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Developments in the delta
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knowledge relating to soil and the subsurface to
a higher level.
When large sections of the ice sheets around
Antarctica disintegrated in a few weeks time in
2015, people began to worry that sea-level rise
would be much faster than had been assumed
previously. A rise of six metres, even over a
period of decades or centuries, was thought to
be realistic and a major threat to low-lying
urban deltas. Approximately 40% of the global
population was living in these areas. So
measures to mitigate the impact of climate
change and to safeguard healthy living condi-
tions with adequate supplies of fresh water
became a matter of urgency. Investments were
diverted to some extent from extracting fossil
fuels in challenging locations and increasingly
into the development and use of renewable
energy sources. In the World Economic Forum’s
report for that year, the water crisis and
adaptation to a changing climate were
described as the major challenges facing the
planet.
A number of matters became clear. The main
one was that, after numerous studies looking at
the consequences, it was time to shift the focus
to identifying solutions. It was realised that
rapid sea-level rise in combination with land
subsidence would make it difficult or impossible
to protect the planet’s main deltas with the
resources currently in use. It was time to look at
whether more organic, self-adapting systems
could provide solutions that could remedy the
increasing vulnerability to flooding. In the
Netherlands, people were already experimenting
with systems of this kind, for example in the
Delta Programme. Furthermore, there was an
awareness that the threat to deltas was not just
a water problem but also a problem involving
land subsidence and sediment shortages.
In the Netherlands, more crops were developed
that could cope with salt and drought, boosting
agricultural productivity. The precise monitoring
of soil and groundwater, and accurate seasonal
forecasts, helped to improve crop yields further.
Deltares Strategic Plan
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