Climate policy requires a new relationship with citizens

Climate change is becoming more tangible. Only if government, citizens and scientists work together better, we will be able to adapt in time, write Marjolijn Haasnoot, Jeroen Aerts, Roebyem Anders, Robbert Biesbroek, Ellen van Bueren, Heleen de Coninck, Maarten Hajer, Bart van den Hurk, Jaap Kwadijk, and Pier Vellinga.

This blog was published on 2 September 2021 on the climate blog of the NRC. 

This summer’s record rainfall and floods made climate change very tangible in the Netherlands, as did the droughts and heatwaves we experienced in recent years. The new IPCC report shows that global warming is accelerating and weather extremes are becoming more frequent and severe. What we see now is a harbinger of what lies ahead in terms of extreme precipitation and river levels, rising sea levels, heat waves, droughts, forest fires and pests that threaten nature and mankind. The intensity and frequency of recent weather extremes worldwide occur earlier than expected, even surprising many climate experts.

To be sure, the energy transition is under way and there are discussions on reducing emissions from agriculture. To adapt, we need heat management plans and a Delta Programme. But are we doing the right things and moving fast enough?

Limiting climate change as proposed at EU level by the Green Deal is by far the most urgent priority. Only by radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we will be able to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. That will probably prevent global social disruption. To put this into perspective: what we are experiencing now are the effects of 1.2 degrees of warming. Many greenhouse gases are already in the atmosphere and will remain there for many years to come. We will inevitably need to adapt to climate change.

Frontline

With large rivers, a long coastline, and large, valuable areas of land below sea level, the Netherlands is in the frontline of climate change. We need a strong governmental response. The review of the Delta Programme published last year offers a starting point. The report lauds the work that has been done on the dykes and on creating more room for the rivers, but also expresses ‘grave concern’ about the long term and about the ineffective decentralised approach to spatial planning adjustments. Climate change demands ‘a radical spatial transition’ and that transition is complicated by the many other spatial claims arising from priorities such as the need for more houses, the energy transition, tackling the crisis in agriculture and plans for new infrastructure.

But in practice, we are becoming more and more vulnerable. The municipality of Arnhem is planning a new neighbourhood in a floodplain, and the province of South Holland wants to build in the lowest lying polder. Municipalities and provinces give permission for plans that will later cost society (and residents!) dearly. It would be far wiser to use the little time we have left to achieve synergies with spatial developments such as the energy transition, the biodiversity challenge and infrastructure maintenance.

We have three messages.

First, spatial planning must be managed at the national level. We like to boast internationally about the Netherlands being the ‘best protected delta’. This can only be sustained if we make policy choices and link short-term investments to the question of how we adapt in the long term and reduce greenhouse gas emissions: Where do we put certain spatial functions (housing, nature, agriculture, infrastructure, energy supply) so that they have a viable future? This will have to be done at the national level.

Second, citizens must be involved in the discussion of problems and solutions. We lack an institutional environment that provides citizens with easily digestible information that enables them to form their own opinions. The ‘speaking truth to power’ model of experts advising the government is outdated in today’s society. It also allows policymakers to hide behind misunderstood statements about scientific uncertainty.

Third, strengthening research is crucial to get a clear and timely picture of what is needed and possible in the spatial planning of our country. We must organise this research together with the affected stakeholders, in order to create the necessary support and to tap into local knowledge and creativity.

It will not be easy, because accelerating the energy transition and adapting to climate change in time will require making decisions that will revise long-standing plans and ambitions that were logical at the time. This will demand courage from policymakers and citizens alike. Policymakers will have to take responsibility, citizens will have to realise that the future will be different than the past, and scientists will have to explore solutions and work together more closely than before with citizens and policymakers responsible for spatial planning.

Authors: Marjolijn Haasnoot, Jeroen Aerts, Roebyem Anders, Robbert Biesbroek, Ellen van Bueren, Heleen de Coninck, Maarten Hajer, Bart van den Hurk, Jaap Kwadijk, Pier Vellinga