Gerald Jan Ellen

• Msc.
• Senior Researcher at Deltares

Extreme weather impacts due to climate change, such as urban pluvial flooding, necessitate adaptive measures. To support decision making in climate adaptation, climate services provide information and guidance to policy makers and other stakeholders. Effective use of climate services is prohibited by usability gaps. Some causes for these gaps origi...

Scenario analysis is a widely employed method for addressing uncertainties when assessing the physical and socio-economic impacts of climate change. Global scenarios have been extensively used in this context. However, these scenarios are in most cases not suitable for supporting local analyses. On the other hand, locally developed scenarios may la...

Scenario analysis is a widely employed method for addressing uncertainties when assessing the physical and socio-economic impacts if climate change. Global scenarios have been extensively used in this context. However, these scenarios are in most cases not suitable for supporting local analyses. On the other hand, locally developed scenarios may la...

Climate services (CS) are generally recognized as potentially effective tools to communicate climate-related risks to the general public, end-users and other stakeholders. However, empirical evidence indicates that there often is a gap in understanding between the producers of the CS and those that are meant to use them. It is therefore crucial to...

Offshore wind farm development is a is a highly complex process. The societal and political pressure to implement is high while environmental responses and future developments in the global energy network are uncertain. Moreover, many interests in maritime space are at stake. The dependency on knowledge for decision-making is high, but the capacity...

Het voorkomen of minimaliseren van (de kans op) spijt is tegenwoordig een veelgehoord adagium: no-regret of minimum regret. Onder andere in het Deltaprogramma, maar ook breder in het water-en ruimtelijke-ordeningsbeleid dat immers is gericht op het inrichten van ons land voor de zeer lange termijn en dus generaties na ons. Maar wat er precies mee b...

In beleid voor water en ruimte is tegenwoordig veel aandacht voor het voorkomen of minimaliseren van (de kans op) spijt. No regret. Maar wat daarmee precies bedoeld wordt, blijft vaak onduidelijk. Evenals hoe dat in de praktijk te realiseren. Tegen die achtergrond is een verkennend onderzoek gestart met twee doelen: 1) het komen tot een ontologie v...

It is assumed that the Soil Mission and its related objectives and specific targets can only be achieved through healthy soils and for that it is needed to engage stakeholders. This is needed because stakeholders: bring in knowledge; have the power to make or to block decisions (policy) and measures (management); and can ensure the relevance and ac...

This paper examines the durability of public value coalitions in the Dutch Marker Wadden project: an internationally acclaimed water project. The paper compares public value creation by coalitions before and after project appraisal. Activities before project appraisal mainly worked towards the integration of values and interests, while activities a...

In 2012 the Dutch High-Water Protection Programme (HWPP) was initiated. This programme prioritised dike strengthening projects for the near future with a yearly budget of around 350 million Euros. A safety assessment 2011–2013 indicated the need to strengthen 748 km of dikes. To achieve this, it was recognised that generation and dissemination of s...

There are many normative answers on the question how to realize climate adaptation, ranging from pleas for the government to play a decisive role, to calls for refraining from action and relying upon spontaneous adaptation of both government and non-governmental actors. In this article, we present a Q methodological study, aimed at investigating th...

Literature on climate services presents a large diversity of different services and uses. Many climate services have ‘usability gaps’: the information provided, or the way it is visualized, may be unsuitable for end users to inform decision-making processes in relation to adaptation against climate change impacts or for the development of policies...

This Science and Innovation Agenda summarises the scientific and technical framework for the development of DANUBIUS-RI. The International Centre for advanced Studies on River-Sea Systems is a distributed environmental research infrastructure dedicated to River-Sea Systems on the Roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (E...

The International Centre for Advanced Studies on River-Sea Systems (DANUBIUS-RI) will be a distributed research infrastructure (RI) that serves as a one-stop shop that provides access to a range of experts, infrastructure, services and river-sea (RS) systems across Europe. It will provide a platform for interdisciplinary research, access to centres...

DANUBIUS-RI will provide the Research Infrastructure (RI) to enable interdisciplinary research along the River-Sea Continuum and within a range of River-Sea Systems (RSS), to facilitate an integrated process and system understanding and to address key societal challenges for a sustainable management of RSS in the future. The DANUBIUS-RI Preparatory...

