Strengthening and Redesigning European Flood Risk Practices Towards Appropriate and Resilient Flood Risk Governance Arrangements Analysing and evaluating flood risk governance in the Netherlands Drowning in safety? Kaufmann, M., van Doorn-Hoekveld, W., Gilissen, H.K., and van Rijswick, M. Date: 25 September 2015 Report Number: D3.2 Milestone Number: MS3 Due date for deliverable: 30 September 2015 Actual submission date: 28 September 2015 STAR-FLOOD receives funding from the EU 7th Framework programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 308364 Document Dissemination Level PU Public Co-ordinator: Utrecht University Project Contract No: 308364 Project website: www.starflood.eu ISBN: Photos cover: Stormvloedkering, https://beeldbank.rws.nl, Rijkswaterstaat / Joop van Houdt; image of Dordrecht, http://www.preventionweb.net/applications/hfa/lgsat/en/image/href/5474 i Document information Work Package 3 Consortium body RU, UU Year 2015 Document type Deliverable 3.3 Status Final version Date 25 September 2015 Authors Kaufmann, M., Van Doorn-Hoekveld, W.J., Gilissen, H.K., Van Rijswick, H.F.M.W. Document history Date Revision Prepared by Organisation Notes 16/03/2015 V1 Authors RU, UU Discussed 24 April 2015 15/05/2015 V2 Authors RU, UU Discussed during Consortium Meeting Sweden 15/08/2015 V3 Authors RU, UU Final version to be approved by coordinator 07/09/2015 V4 Authors RU, UU Final version to be approved by EC Acknowledgement The work described in this publication was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme through the grant to the budget of the Integrated Project STAR-FLOOD, Contract 308364. Disclaimer This document reflects only the authors’ views and not those of the European Union. This work may rely on data from sources external to the STAR-FLOOD project Consortium. Members of the Consortium do not accept liability for loss or damage suffered by any third party as a result of errors or inaccuracies in such data. The information in this document is provided ‘as is’ and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at its sole risk and neither the European Union nor any member of the STAR-FLOOD Consortium is liable for any use that may be made of the information. © STAR-FLOOD Consortium. This report should be referred to as follows: Kaufmann, M., Van Doorn-Hoekveld, W.J., Gilissen, H.K., Van Rijswick, H.F.M.W. (2015), Drowning in safety. Analysing and evaluating flood risk governance in the Netherlands (report no. D3.3), STAR- FLOOD Consortium, Utrecht, The Netherlands, ISBN: 978-94-91933-11-0. ii Key words Flood risk governance; Flood risk management; Legal frameworks governing floods; The Netherlands; Discourse; Resources; Rules; Actors; Resilience; Legitimacy; Efficiency Author details Maria Kaufmann, MSc, is a PhD candidate at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Institute for Management Research, Political Science of the Environment. Willemijn van Doorn-Hoekveld, LLM, is a PhD candidate at the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance (REBO) of Utrecht University. Dr. Herman Kasper Gilissen, LLM, is a post-doctoral researcher at the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance (REBO) of Utrecht University. Prof. dr. Marleen van Rijswick, LLM, is Professor of European and national water law and director of the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance (REBO) of Utrecht University. Acknowledgements The authors thank the valuable feedback of Dr. Mark Wiering and Dr. Duncan Liefferink during the conduction of the research, as well as Julian Kevelam for his valuable contribution to the case study Dordrecht. They also thank Jos van Alphen for his valuable comments on an earlier version of this report. iii Preface This report is a deliverable of the EU 7th Framework Project STAR-FLOOD (www.starflood.eu). STAR- FLOOD focuses on Flood Risk Governance. The project investigates strategies for dealing with flood risks in 18 vulnerable urban regions in six European countries: England in the UK, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. The project assesses Flood Risk Governance Arrangements from a combined public administration and legal perspective, with the aim of making European regions more resilient to flood risks. This report constitutes deliverable D3.2, a country report on the Netherlands. Work Package 1 provided an extended problem analysis related to Flood Risk Governance in Europe. Work Package 2 focused on how Flood Risk Governance in Europe can be researched. Work Package 3 forms the empirical core of the project, in which analyses, explanations and evaluations of each country, including three case studies, have