Nature Based Solutions (VIVES)

Summary

The video script introduces nature-based solutions as sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to traditional infrastructure for combating climate change impacts, particularly coastal floods. It highlights the historical context of the 1953 North Sea flood, discusses the challenges of rising sea levels and stronger storms, and explores the benefits of integrating natural elements like dunes and reefs into coastal protection strategies. The script emphasizes the adaptability, biodiversity support, and additional socio-economic advantages of nature-based solutions.

Takeaways

• 🌊 Nature-based solutions (NBS) are strategies that use or mimic natural processes to address environmental challenges, such as climate change and coastal flooding.
• 🏠 The example of protecting against coastal floods in Belgium highlights the importance of NBS in the context of rising sea levels and potential superstorm impacts.
• 📚 The 1953 North Sea flood disaster in the Netherlands serves as a historical benchmark for policy changes and the implementation of protective measures against extreme weather events.
• 🛠 Traditional 'gray' infrastructure like sea walls and dikes, while effective, can be costly and require constant adaptation to rising sea levels.
• 💡 The concept of NBS emerged as an alternative to gray infrastructure, offering a more sustainable and cost-effective approach to climate adaptation.
• 🌳 Constructed sand dunes and dike-and-dune systems are examples of NBS that provide protection against flooding while also supporting natural ecosystems.
• 🌿 Nature-based solutions can grow naturally with sea level rise, reducing the need for human intervention and long-term maintenance costs.
• 💰 NBS are economically advantageous, potentially saving billions in maintenance and adaptation costs compared to traditional infrastructure.
• 🌍 The added benefits of NBS include supporting biodiversity, enhancing cultural amenities, improving public health through increased green spaces, and aiding in environmental regulation, such as CO2 reduction.
• 🔍 The script challenges the audience to observe and identify NBS in their own environments, emphasizing their wide applicability beyond coastal areas to urban issues like heat islands and heavy rainfall.
• 📈 The effectiveness of NBS is underscored by their adaptability to unpredictable climate changes, positioning them as a key strategy in comprehensive climate adaptation planning.

Q & A

What are nature-based solutions and why are they important?

Nature-based solutions are strategies inspired by and working with nature to address environmental challenges, such as climate change. They are important because they offer cost-effective, sustainable, and flexible ways to protect against climate change effects like sea level rise and storms, while also providing additional benefits to the environment and human well-being.

What is the significance of the 1953 storm event in the Netherlands in the context of climate policy?

The 1953 storm was a pivotal event that caused extensive flooding and loss of life in the Netherlands. It led to a significant shift in policy agendas, prompting the first historical debates about climate change and the implementation of extensive flood protection measures, such as the construction of dikes and other infrastructures.

How do dikes and sand embankments protect coastal areas from storms?

Dikes and sand embankments serve as physical barriers that prevent sea water from flooding inland during storms. They are constructed along coastlines to withstand the force of waves and high water levels, thus protecting coastal communities and infrastructure.

What is a 'return period' in the context of storms, and how is it used to predict storm impacts?

The 'return period' of a storm refers to the average interval of time between occurrences of storms of a certain intensity. It is used in frequency analysis to predict the likelihood and potential impacts of storms, including how high sea levels might rise during such events.

How does sea level rise affect the impact of storms on coastal areas?

Sea level rise provides storms with a higher starting point when they reach the coast, which can amplify the impact of storm surges and lead to more severe flooding. This necessitates the reevaluation and strengthening of existing coastal protection measures.

What are the disadvantages of traditional 'gray' infrastructure like concrete sea walls and dikes?

Traditional 'gray' infrastructure, such as concrete sea walls and dikes, can be expensive to construct and maintain, especially as they need to be continually raised to accommodate sea level rise. They may also lack the flexibility to adapt to the unpredictable nature of climate change and do not provide additional environmental or social benefits.

What is a 'dike and dune system' and how does it combine natural and man-made elements for coastal protection?

A 'dike and dune system' is a hybrid nature-based solution that combines a concrete dike with a natural sand dune built on top. This approach provides the necessary protection against sea level rise and storms while also benefiting from the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of natural systems.

How do nature-based solutions like constructed sand dunes offer protection against coastal floods?