Nederland staat voor een aantal grote uitdagingen op het gebied van het waterbeheer, dat heeft de zomer van 2018 nog maar eens extra duidelijk gemaakt. Omdat het klimaat verandert krijgen we vaker te maken met extreme neerslag en langdurige perioden van droogte. Dit heeft direct consequenties voor onder andere de waterkwaliteit en de waterkwantitei...

In delta areas, flood protection structures and large-scale land reclamation are preferential water management strategies to cultivate soft delta soils. Over the past decades, river embankments, upstream dams, land reclamation, and groundwater use have intensified, and increasingly contribute to subsidence. In addition, the influence of institution...

Keeping values, innovating practices In The Netherlands an innovative water safety policy is under development: multi-layered safety. This innovation is a move from a preventive approach (levees) towards a risk approach. Mitigation of consequences for spatial measures and disaster management too are considered in reducing flood risks. The theory of...

Dutch flood management policy was for a long time dominated by a protection-oriented approach. However, in the last 10 years a more risk-oriented approach has gained ground, denoted by the introduction of the concept of multilayered safety in 2009 in the National Water Plan. Since then, the dominant policy coalition focusing on resistance has found...

Op dit moment lopen er vier project overstijgende verkenningen (POVs) bij het Hoogwaterbeschermingsprogramma (HWBP). Deze POVs zijn kennisintensief en er wordt dan ook veel kennis ontwikkeld. Deze kennis is soms te vatten in documenten, maar soms betreft het ervaringskennis, welke moeilijker overdraagbaar is. Het leren tussen de betrokken partijen...

Adaptation to climate change is a rapidly emerging policy domain. Over the last decade we have witnessed many attempts to enhance the climate robustness of agriculture, urban development, water systems, and nature to an increase in flood and drought risks due to a higher variability in rainfall patterns and sea level rise. In the vulnerable Dutch d...

This study aims at describing, analyzing and evaluating the relation between management styles and process dynamics of a complex planning process confronted with unexpected dynamics. The development of an aquatic disposal site for dredged contaminated sediments in Oslo was managed by a project management style focused on timely and cost-effective i...

The Scheldt Estuary provides the stage for a broad range of stakeholders and (conflicting) interests. These diverging interests led to complex decision-making on estuarine policy and management. The EU Interreg project 'Estuaries on the MOVE' (EMOVE) aims to bring stakeholders together and organize bottom-up commitment for a sustainable Scheldt Est...

In het Deltaprogramma zijn in de afgelopen vier jaar de vijf Deltabeslissingen voorbereid. Op Prinsjesdag, 16 september 2014, hebben het ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu (IenM), de Unie van Waterschappen (UvW), het Interprovinciaal Overleg (IPO) en de Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten (VNG) het bestuursakkoord Deltaprogramma getekend en z...

The vulnerability of deltas differs across the world: The results show a geographical spread of vulnerability depending on the indicator. The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta appears to be the most vulnerable, followed by the Niger and Volta deltas. The Amazon, Orinoco and Yukon deltas appear to have low to moderate vulnerability. Deltas in Asia are...

The climate is always changing. Government organization, NGO’s and companies are becoming more aware that they need to act on this development. Barriers such as a lack of urgency and a shrinking budgetary means are the cause that the actual implementation of adaptation strategies is a difficult phase. During this phase each actor tries to minimize...

Deze rapportage is bedoeld om de “oogst” van inzichten rondom ‘de governance van slimme combinaties’ uit een zevental lopende pilots op te halen, deze te bundelen en op te werken tot een advies over de vormgeving van de governance van slimme combinaties.

This report describes the HOMBRE land management and decision guidance framework that integrates the knowledge on the early indicators of impending Brownfield (BF) formation and the cost-effective monitoring of the different stages of the land use cycle, including the BF stage. Starting from the circular land management framework developed within...

Op verzoek van het Deltaprogramma Nieuwbouw en Herstructurering voor het project instrumentarium meerlaagsveiligheid hebben wij de governance aspecten rondom de mogelijke toepassing van meerlaagsveiligheid nader verkend. Het doel van dit rapport is om de governance aspecten van meerlaagsveiligheid uit te werken gericht op de vraag aan welke voorwaa...

In the recreational area of Loosdrecht, the water board decided to apply flexible water level management: letting the water level be determined by rainfall and evatranspiration between predefined limits. This caused the citizens to worry for the wooden foundations of their houses and possible limitations of the possibilities for water recreation. T...

