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S1 Geography Assignment: Climate Change Chen ZhuoLin (9) 101
Task 1
The Netherlands supplies two-thirds of the world’s tulips, bulbs, and cut-flowers, helping the relatively small nation rank third in value of agricultural exports. For a small nation of 41,526 sq km, the Netherlands is densely populated with 486 persons per square kilometer.
Task 2
Due to rising sea level, the sea level at Dutch coast has observed a 20cm rise over the past 100 years and there has been no increase in rate of change since 1990. The average temperature in the Netherlands has risen by 1.7 °C and the annual number of summer days – defined as days with a maximum temperature of above 25.0 °C – has risen by almost 20, while the number of frost days has fallen by about the same number. Total annual precipitation has increased by more than 20% and the frequency of heavy showers has also risen sharply. The measured temperature rise in the Netherlands is about twice as large as the global average, and over the past 20 years there has been no visible weakening of this upward trend. The rate at which the temperature rises will probably be too high to enable many species to adapt or migrate. Several plant and animal species are threatened with extinction in the Netherlands, whereas new species will settle if they can migrate quickly enough. The net effect will probably be a decrease in species diversity in the Netherlands. Climate change causes a change in species composition in the Netherlands: cold preferent species decrease, warmth preferent species increase. This is due to the fact that cold preferent species have been migrating to colder countries outside of the Netherlands and warm preferent species from colder countries migrating to the Netherlands.
Several changes associated with climate change are visible in the Netherlands. Positive effects include rising agricultural productivity, lower average winter mortality and an increase in the number of good weather days for recreation. Holland is the world’s 2nd largest exporter of agricultural products, after the USA. Together with the USA and France, Holland is one of the top 3 exporters of vegetables and fruit. Examples of negative effects are more frequent drainage flooding (as a result of intense precipitation), increased risks of allergies among sufferers and an increased risk of heat stress in urban areas. Changes can also been seen in nature, such as shifts in the ranges and life cycles of plants and animals. Climate change can also aggravate existing problems affecting biodiversity, such as habitat fragmentation.
Task 3
Climate change has the potential to increase sea levels by 20 feet (6.1 m). The lowest city within the Netherlands lies 7 meters (23 ft.) below sea level, much lower than New Orlean's 9th Ward. The expansive system of dams, dikes, and dunes maintained by the country, may not be able to hold back the flood of Climate Change. With 41,526 sq kilometers, the Netherlands supports a population of just under 16.5 million people, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. If flooding occurs on a mass scale many people will be displaced from their homes and workplaces. Rising sea levels could wreak havoc on the Dutch way of life. The people, economy, and land itself, would be swept away, costing the Dutch their livelihood and possibly their lives.Changes in climate and weather patterns will exacerbate the already rising sea level. Storm events over the North Sea are often powerful and unpredictable. Although the Netherlands does not experience hurricanes, similarly strong events could cause major damage and loss-of-life.Its people, economy, and government will have to adapt to rising sea levels, by building higher dams and dykes. Directly, people will have to relocate at least until the waters recede. Migration of individuals could turn into a long-term issue if flood control technologies cannot keep up with climate change. Often, low lying areas are important modes of production in agricultural productivity. In the short-term crops could be lost, causing temporary economic shocks. Yet, larger flood events could cause substantial damage to agricultural infrastructure (rail, shipping lanes and ports, and processing facilities) important in delivering those goods to the proper markets, undiminished. No more than 2% of the Netherland's population is devoted to agricultural production. Yet, this country produces a large surplus in food-products for the surrounding region.If flooding should occur, land will become scarce. Scarcity increases price and indirectly causes conflict between differing demographics in the Netherlands and surrounding countries. After a flood event, higher socioeconomic classes will be able to maintain a lifestyle that closely resembles the one they had prior to the event. Some Dutch citizens may also choose to move to other areas, further spreading land scarcity to other countries.
As the Netherlands is a large shipping hub, ports and the transport of consumer goods will change with a large flood event. The high storm surges and receding waters of Hurricane Katrina changed shipping lanes and damaged equipment dedicated to the safe passage of ships in the Mississippi river and Gulf of Mexico. If a similiar extreme weather event were to flood the Netherlands, a devastating disaster could occur.
Task 4
Unfortunately, drained land tends to settle and sink with the water table, and the Dutch were soon surrounding fields and towns with dikes and canals and using windmills to keep them pumped dry. The land has continued to sink, and much of it is below sea level. But the Netherlands has had the wealth and technology to continue building ever larger dikes, pumping stations, and seawalls. Dutch authorities have raised the height of the Pettener seawall several times since 1976, when it stood only half as tall, trying to keep ahead of storms and coastal erosion. But it may not be tall enough yet. The Dutch expect to invest an extra U.S. $10 billion to $25 billion in flood and sea defenses over the next century, and are already drafting plans to upgrade dikes, pumping stations, and seawalls. As sea levels swell and storms intensify, the Dutch are spending billions of euros on "floating communities" that can rise with surging flood waters, on cavernous garages that double as urban floodplains and on re-engineering parts of a coastline as long as North Carolina's. The government is engaging in "selective relocation" of farmers from flood-prone areas and expanding rivers and canals to contain anticipated swells. In Rotterdam, city officials opted to invest in new parks, city squares and parking garages now under construction that effectively double as Rotterdam's drainage system, filling with water during heavy floods to keep streets, buildings and homes above water. In east Amsterdam, one of three new floating communities going up across Holland looks like an aquatic suburbia. The homes are built on floating platforms of reinforced concrete and literally rise with floodwaters, offering a glimpse into how lifestyles may change as costal areas adapt. A good place to start is the newly completed waterfront development at Scheveningen, a coastal district of The Hague, where the Catalan architect Manuel de Solà-Morales and his firm fashioned a dike into a graceful, snaking seaside boulevard, nearly two miles long. Even in the freezing cold I saw crowds strolling the boulevard, the Netherlands’ version of the Coney Island boardwalk, designed so that the pedestrian bridge leading from the beach to the city will break into harmless pieces in the event of a catastrophic flood.A good place to start is the newly completed waterfront development at Scheveningen, a coastal district of The Hague, where the Catalan architect Manuel de Solà-Morales and his firm fashioned a dike into a graceful, snaking seaside boulevard, nearly two miles long. Even in the freezing cold I saw crowds strolling the boulevard, the Netherlands’ version of the Coney Island boardwalk, designed so that the pedestrian bridge leading from the beach to the city will break into harmless pieces in the event of a catastrophic flood.
The centerpiece of Dutch water management now is Room for the River, a decades-long $3 billion program. It consists of nearly 40 interlinked infrastructure projects to mitigate climate change along the rivers and waterways that weave through the Netherlands.
Dikes are being lowered, spillways created. Many of the projects have faced legal battles and predictable public protests. People are being uprooted, lands repurposed. But the benefits are clear and widely shared.
economy
environment
culture
lifestyle preferences
energy consumption
agriculture
http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/co ... -biodiversity-state
http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/dutch-sea.htm
http://www.hollandtrade.com/sect ... d-food/?bstnum=4909
http://news.nationalgeographic.c ... 0829_wiredutch.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp ... 009120502186_2.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/1 ... html?pagewanted=all
http://www.pbl.nl/en/publication ... ngeintheNetherlands
http://promise.klimaatvoorruimte ... c-88b5-90da200ed1a8
http://www.pbl.nl/sites/default/ ... Netherlands_957.pdf
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