The Netherlands - Time-Tested Water Management for a Changing Climate

Overview & Synopsis

The Netherlands is a high-income, low-lying country whose geography has made flood risk a defining national challenge. Bordering the North Sea and crossed by the Rhine and Meuse Rivers, the Netherlands is, to a large extent, a country of man-made and water-managed landscapes. Over centuries, wetlands and lakes were drained to create habitable land, which has since been protected through an extensive system of flood defenses, river regulation works, and coastal nourishment. Today, approximately one third of the country lies below sea level, and around two thirds of the Dutch population live in areas at risk of coastal, riverine, or lake flooding, with potential inundation depths exceeding five meters in some locations.