Dossier
Building with Nature
Building with nature is a concept where nature is used to cope with climate change risks, such as floods, waves and sea level rise. It is also called 'nature-based solutions' or 'eco-engineering'. In this dossier you can find news, background information and results from scientists of Wageningen University & Research.
An oyster reef to protect the coast, mangroves or willows in front of the dyke. Slowly but surely, a new insight is gaining ground: hard civil engineering interventions by themselves are not a panacea. Nature seems willing to help us keep the upper hand over the advancing waves and rising sea levels and provides us with new sources of food and income.
Water engineering projects have become a lot greener, and Wageningen has played an important role in this. Together with the water engineering sector, we are developing water works that leave natural processes intact or make them part of the solution. There could even be restoration of the natural environment.
Go to
- The Netherlands in 2120: Imagine what the world could look like if we start shaping it from a nature-based perspective today?
- Salt marshes: natural surge barriers in front of the dike
- Sand nourishment: a solution for ‘sand starvation’
- Room for the river in densely populated areas
Research on building with nature
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TMAP Salt marshes
- One of the ecological objectives for the Wadden Sea, both at national and at trilateral (i.e. Dutch, German and Danish) level, is to maximise the area of semi-natural salt marshes. Active interventions to preserve the existing salt marshes should be implemented in as natural a way as possible. -
Baalhoek & Knuitershoek
- The Province of Zeeland (PZ) wants to create a low dynamic intertidal area at Baalhoek and Knuitershoek in the Westerschelde as part of the realization of a total of 600 hectares of estuarine nature, as sketched in the development plan 2010 Scheldt estuary. By means of groins, low dynamic sandy to moderately silty intertidal areas should develop at the two chosen locations, without negatively affecting the adjacent areas. The aim of the project is to improve the quality of the estuary at these locations. -
NKWK nuttig gebruik slib Eems-Dollard
- In the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda for Delta Technology 2018-2021, the sustainable use of estuaries, seas and oceans is one important theme. The challenge is to develop sustainable economic activities and their significance for spatial planning, safety, emissions and pollution. A number of new accents are described. One of these concerns: Cost-effective applications for silty sediment from the Ems estuary to initiate ecological recovery of the estuary and also stimulate the economy. This project gives substance to this new accent as part of Eco-engineering and Nature-based Solutions. -
PASMI & BwN-Indonesia
- Sustainable aquaculture to support mangrove restoration.
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Building with Nature along a tropical muddy coast in Indonesia: innovation in mangrove restoration
- While mangrove restoration and mitigation has become very popular worldwide as a method to restore coastal resilience and ecosystem functioning, high failure rates are typical. In most cases involving actual planting, the wrong species are planted in unsuitable areas. In fact, recent work has shown that given the right conditions, mangrove recovery actually works best without planting at all.
Downloads & Links
- "Weaving dams to defend mangroves", Wageningen World no. 1 2017
- Article online: Nature lends a hand from Wageningen World no. 2 2013
- Flyer: Building with Nature
- Website: EcoShape – Building with Nature
- "Building with Nature gebruikt de natuur bij waterbouw"
Publications on building with nature
Related dossiers
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The Netherlands in 2120
- Climate change, urbanisation, biodiversity, rising sea levels, extreme weather and increasing food production: these are just a few of the factors that help shape the spatial planning of the Netherlands. There appears to be a need to look to the future. With these factors in mind, what will the Netherlands look like a century from now? Wageningen University & Research has drafted a vision on what it believes a future-proof Netherlands could look like in 2120. -
Flooding
- The amount of extreme rainfall and its severity is increasing in the Netherlands and Western Europe. What is the reason for this and what can we do to limit nuisance? In this dossier you can find news, backgrounds and results of research on flooding.