been performed. The Netherlands has a long tradition of flood risk management, due to its special physical location in the delta of four major river systems. This low-lying country is historically characterised by a ‘fight against water’. The Flood Risk Governance Arrangement of the Netherlands is characterised by a strong focus on reducing flood probability and governmental responsibility. A key characteristic is the statutory right to flood protection from the state. The arrangement of actors, rules, resources and discourses is focused on probability-reduction by administrative organisations. Nevertheless, in recent years a number of changes towards a broader number of Flood Risk Management Strategies (FRMSs) can be observed and different modes of governance are starting to emerge. This report provides insights into the ways in which flood risk governance is changing in the Netherlands, as well as into the extent to which the system enables or constrains societal resilience to flooding. The six country reports, including case studies, of WP3, together with D3.1, the report on the case study workshops in each country, form the main input for the last two Work Packages of STAR- FLOOD, being WP4 and WP5. WP4 focuses on a systematic comparison between the STAR-FLOOD consortium countries; WP5 focuses on the identification of design principles for appropriate and resilient Flood Risk Governance. We trust that the current report is of interest for a broad readership with an interest in Flood Risk Management and Governance. The content of this report may inspire researchers and professionals with an interest in social scientific and legal research into flood risk management, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Dr. Ann Crabbé Prof. Peter Driessen Leader of WP3 STAR-FLOOD Project Coordinator Maria Kaufmann, MSc Willemijn van Doorn Hoekveld, LLM Dr. Herman Kasper Gilissen, LLM Prof. dr. Marleen van Rijswick, LLM Authors iv v Overview of key findings 1. Main characteristics of flood risks in the Netherlands Flood risk management (FRM) in the Netherlands has a long standing history. The country is famous for its flood defence strategy that reduces the probability of flooding. Recently, more attention has been paid to implementing a broader range of strategies to manage the consequences of flooding (see §2.3.1). Flood risk will increase in the future. 59% of the Netherlands is susceptible to flooding including the 26% of the land situated below sea level. 55% of the country is protected by embankments or dunes, which leaves 4% unprotected. In particular, the economically valuable western part of the country is prone to flooding from the sea and the rivers. Flood risk will most likely increase in the future, due to climate change and soil subsidence. The consequences of potential flooding will also increase, due to the projected increase of socio-economic development in flood-prone areas. Furthermore, the probability of flooding is projected to increase due to the impact of climate change in the form of increased precipitation, rising sea levels and increase in river discharges (see §2.2) High prioritization of flood risk. The flood risk situation in the Netherlands can be characterised as a low probability, but high impact situation. It is traditionally the responsibility of functionally decentralised and specialised water management authorities, so that flood management is relatively independent of political whims. Flood risk is also the predominant focus of the national climate change adaptation programme, the so-called Delta Programme (see chapter 5). 2. Main characteristics of flood risk governance arrangements All strategies are present; strong focus on flood defence. The flood defence strategy with probability-reducing measures, such as the construction and maintenance of dikes and dunes (dike rings), storm surge barriers and water storage locations, is historically predominant. In the last 20 years, also consequence-reducing strategies have become more popular, even though they are mostly applied in exceptional cases where the flood defence approach is not efficient or feasible (the case studies in §2.3, §2.4, and §2.5, are an illustration hereof). Five Flood Risk Governance Arrangements (FRGAs) can be identified: Water System Management, Spatial Planning, Emergency Management, Urban Water Management and Compensation. The water system governance arrangement is the most institutionalised and hegemonic. It includes the flood defence strategy and is characterised by governmental accountability, legal safety standards for dikes, specialised regional and national water authorities with detailed knowledge and,