Strategies to decrease water shortage in South-East Brabant: A groundwater model case-study

The Netherlands has suffered form three successive dry summers resulting in a lowering of the groundwater table, causing water shortage. Also in the area of Water BoardDe Dommel, locatedwithin the province of Brabant, water shortage is a common problem. This results in water abstraction restrictions for farmers in the crop season every year....

Viability of the Dutch Inland Waterway Transport Sector: In The Context Of The Future Navigability Of The Rhine

At the UN conference of 2015, the promotion of inland waterway transport (IWT) was named as a Sustainable Development Goal by the United Nations. While IWT has been identified to make goods transport more CO2- efficient, the long-term viability of the Dutch IWT sector is at risk.<br/><br/>Currently, Dutch IWT businesses benefit from increased...

Adaptive design of flood defence systems: Incorporating adaptive design methods to cope with sea level rise uncertainty in a system-to-structure approach in the Rhine-Meuse estuary

Climate change is increasingly becoming more impactful on our society. Recent events such as the extreme rainfall in the summer of 2021 in Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands and hurricane Ida in Mississippi (USA), caused severe floodings and damages in these areas. Climate change, in turn, leads to an increase in sea level rise, making flood...

Hydraulic Modelling of the Irrigation System of Medieval Basrah

Ancient Basrah has been the center of anthropological research studies due to its significance in the development of the culture, politics and economics of the region at the time. Agriculture was one of the main income revenues for ancient Basrah even though it received only an average of 60mm of rainfall per year, indicating a large reliance on...

Northern European Enclosure Dam: Success and failure factors for a very radical innovation

It is becoming increasingly clear that the current climate policy is not beneficial to our planet. Climate change is having several negative effects on the planetary environment and its health (Rig- not et al., 2011). Among these negative effects is the rise of the seawater level (Jevrejeva et al., 2014). Efforts are being made to counter this...

Governance of Adaptive Delta Management in the Netherlands: Exploring how the institutional and instrumental governance of ADM in the Netherlands enhance adaptation to sea-level rise

In 2011, Adaptive Delta Management (ADM) was introduced in the Dutch Delta Program as a policy development method to incorporate uncertainty in decision making transparently. Currently, little is known over the functioning of ADM in practice, while this is determining its success. The study explores the application of ADM in Dutch practice....

Low polders and high waters: Dealing with uncertainties of climate change in future polder management

It is no secret that the climate is changing, however, the severity and speed of this process is under debate. This leads to the question if and when we need to take action to protect the Netherlands against the effects of climate change. In order to deal with the uncertainties in policy- and decision-making, an adaptive approach is desirable....

Finding a balance between meaningful and useful participation by improving information provision: Assessing the effectiveness of information provision approaches in participatory value evaluation on empowering participants to give informed input on urban climate adaptation projects

Participatory Value Evaluation (PVE) is a webtool-based participation method that is used to increase participation by others than the usual suspects. In PVE, respondents are asked to allocate a budget or points to a portfolio of projects that reflect real policy options, therewith evaluating the projects by stating their preferences. However,...

Drought indicators in The Netherlands: a case study to support anticipative drought management

In 2018 The Netherlands experienced the most severe drought since 1976. In response to this, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management established the 'Beleidstafel Droogte'. An external scientific committee took part in the Beleidstafel Droogte. One of their key recommendations was to introduce other drought indicators since the...

Exploring the impact of coastal development on the societal and ecological system using a stakeholder framework: An application to Voorne

Throughout human history deltas attract people and all other sorts of life. Inherent to this increase of delta life is the growth in conflicting values and interests. Coastal systems are not only natural systems, but can also be regarded as societal and ecological systems. Development of the coastal system inevitably leads to changes in these...

The barriers a design and consultancy company encounters in its efforts to create climate-proof cities: So close, yet so far?

Identify the barriers within Arcadis by evaluating internal approaches, knowledge and differences in domains to increase the action perspective in the approach of climate-proof cities. The data was collected by performing 24 interviews and this was analysed and structured using the PRIMO-chain model.

The application of the FAO WaPOR data portal to monitor efficient water use in agriculture: A case study on the Eastern Nile River Basin

Water scarcity has been a growing problem for many places around the world as water usage has been increasing with double the rate of population growth in the twentieth century. As agriculture accounts for 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, fresh water availability will thus face even greater stress (World Bank, 2013). Sustainable...

Aquifer Storage & Recovery (ASR) system improvement in northern Ghana

The northern Ghana climatological conditions are favourable for agricultural production. The annual average precipitation of 800-1250 mm/y is theoretically sufficient for farmers to be year-round self-sufficient. However, the majority of precipitation falls in a 4-month wet season spanning from late May to October. As a consequence, the region...

Prototype low cost acoustic automatic online water level sensor made from off the shelf components

Water level data is a key factor in water systems research. Frequently measuring water levels in areas with tidal influence is especially desirable because it enables observations to follow the rise and fall between minimum and maximum water level. However, a majority of developing countries are not able to measure water levels at the desired...

Seasonal key point based crop prediction; an evaluation of spring wheat in North Dakota and the Canadian prairie, and cocoa in Ivory Coast: A pilot study linking precipitation to price changes

The main objective for the research is the development of a comprehensive and easily accessible method assessing the price changes of wheat and cocoa by predicting change in wheat and cocoa production using season key point in the growing season of wheat and cocoa and open precipitation data from ground based weather stations only. The found...