Texel inlet dynamics and shoreline management

Abstract

Texel Inlet represents a case study in Dutch coastal management. The imperative to
protect the Dutch coast from flooding has been the central issue in coastal management
for centuries. The damming in 1932 of the Zuiderzee, a major salt water branch of the
Dutch Wadden Sea, formed a fresh water lake –the IJsselmeer – and initiated a process
of coastal sedimentary readjustment of which the Texel Inlet and adjacent coasts are
parts. However, since 1990 Dutch coastal policy is aimed at preventing structural erosion
by maintaining the Dutch coastline at the 1990 position through sand nourishments.
This objectives-based policy and associated sand nourishment strategy now ensures that
south west Texel receives a large portion of the national sand nourishment budget as it
is an erosion hotspot. In this case study, we focus on the evolution of integrated flood
risk management at Texel Island, showing how scientific insights into coastal dynamics
have influenced coastal policy in the past (section 2.4), and how recent advancements in knowledge on the natural dynamics of the system (section 2.3) and on the importance
of stakeholder involvement in environmental management, may play a role in a potential
adaptation of the policy (section 2.5). In essence, the Texel Inlet case study highlights how
a single issue – flood risk management – can dominate in determining the objectives for
coastal management, and highlights the role that new scientific insights can potentially
play in influencing coastal management into the future.