Constructed sand dunes act as natural barriers that can absorb the impact of waves and reduce flooding. They can grow over time with sea level rise, eliminating the need for human intervention to maintain their protective capacity.

What are the additional benefits of nature-based solutions beyond coastal protection?

Nature-based solutions offer a range of additional benefits, including supporting biodiversity, enhancing cultural values and amenities, providing provisioning services such as recreation, and offering regulatory benefits like CO2 reduction through plant growth.

Can you provide an example of a nature-based solution from New Zealand?

An example from New Zealand is the use of a man-made reef made of concrete, designed to encourage the growth of species like oysters. These organisms help to break waves and reduce the impact of storms on the shoreline.

How can nature-based solutions be applied to other climate change problems besides coastal protection?

Nature-based solutions can be adapted to address various climate change issues, such as urban heat island effects, heavy rainfall in cities, and droughts. They can include green roofs, rain gardens, and other urban greening initiatives that provide environmental and social benefits.

Outlines

00:00

🌊 Introduction to Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Protection

The script introduces the concept of nature-based solutions (NBS) as a means to protect against climate change effects, specifically coastal floods. It uses the example of the 1953 North Sea flood in the Netherlands, which caused extensive damage and loss of life due to inadequate dikes. The event prompted policy changes and construction of new protective infrastructures. The script also discusses more recent storms, like Storm Odette in 2020, and the need for continuous adaptation to stronger storms and rising sea levels. The importance of understanding the probability and impact of storms through frequency analysis and return periods is highlighted.

05:01

📊 Understanding Storm Impacts and Sea Level Rise

This paragraph delves into the methodology of assessing storm impacts on sea levels through graphs that represent the relationship between storm return periods and potential sea level heights. It explains how scientists predict water levels during storms of varying return periods, from 100 to 10,000 years, and the significant rise in sea levels due to thermal expansion and melting ice sheets. The script also visualizes potential flooding in cities like London if protective measures were absent, emphasizing the necessity for coastal protection against both sea level rise and increasingly severe storms.

10:02

🏗️ The Limitations of Traditional 'Gray' Infrastructures

The script discusses the drawbacks of traditional 'gray' infrastructures, such as sea walls and dikes, which are costly to maintain and adapt as sea levels rise. It presents the financial burden of these structures, estimating the costs to European countries and projecting future expenses. The paragraph highlights the need for alternative, more sustainable, and cost-effective solutions to coastal protection, leading into the discussion of nature-based solutions as a promising alternative.

15:06

🌳 Exploring Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Resilience

The final paragraph introduces nature-based solutions as an alternative to conventional coastal defenses. It describes how these solutions, such as constructed sand dunes and dike-and-dune systems, are designed to work with natural processes and can adapt more flexibly to climate change. The script provides examples of such solutions, including a hybrid approach using both concrete and natural elements, and a man-made reef in New Zealand that promotes biodiversity and wave reduction. The benefits of nature-based solutions are outlined, including cost-effectiveness, sustainability, flexibility, and additional environmental and societal advantages.

🌐 Broader Applications and Conclusions on Nature-Based Solutions

The concluding paragraph summarizes the advantages of nature-based solutions, emphasizing their cost-effectiveness, sustainability, and flexibility in the face of unpredictable climate change. It also mentions the additional benefits of these solutions, such as increased biodiversity, cultural amenities, reduced mortality rates due to healthier lifestyles, and environmental regulation through CO2 capture. The script encourages the audience to explore and identify nature-based solutions in their own environments and acknowledges the potential of these solutions for a wide range of climate challenges beyond coastal protection.

Keywords

💡Nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions are strategies that utilize natural processes and ecosystems to address environmental challenges, such as climate change. In the context of the video, these solutions are vital for protecting against coastal floods and adapting to the consequences of climate change. The script provides examples of nature-based solutions like sand dunes and hybrid systems of dikes and dunes, which are constructed to offer protection similar to traditional concrete structures but with added benefits and adaptability.

💡Coastal floods

Coastal floods are a type of natural disaster that occurs when sea levels rise above the normal tidal range, often due to storm surges or sea level rise. The video script discusses the impact of coastal floods, like the 1953 North Sea flood in the Netherlands, and how they can be exacerbated by climate change. The script also mentions the importance of nature-based solutions in mitigating such floods.

