DOSSIER BUILDING WITH NATURE
ORGANISE THE
ADMINISTRATIVE
PROCESS
Eco-engineering is a dynamic and flexible
concept in which development is predictable
but never entirely certain. Eco-engineering
requires constant monitoring and agreements
about how to manage this information, and
who should take what action, and when.
Management has to be organised differently
than it would be for hard infrastructure.
Managers are embracing ‘building with nature’. Improving flood protection in combination
with the preservation or restoration of ecological values fits in with the trend of increased
sustainability in the habitat. But policy declarations have not always been enough to get
eco-engineering off the ground. Three suggestions for transforming good intentions into
tangible results.
‘
Building with nature’ means
combining flood protection
with the preservation or
restoration of ecological
values. Nature and flood
protection are two different
policy areas that are housed
with different administrative
institutions. That means
that they are managed by
different people, with their
own policy objectives and
separate sources of funding.
To get eco-engineering off
the ground successfully, the
managers of the various
policy fields will have to get
together and implement
joint action. Devising
projects that serve multiple
goals - protection and nature
-
is useful in that respect,
bringing together regulatory
institutions, linking
separate flows of funding
and therefore facilitating
decision-making.
Flood protection is often designed
by engineers, who have adopted
traditional, hard infrastructure
as the guiding principle for many
years. If eco-engineering is to
succeed, ecologists must be
involved in the design process.
They are familiar with the
ecosystem and can, depending
on the local situation, identify
opportunities.
Ecological expertise is also
important in the decision-making
process. Standards are already
in place for traditional hydraulic
infrastructure. Eco-engineering is
a relatively new concept, and so
levels of robustness and efficacy
are more difficult to assess.
Ecologists can contribute to the
required expertise, and this can
enhance levels of support.
WHAT IS THE DELTARES ROLE?
Eco-engineering requires a different approach
to governance than traditional hydraulic
infrastructure. Deltares identifies the
technological and ecological expertise required
during the governance process to make
success more probable in both the design and
the management phases. Deltares has acted
as a consultant on projects in, for example, the
Netherlands, Europe and Singapore. For more
information:
stephanie.janssen@deltares.nl
FURTHER
A CULTURAL
TRANSFORMATION
COMBINE
TECHNOLOGICAL
AND ECOLOGICAL
EXPERTISE
FROM AMBITION
TO PRACTICAL
EXECUTION:
THREE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MANAGERS
12