Managed land can be considered as being at a certain stage within a cycle: of allocation of building land, development, use, imminent end-of-use or even abandonment and re-use. Many of the urban and industrial areas that are reaching the end of their current life cycle, unless revived, are in danger of turning into brownfields (BFs). Though BFs are...

In het kader van het Deltaprogramma Zuidwestelijke Delta (DP ZWD) heeft het ministerie van Economische Zaken aan IMARES, Alterra, Wageningen University (Earth System Science Group) en Deltares gevraagd onderzoek uit te voeren naar ‘innovatieve dijkconcepten’, en daarnaast de meerwaarde en kansen te bepalen voor toepassing van deze concepten in de Z...

This is the appendix to the report: multifunctional landuse as an adaptation strategy - IN DUTCH

This paper describes Interactive Business Case Approach (IBCA) in a participatory planning setting concerning multifunctional land use, as an instrument for climate adaptation strategies. Multifunctional land use is an solution to optimize the use of scare spatial resources, especially in densely populated areas such as the Netherlands. Multifuncti...

The Brabant countryside – although still retaining a rural character – is a densely populated and regulated area in the south of the Netherlands. Demands for available space are many and often conflicting, and land prices are high. Adaptive measures to cope with climate change impacts (e.g. rainstorms, floods, droughts, heat waves) can be space con...

The management of environmental pollution has changed considerably since the growth of environmental awareness in the late 1960s. The general increased environmental concern and involvement of stakeholders in today's environmental issues may enhance the need to consider risk in a much broader social context rather than just as an estimate of ecolog...

Introduction Management options for large-scale contaminated sediment remediation projects can be challenging with regard to competing stakeholder interests. This has become apparent during the Oslofjord sediment remediation project (2005–2009) which caused considerable public discussion. Background To learn from this project, the ‘Sediment and soc...

This report analyses the public decision-making and implementation processes which were utilised in Oslo Harbour using document analysis, interviews, and questionnaires. The positions of various stakeholders on the sediment remediation project has been reviewed to determine their impact on project planning and implementation. The involvement of the...

De visie op het toekomstige beheer van ondergrond en bodem is in de loop van de jaren gewijzigd. Steeds meer actoren maken gebruik van de ondergrond en tegelijkertijd wordt er meer bekend over het maatschappelijke belang van de natuurlijke functies van de bodem. De wens om het systeem van ondergrond duurzaam te benutten en te beheren vergt een ande...

This chapter describes the economical and financial tools to support the decision-making process, which forms part of a much broader sediment management framework, the development of societal cost-benefit analysis (SCBA), and the way it can be applied to sediment management. The chapter also presents present two examples of the application of econo...

This chapter focuses on the basic questions concerning stakeholder involvement in the decision-making processes with respect to sediment management and consequently on the recommendations that can be derived from this. The chapter is based on both the scientific literature and the SedNet workshops. The pitfalls of stakeholder involvement are also m...

This chapter summarizes sediment risk management and communication techniques. The objective for sediment risk management, as defined by European Demand Driven Sediment Research Network (SedNet) Working Group on “Risk Management and Communication,” is to reduce risk posed by contaminated sediments to humans and ecological receptors to a level deeme...

This chapter discusses different aspects of social and societal driving forces and objectives in sediment risk management and introduces indicators as triggers for selecting management options on a site-specific basis, as well as on a larger scale. The guiding risk management objective is to reduce risk posed by contaminated sediments to humans and...

Acceptance and implementation of a basin-scale approach will require significant work, both technical and political. However, successful development of a basin-scale risk management framework should provide the basis for parties with very different goals for sediment to come together in support of sustainable sediment management. We recommend that...

Sediment risk managers must address economic and societal, as well as environmental, risks. Acceptable levels of risk are determined by society, not only by science. Scientific risk assessment is an integral part of risk management; it is a tool that helps determine the probability and degree of risk and provides the scientific basis for decision m...

The European Commission is working on the development of a coherent framework for product-related environmental policy, often referred to as integrated product policy (IPP). One of the areas of attention is the support of eco-design. Eco-design refers to the systematic incorporation of environmental factors into product design and development with...

In the quest for sustainable water management, it is often difficult to balance economical, social and ecological demands. This paper addresses this issue by discussing the difficulties that arise in attempting to identify competing claims at the actor level, and by asking how these competing claims affect the process of incorporating long-term per...