows until which year water safety and the availability of fresh water can be guaranteed for all kinds of existing activities. Before that year is reached, the government must inform society sufficiently so that citizens and companies can make responsible choices. The council also urged the government to reserve space in the landscape in places where dikes may be needed in the future. If the need is uncertain, focus on the temporary use of that space.

It also advised the government to follow experts’ previous advice and set up an interdisciplinary council to research whether it is wise to close the current coastline to protect the Netherlands against sea level rise. The strategy seems to offer a short-term solution but may not work in the long term if the North Sea rises higher than dikes can handle.