Climate change is creating alterations and increasing risks to both nature and our built environment. One of the most evident risks is sea level rise. We need to reconsider the way we have been preparing cities to face the climate change related issues. The hard infrastructure that has been used in the past to deal with these issues requires high investment and has very limited adaptive capacity. Instead of fighting nature, we should understand better the natural processes that take place in the ecosystems and use them in our favour to become more adaptable. The use of these Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) strategies can contribute to the sustainable development of our regions. The main challenge in this discussion is to acknowledge the dimension of these ecosystems and their processes, which normally does not align with the administrative and political divisions that we have established for our territory. This issue is very apparent in the case of the Western Scheldt, the remaining open arm of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta that has to satisfy the needs of the Dutch and Belgian development. Some cross-border initiatives have already been implemented in the region, the most important one being the Western Scheldt Commission. This commission created an outline and long-term vision for the sustainable development of the Western Scheldt. Increasing port activity, dealing with multiple risks associated to flood and maintaining ecological qualities in this tidal estuary were defined as the main functions to be addressed. Because the systems related to these functions are interdependent, dealing with them separately can have many negative impacts. Port activity is the main driver of change in the Western Scheldt. Until recently, it has mostly developed autonomously and resulted in increasing flood risks and further deterioration of the valuable ecosystems in the region. Port development has high potential to be integrated with the other functions and will be used as the driving force for the proposal. Port development projects in the Western Scheldt will be paired with the expected local impacts in the values of safety and ecology. Each of these projects will be addressed through a multi-system approach, taking the Building with Nature (BwN) principles and exposing its potentialities. The pairs not just give way to BWN as technical solution, where systems support each other, but also, will establish pathways for beneficial governance arrangements. The new governance arrangements will respond to the site specificities and consider the following aspects: - It identifies the site-specific group of stakeholders that would have an important role in the implementation of the proposed EbA strategies. - The regional drivers are established and connected to local-scale groups that benefit from the provision of ecosystem services. This contributes to initiate and maintain the conditions of these ecosystems. - The network highlights synergies between different sectors, facilitates the exchange of interests, knowledge and perspectives and distributes responsibilities to ensure the networks robustness. These aspects of collaboration will contribute to the implementation of EbA by increasing the overall support, minimizing trade-offs, revealing additional potentialities and channelling resources efficiently. ... Read more

Governments and private and non-profit organisations from international to local levels have acknowledged the idea that more sustainable systems are required to reduce our ecological footprint (WWF, 2016, Jonkhoff, 2012). The food system is a very important aspect within our lives, socially as well as economically but it is also one of the most important causes of unsustainability. The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA), a key player within the global food sector, is also working to a more sustainable system with their focus on a circular economy. This research outlines the fact that in order to reach a more sustainable economy, there should also be an emphasis on resilience. In analyzing the region, there were several dependencies highlighted within the food system. Within the aspects of production, retail and end of life, each are dependent on a handful of controlling and dominating stakeholders as well as unsustainable and uncircular practices. Thus, there is a heavy emphasis on the food system needing to adapt and change to growing demands and trends.

This led to our research question of, How can the food system become more resilient in the AMA to promote a sustainable circular economy? In our research, scenario planning and weather mapping were used to showcase and locate feasible opportunities for our goals and strategies within the AMA. The primary strategies to create resiliency within the food system were to decentralize, diversify and connect aspects related to various urban and agri-food trends. This project envisions a decentralized system that contains a dense network of diverse and independent stakeholders with localized sustainable projects. There is also an emphasis on creating smaller and shorter connections within the chain.This includes incorporating and empowering various smaller stakeholders and actors with positive incentives but also restricting dominating stakeholders with policies and regulations. In addition, through the creation of more transparency through integrated and multiscaled design solutions, this will increase awareness and promote healthy and sustainable practices within the system. Food island encourages a thriving circular economy that is resilient and thus more sustainable.
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