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Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Risk Reduction: North Sea Region, Flat Coasts and Estuaries

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SDGs in the European Region

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Abstract

Sea level rise is globally affecting coastal zones, including the resulting severe flooding risks. Along the southern European North Sea, the densely populated flat coasts and estuaries are prone to land subsidence after glacier retreat resulting in additional vulnerability. The exposure to flooding risks is projected to increase by at least one order of magnitude by 2100 in ongoing climate change. Adaptation like accommodation, advance and managed retreat, grey infrastructure, and nature-based solutions are required as mitigation options. Conventional grey infrastructure protection works, such as dams and dikes, are increasingly challenged since they prevent landward sedimentation and even intensify flooding due to subsidence of the hinterland in addition to their continual and costly maintenance needs. According to the IPCC report 2022, Nature-based solutions (NbS) can mediate some of the limitations of the grey infrastructure. In this chapter, the necessity to adapt to sea level rise along densely populated flat coasts and estuaries in the North Sea Region (NSR) is introduced. Afterwards, the diversity of coasts and estuaries in the NSR, general challenges to tackle with during the last decades and particular challenges in flood control will be described. Based on recent research publications, condensed knowledge on NbS for flood control in flat coasts and estuaries in the North Sea region are presented. Intertidal ecosystems like mussel and oyster reefs and seagrass meadows cause current reduction and reduce coastal erosion by facilitating ecosystems located higher in the intertidal and may serve as NbS for flood control. Along the southern North Sea flat coast and estuaries, salt marsh plants and willows form habitats high in the intertidal, which were recently found to attenuate waves even under storm surge conditions. Current and erosion reduction capacity of bivalve reefs, dunes systems, and other biota and the wave-attenuation capacity of salt marshes and floodplain willow forests suggest coastal habitats services in flood risk reduction and simultaneously biodiversity benefits. To conclude, adapted to local conditions, the presented habitats should be conserved and restored as NbS for flooding risk reduction along flat coasts and estuaries the southern North Sea Region.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks Michelle Lynn Crawford and Christian Michalczyk for comments on the manuscript and Michelle Lynn Crawford for proof reading as a native speaker. The author also thanks the editor team for comments, which helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Estuarine and Delta Systems, and Utrecht University, Yerseke, The Netherlands

    Heike Markus-Michalczyk

  2. Science Department, University College Roosevelt, Middelburg, The Netherlands

    Heike Markus-Michalczyk

Authors
  1. Heike Markus-Michalczyk
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Correspondence to Heike Markus-Michalczyk .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. UFP Energy, Environment and Health Research Unit (FP-ENAS), University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto, Portugal

    Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis

  3. University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Sara Moggi

  4. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Elizabeth Price

  5. Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Alex Hope

Section Editor information

  1. Industrial Engineering and Management, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Ulla A. Saari

  2. Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

    Ulla A. Saari

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Markus-Michalczyk, H. (2023). Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Risk Reduction: North Sea Region, Flat Coasts and Estuaries. In: Leal Filho, W., Dinis, M.A.P., Moggi, S., Price, E., Hope, A. (eds) SDGs in the European Region . Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91261-1_94-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91261-1_94-1

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