North Sea and Wadden Sea storm surges: risk culture
The Wadden Sea case study asked how the storm surges of 1953 and 1962 shaped coastal protection in the Netherlands and Germany, and whether resilience built on local culture can be transferred.
- Region: the North Sea coast of the Netherlands and Germany, in the trilateral Wadden Sea region
- Hazard: storm surges and coastal flooding
- Period: the historic surges of 1953 and 1962, and future climate change
- Partners as printed: Trilateral Wadden Sea Secretariat, Sylt, LKN, NLWKN, Wadden Academie, and the Wadden Sea Forum, with Manfred Vollmer as contact
The North Sea coast has a long record of disastrous storm surges. Since 1962, however, no deaths have occurred, a result of heavy investment in coastal protection. Climate change could undo part of that record: stronger storms and a rising sea may increase the hazard and the need for resilience.
The case study took culture as its starting point. On a coast defined by land reclamation, regional culture shapes how people see nature, hazards and resources, and the team studied how that perception feeds into risk management. It then went back to the two great surges and analysed how the public-private arrangements set up after 1953 and 1962 shaped coastal protection as it stands.
The comparison between the Netherlands and Germany was the core of the work. The team compared the risk cultures of the two countries and tested whether approaches to resilience that rest on local culture can be transferred from one to the other, or whether they only work where they grew.
Birgit Gerkensmeier of Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, who assessed the scope for a transnational partnership in the region, argued that risk management there should cover more than surges (interview with Birgit Gerkensmeier). In 2016 the Wadden Sea Forum decided to add climate change impacts to its partnership work (ENHANCE book announcement). The other cases are in the case-study atlas.