Voorne-Putten is keeping its cool: strategy for a climate-proof island

Drawing up a strategy in a co-creation process

The strategy has been developed on the basis of a “co-creation” method, involving several working sessions during which municipal, district water board, and provincial staff collectively reviewed the qualities and vulnerabilities of the area, and the course to be steered by the adaptation strategy. The final document has been established through joint writing sessions. The working sessions addressed topics such as:

• Stakeholders: mapping out the stakeholders along with the extent of their commitment and influence;
• Key qualities: how is climate change pressuring the qualities of the region? This was reviewed on the basis of the stress test light, conducted earlier, and the National Adaptation Strategy conceptual diagrams, among other data;
• Linkage opportunities:taking stock of linkage opportunities to protect and reinforce the qualities;
• Communication: the best ways to communicate (both internally and externally) about climate change and individual responsibilities.

A climate adaptation strategy that protects the key qualities

“Voorne-Putten is keeping its cool” is a strategy in the making. The document outlines the strategy and identifies short-term actions and projects. The strategy revolves around the key qualities of Voorne-Putten. Three qualities are distinguished:

• Distinctive landscape, unique nature, and attractive leisure facilities;
• Appealing living environment;
• Future-proof agriculture and economy.

The strategy describes how climate change is pressuring these qualities. For example, several urbanised residential areas are prone to foundation damage as a result of soil subsidence, while salinisation is pressuring agricultural functions. The strategy subsequently describes how the parties intend to counteract these trends. Their efforts will link up with the strategy and time schedule of the Delta Plan on Spatial Adaptation. Action plans have been drawn up for all seven ambitions.

One of the points of departure of the strategy is that climate adaptation is regarded as an opportunity to boost the qualities of the island. An example of such an opportunity is that the island of Voorne-Putten represents a comparatively cool section within the metropolitan region, which makes it potentially appealing to residents of nearby cities who are looking to cool down.

Implementation agenda

The strategy presents an implementation agenda featuring projects focused on three tracks:

• Research and knowledge development (Analysis);
• Policy development (Ambition);
• Learning in actual practice (Action) and communication, both internally and externally.

The schedule for the research component features, e.g., an in-depth stress test and an extreme precipitation impact analysis. With respect to policy development, an important agenda item is embedding climate adaptation in the environmental visions. Furthermore, a communication plan will be drawn up which is intended to raise climate awareness among the participating organisations, residents, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders. The progress made regarding the strategy will be monitored within the organisational structure of the Voorne-Putten collaborative.

Lessons to be learned

• Limited capacity. Climate adaptation is a new issue. Adaptation is not automatically incorporated into policy and implementation; the topic calls for additional attention and staffing among the organisations involved. When drawing up the strategy, project staff were repeatedly found to have little or no time to assist. This hampers the co-creation process, which requires a particularly great deal of time and effort on the part of those involved. This means that limited capacity poses a risk to the progress of the project.

• Qualities as a point of departure. Using the region’s qualities as our point of departure provided us with an overview of the (future) vulnerability of our island and the opportunities that climate change can open up, without first needing to spend a lot of time on determining the exact climate effects.

Contact person

Hanna Borren
Gemeente Hellevoetsluis
h.borren@hellevoetsluis.nl