Mitigating and Adapting Agriculture of Coastal Areas in the Netherlands Wadden Sea Region to Increasing Salinization

Abstract

The deltaic Wadden region in the Netherlands has a long tradition of water management, agriculture, and flood protection by dikes. Starting from the twelfth century AD, shallow estuaries were diked, resulting in steadily increasing areas suitable for highly productive agriculture. Through time, the diked areas have started to subside, creating challenges for water management. With respect to agriculture, problems of the salinization of top soils have started to cause impacts, exacerbated by climate change like more extreme droughts. This chapter charts a way forward for agriculture, to discover viable agricultural models for a future environment with increasing salinization and reducing availability of freshwater. The approach consists of analysis of the present situation, formulating a shared paradigm and vision, introducing a coherent process of stimulating innovations, and defining projects as building blocks for a program that will help to implement the required transition to climate robust and salinization-proof agriculture.