💡Sea level rise

Sea level rise refers to the increase in the volume of water covering the Earth's surface, primarily due to the thermal expansion of seawater and the melting of land ice. The script explains how sea level rise can lead to higher starting points for storm surges, thereby increasing the risk of coastal flooding. It also discusses the projection of sea levels rising by 0.4 meters in the next 80 years.

💡Superstorm

A superstorm is an exceptionally powerful storm with high wind speeds and potentially catastrophic effects. The script uses the term to describe the type of storm that could cause coastal floods, particularly when combined with sea level rise. The superstorm's impact is illustrated through the story of Ria from the Netherlands and the 1953 storm that caused significant damage and loss of life.

💡Dikes

Dikes are long walls or embankments built to prevent flooding from the sea or other bodies of water. The script discusses the construction of dikes in the Netherlands following the 1953 flood and their role in protecting against coastal floods. However, it also points out the limitations and costs associated with maintaining and heightening dikes in response to sea level rise.

💡Frequency analysis

Frequency analysis is a statistical method used to predict the likelihood of an event occurring based on historical data. In the script, it is used to estimate the return period of storms, which is the average time between occurrences of storms of a certain intensity. This helps in understanding and preparing for the potential impacts of future storms on coastal areas.

💡Return period

The return period is a concept used in climate models to describe the average interval of time between occurrences of a particular event, such as a storm. The script explains that a storm with a 100-year return period has a 1% chance of occurring each year. Understanding return periods helps in assessing the risk of coastal flooding from storms of varying intensities.

💡Gray infrastructure

Gray infrastructure refers to traditional, human-made structures like concrete sea walls and dikes. The script contrasts these with nature-based solutions, highlighting the disadvantages of gray infrastructure, such as high costs, the need for constant adaptation to rising sea levels, and the lack of additional environmental benefits.

💡Hybrid systems

Hybrid systems in the context of the script are a combination of natural and man-made elements designed to provide protection against coastal floods. An example given is a dike with a planted dune on top, which combines the structural integrity of concrete with the adaptive benefits of natural elements. These systems offer a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to purely gray infrastructure.

💡Added benefits

Added benefits in the script refer to the additional positive outcomes that nature-based solutions provide beyond their primary function of flood protection. These benefits include supporting biodiversity, cultural amenities, provisioning services such as reduced mortality through increased outdoor activity, and regulating services like CO2 reduction through plant growth.

Highlights

Nature-based solutions are essential for protecting people and adapting to climate change impacts.

Coastal floods are a significant concern, exacerbated by sea level rise and superstorm impacts.

The 1953 North Sea flood disaster in the Netherlands resulted in extensive damage and 1800 deaths.

The 1953 flood marked a pivotal moment in climate change and flood policy discussions in Europe.

Storm Odette in 2020 showcased the ongoing threat of extreme weather events to coastal regions.

Frequency analysis and return period concepts are crucial for predicting storm impacts.

Sea level rise due to thermal expansion and melting ice contributes to higher storm surges.

Hard infrastructure like sea walls and dikes, while effective, have significant drawbacks.

The cost of maintaining and adapting gray infrastructure is substantial and increasing.

Nature-based solutions offer a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional coastal defenses.

Constructed sand dunes can provide natural protection against sea level rise and storms.

Hybrid solutions combining natural elements with concrete structures offer flexibility and cost benefits.

Artificial reefs can support marine life and contribute to wave breaking during storms.

Nature-based solutions provide additional benefits such as biodiversity, amenity, and CO2 reduction.

These solutions are adaptable and can help address unpredictable climate change effects.

Nature-based solutions are not limited to coastal areas but can also address urban climate challenges.

The speaker encourages attendees to explore and identify nature-based solutions in their environments.

