Institutions for Climate Adaptation: An Inventory of Institutions in the Netherlands that are Relevant for Climate Change

One of the goals of project IC12, a research project of the Climate changes Spatial Planning programme, is to assess if the formal institutions operating in the Netherlands are improving or hampering adaptive capacity. In order to answer the research question, the most important documents referring to those institutions need to be evaluated. This document presents an initial inventory of these adaptation institutions – i.e. policy plans, laws and directives, reports and other documents that seemed relevant to the question at hand

Institutional governance barriers for the development and implementation of climate adaptation strategies

Abstract In this paper we summarise the main social barriers to adaptation presented in climate literature – the inherent uncertainty of climate change, fragmentation, institutional voids, short term horizon of politicians and policies, and the motives and willingness to start adapting. We have linked these topics to theories in public administration to explore if there is interesting overlap that could be beneficial for our understanding of institutional governance barriers for developing and implementing adaptation strategies. We conclude that there are strong interdependencies between what has been signalled in adaptation literature as barriers to adaptation and what has been theorised in public administration literature. However, barriers in the development of adaptation have been hardly discussed in climate adaptation literature. Therefore we argue that in order to understand factors that stagnate the development and implementation of adaptation policy strategies, existing theories of public administration could prove very valuable. Keywords; barriers; adaptation strategies; institutions; governance

Het 'adaptieve vermogen' van het ontwerp Nationaal Waterplan : in hoeverre bevordert het ontwerp Nationaal Waterplan het vermogen van de Nederlandse samenleving om zich aan te passen aan klimaatverandering?

Het adaptatiewiel is door Kennis voor Klimaat toegepast op het te voeren waterbeleid (Nationaal Waterplan, 2008) in Nederland. In de inspraakreactie levert KvK commentaar op het NWP, maar wijst ook de sterke kanten van het ontwerp Nationaal Waterplan aan

How Dutch Institutions Enhance the Adaptive Capacity of Society

This report examines the adaptive capacity of the institutional framework of the Netherlands to cope with the impacts of climate change. Historically, institutions have evolved incrementally to deal with existing social problems. They provide norms and rules for collective action and create continuity rather than change. However, the nature of societal problems is changing as a result of the processes of globalization and development. With the progress made in the natural sciences, we are able to predict in advance, to a certain extent, the potential environmental impacts of various human actions on society, for example, climate change. This raises some key questions: Are our institutions capable of dealing with this new knowledge about future impacts and, more importantly, with the impacts themselves? Are our institutions capable of dealing with the inherent uncertainty of the predictions

Institutions for Climate Change : A Method to assess the Inherent Characteristics of Institutions to enable the Adaptive Capacity of Society

This paper addresses the question: How can the inherent characteristics of institutions to stimulate the adaptive capacity of society to climate change from local through to national level be assessed? On the basis of a literature review and several brainstorm sessions, this paper presents six criteria: Variety, learning capacity, space for planned and innovative autonomous action, leadership, availability of resources and fair governance

Digestibility of resistant starch type 3 is affected by crystal type, molecular weight and molecular weight distribution

Resistant starch type 3 (RS-3) holds great potential as a prebiotic by supporting gut microbiota following intestinal digestion. However the factors influencing the digestibility of RS-3 are largely unknown. This research aims to reveal how crystal type and molecular weight (distribution) of RS-3 influence its resistance. Narrow and polydisperse α-glucans of degree of polymerization (DP) 14–76, either obtained by enzymatic synthesis or debranching amylopectins from different sources, were crystallized in 12 different A- or B-type crystals and in vitro digested. Crystal type had the largest influence on resistance to digestion (A >>> B), followed by molecular weight (Mw) (high DP >> low DP) and Mw distribution (narrow disperse > polydisperse). B-type crystals escaping digestion changed in Mw and Mw distribution compared to that in the original B-type crystals, whereas A-type crystals were unchanged. This indicates that pancreatic α-amylase binds and acts differently to A- or B-type RS-3 crystals.</p

Scientific knowledge use and addressing uncertainties about climate change and ecosystem functioning in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt estuaries

This paper analyses how scientists, policy makers and water users engage with scientific knowledge and uncertainties during a lengthy and complex decision-making process (2000–2014) about water quality, freshwater resources and climate adaptation in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt estuaries. The research zooms in on lake Volkerak-Zoom. Interviews confirm that ‘negotiated knowledge’, shaped by the agricultural sector, NGO’s and water managers can lead to strategies to improve water quality problems. One such a strategy, based on negotiated knowledge, is to create an inlet to allow limited tides and inflow of saline waters in Lake Volkerak-Zoom. Meanwhile, during negotiations, monitoring showed an autonomous decline in the annually returning algal blooms, leading to new uncertainties and disrupting the negotiations. At another negotiation arena, water users and policy makers repeatedly disputed scientific assessments about costs and benefits regarding additional freshwater supply for agriculture and the knowledge underlying proposed decisions was still considered uncertain in 2014. Several strategies have been observed to deal with uncertainties in decision making, such as deconstruction of certainties, creation of deadlines for decisions and selection of preferred solutions based upon the ‘No-regret principle’. The risk of a lengthy decision making process can be reduced when the responsible authorities recognize, acknowledge and give an equal role to these behavioural strategies to address uncertainties. Tailor-made strategies are needed to make knowledge use more efficient, for example, joint-fact-finding (in case of disputed knowledge and ambiguity), additional research and monitoring (in case of epistemic uncertainty) or commissioning research whereby temporarily a protected environment is created to allow research without political interference (in case of ontic/structural uncertainty)