Abstract
Faced with the risk of submersion and erosion along their coastlines, both France and the Netherlands have long relied on the introduction of ‘hard’ protection measures to tackle sea level rise. However, this approach has gradually begun to be reconsidered due to the adverse side-effects and decreased effectiveness that such protection measures may have in light of the increasingly significant impact of climate change on shorelines. New policy instruments such as nature-based solutions (NBSs) need to be found, but a lack of funding, resistance from local actors, and high population densities often impede the implementation of these instruments. While path-dependent solutions tend to be favoured in the short-term, more radical solutions such as managed retreat could prove necessary in the long run.
Zusammenfassung
Angesichts des Risikos von Überflutungen und Erosion an ihren Küstenlinien haben sowohl Frankreich als auch die Niederlande lange auf „harte“ Schutzmaßnahmen gesetzt, um dem Meeresspiegelanstieg zu begegnen. Dieser Ansatz wird allmählich überdacht und natürlichen Klimaschutzlösungen (Nature-based solutions, NBS) mehr Beachtung geschenkt. Die Anpassung an den Klimawandel in Küstengebieten erfordert indessen einen Multi-Level Governance-Ansatz, da lokale Akteure allein nicht in der Lage sind, die sich stellenden rechtlichen, finanziellen und ökologischen Probleme zu bewältigen. Dieser Aufsatz bietet eine vergleichende Perspektive auf die Erneuerung des Ansatzes zur Anpassung an Überflutungs- und Erosionsrisiken in Küstengebieten in den Niederlanden und in Frankreich und hebt die damit verbundenen Governance-Herausforderungen hervor. Während beide Länder zu einer adaptiven Strategie übergegangen sind argumentiert dieser Aufsatz, dass die jeweiligen Initiativen eine Reihe von Fragen offenlassen und dass, was die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die Küstenlinien betrifft, nach wie vor eine Form von Verleugnung fortbesteht.
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Notes
Interviews were conducted with local officials in September 2022.
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Lepesant, G. Between hard protection measures, nature-based solutions, and managed retreat: Adapting coastal areas to sea level rise in the Netherlands and France. Z Vgl Polit Wiss (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-024-00591-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-024-00591-1