Transcripts

and I'm going to introduce to you the

concept of nature-based solutions

these are very important solutions to

protect people and to adapt countries

against the consequences of climate

change

to explain to you what these exactly are

I'm going to use the example of

solutions which are used to protect us

against Coastal floods

in Belgium they predict that these can

be induced by sea level rise on the one

hand and on the other hand by the impact

of a superstorm heading from the sea

towards the mainland

but before I dive into the topic let me

start with the story

here do you see Ria and Riya as a woman

from the Netherlands

she was a keynote speaker on a

conference which which I attended and

she had a remarkable story after which

the conference room became completely

silent

she began her story with a quilt

she mentioned that

it all happened on the 9th of the 31st

January

I was six years old and at the time and

spent a frightened night on the roof of

her parents house

I saw my dog who was floating away

so the event that Ria was talking about

is the event of 1953 where Europe was

hit by an extreme storm coming from the

North Sea

storm caused an extra water level of

plus 4.55 meter above the reference

level of at low tide

and because of this the dike system

broke on 100 places and 2 000 square

kilometers of the Netherlands was

flooded by Seaworld

sadly

1800 deaths were counted and thousands

of animals were drunk

so in this map the white striped areas

represent the areas that were hit by the

coastal floods and also in Belgium a

small piece north of antropos flood

on this picture you see how the disaster

actually looked like

you can see here a dike that was broken

and will consequently sea water was

entering the country

and on this picture you can see the

results after the sea water entered the

country

many villages disappeared and many

people were drunk while they were asleep

already before 1953 scientists were

already aware that this could happen

however in that period politicians never

took action

this event can really be seen as a

benchmark in policy agendas of the

Netherlands and many other countries in

Europe like Belgium and the UK

in 1953 it was the first time in history

that people began to debate about

climate change and floods

and as a result many diets and other

constructions were built in the

Netherlands to protect the country and

case a new storm would pass by

also in Belgium we yearly face some

extreme weather events not that extreme

of the one in 1953 but still pretty

strong ones

for example the storm Odette which

happened in September 2020

this storm reached very big wind speeds

and took a lot of sand from the beach

into the sea causing sand cliffs in

Austin like you can see on this picture

this storm also burned many parked cars

with sand which was blown away from the

beach to the mainland

however even though this was a very

strong storm we are already very well

protected against these storms and we

are able to stop the water at the

coastline

because we have dikes and sand

embankments

nevertheless it's only a matter of time

before we will receive even stronger

storms that will hit our coastline

and against these we are not able to

protect us

consequency a disaster like in the

Netherlands can easily happen

so predictions of storm are based on

historic data over an extended period

through a process that is called a

frequency analysis

this is the probability of the

occurrence of a given event

so in climate models they talk about the

return period of a storm

this is represented in here

this is the time and years between two

storms with the same identity and wind

power

the higher the return period

stronger the store

for example a storm with a return period

of 100 years has one percentage chance

per year it will happen

so this is already a very strong storm

and to know what the effect of a storm

is on the water level of the sea we need

to make a graph

so now we are going to make the graph

so I will draw for you a y axis

and as well as a x axis

so the y-axis it represents the height

that the sea level can get compared to

the average level at low tides

so for example we have six meter higher

than normal or seven meters

or 8 meters

and on the x-axis I will represent for

you the return period of a storm

so for example we have a return period

of 100 years

we have a return period of Thousand

Years

or we have a return period of 10 000.

