This paper evaluates long-term climate change adaptation strategies in the Netherlands and Bangladesh using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Principles of Good Water Governance. Deltas face complex challenges, and adequate long-term planning is essential for these regions. However, experience with these long-term planning efforts and linkages with theoretical frameworks on water-related policy and strategy development remain limited. Both countries politically approved significant investment portfolios for a durable adaptive strategy. This paper highlights the similarities and differences in the resulting strategies. Using the learning assessment methodology, we propose to add risk-based approaches and long-term strategic perspectives as additional OECD Principles in the conclusion. ... Read more

How can the Netherlands adapt to sea level rise on the long term: maintain, advance or retreat? This article compares the results of seven plans and designs from a diverse group of scholars and professionals that offer very different answers to this question. This diversity broadens the options, which is vital in this stage. Both problem solving and design approaches are shown to be worthwhile, when grounded in coastal, landscape, and ecological dynamics as well as visions of the Netherlands in the far future. ... Read more

Adaptive plans aim to anticipate uncertain future changes by combining low-regret short-term actions with long-term options to adapt, if necessary. Monitoring and timely detection of relevant changes, and critical transitions or tipping points is crucial to ensure successful and timely implementation and reassessment of the plan. Although efforts have been made to identify signposts to monitor, the question remains how to design a signal monitoring system that detects and anticipates (future) change to support adaptive planning. For example, to support water related infrastructure investments under uncertain climate change. What are good signposts to monitor and how to wisely analyse them to get timely and reliable signals for adaptation? In this paper, we present a framework for designing and using a monitoring plan as part of the Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways (DAPP) approach for decision making under uncertainty. We use the following criteria to evaluate signposts and their critical signal values: measurability, timeliness, reliability, convincibility and institutional connectivity. We illustrate the approach based on the signal monitoring system for the adaptive plan developed by the Delta Programme in the Netherlands. ... Read more