years

so like I explained the higher the

return period the more severe a storm

can be so this means the level of the

water will be higher

so scientists they were able to predict

how what the effect is of a return

period on a certain worldly sea level

so they made a graph a line in this

graph so for example if we have

a return period of 100 years this means

that water level can be higher with 6.5

meters so that's really a lot heavy

compared with the present day situation

if we have a storm that will return once

in thousands years

this can mean that we have a sea level

rise of 7 meters

and lastly when we have a return period

of 10 000 here

it can mean that the sea level can be

higher with 7.5 meters so that's really

a lot

and if we now connect all the dots

together

this line can be used to also predict

other storms but another return level

so now we know how high sea level can

come together with a certain storm

but I can also visualize this on a map

so now we know how high sea level can

come you can see the effect of this on

this map

so you can see on this map of storm with

a return period of 1000 years if we

would not protect us

so this storm induces a water level rise

of 7 meters above reference level at low

tide

and like you can see if it would not

protect us against this many parts of

London would be flooded by sea water so

those are the areas indicated in light

and dark blue

also besides the stronger storms that we

are facing our coasts also need to cope

with sea level rise

on this graph you can see the evolution

of the sea level and from the year 2000

onwards it's rapidly Rising

and in the next 80 years sea level could

rise with 0.4 meters

so this is sea level rise

that's actually due to the thermal

expansion of the seawater on the one

side so the oceans they are heating up

and therefore water molecules need more

space which causes the expansion

and on the other side

there's another reason because of the

melting land ice that's coming from the

clutchers the green lines ice sheet and

the Antarctica ice sheet

so because of the higher sea levels

storms have a higher starting point when

they arrive at the coast

and consequently they have a bigger

impact on the shoreline

so

to conclude we have on the one hand the

sea level rise on the other hand

stronger storms and for these we need to

protect our Coast against flooding

currently the most common protections

that are built are hard concrete

constructions also known as gray

infrastructure

and in this slide you can see the two

examples

at the left you'll recognize a sea wall

which you can find around Harbors to

protect the boats and ships

and at the right you can find the most

common gray infrastructure at our

Belgian Coast namely the dike which was

built with red bricks so this picture

was actually taken in the city of

blancenberg

however there are a lot of disadvantages

linked to these types of reinforcements

for example they need to keep growing

with a higher sea level

which gives the situations like you can

see on these two pictures

so Engineers they are forced to hire the

existing dikes with concrete blocks

such as here and whose and in the

Netherlands

or they need to make an extra concrete

wall on an already existing diet such as

the dike at the right here and

blankenberg

consequently they are really expensive

when they need to be adapted so nowadays

they cost

1.25 billion years per year in Europe

and at the current rate this could grow

to

961 billion euros per year by the year

of 2100.

so Coastal engineers and policy makers

are just forced to think in another

Direction

so with this in mind we need to think

further and we need to be more creative

what is then a good alternative that can

be used to protect ourselves against sea

level rise and the big storms

and this is where the story of

nature-based solutions comes in the

picture

currently there is a lot of

experimentation going on right now with

these type of solutions and this because

they can cope with the disadvantages

that we are facing with the gray

concrete constructions

if you have a look at this

um so nature-based solutions they are

solutions that are inspired by Nature so

they need to be constructed by working

with nature

what you see here on this slide is a

great example of a nature-based solution

so in this photo you see probably a

random Sand Dune with some Maroon grass

on it

even though this Dune appears very

natural the reality is different

this Dune was namely constructed by

human

so this construction of the team effort

made by many experts such as Coastal

Engineers landscape designers

geographers biologists and so on

the aim is that this type of

construction can be placed the concrete

dikes made of red bricks that we know of

in Belgium

in other words this Dune should deliver

the same type of protection against

storms and sea level rise as the dike

which is made of concrete bricks

one of the reasons behind this choice is

that Dunes they can grow naturally along

with sea level rise

so this means that humans they do not

need to interfere and adapt to Dune in

the future

so the Dune is an independent and

flexible system

another example of a nature-based

solution is a dike and dune system

this is a hybrid form of a nature-based

solution

with hybrid I mean that it's a

combination of both a natural and

concrete components

first they built a dike of concrete and

on top of it a dune was planted

so this construction is not completely

natural

and the reason behind this is that in

some cases they do not have the space to

build a complete natural Dune because

nature needs space to grow

and in that case they sometimes decide

to go for a combination of both concrete

and nature-based elements

still this type of construction is on

the long term more cost effective and

cheaper and maintenance than purely a

Concrete Construction

a lost example of a nature-based

solution is again a hybrid one

in this case from the other side of the

world namely New Zealand

you can see here on this slide a

limitation of a natural Reef which is

made of concrete

so the purpose of this human made review

that it will be placed at the shoreline

and plenty of species can grow on this

like for example oysters

these oysters can break the waves coming

from sea when a storm occurs

so I explained to you that nature-based

Solutions are based on working with

nature

it's also important to mention that

these Solutions provide extra benefits

for human

besides the fact that they protect us

so to explain this to you I will make a

small drawing

so what are exactly the added benefits

of nature-based solutions

in the middle I will write down NBS what

stands for nature-based Solutions

and in total there exists four types of

added benefits

first of all we have the supporting ones

so supporting added benefits

what are supported and it benefits that

can be for example that we with nature

based solution create more nature and

this has as a consequence that we have

more biodiversity

a second type of added benefits is the

culture added benefits

so what is a cultural added benefit

an example of this is that we create for

example more amenity

a third type of added benefit is the

provisioning category

and an example of a provisioning added

benefit is that we for example create

less mortality

because

we create more nature people walk more

so the mortality

declines

lastly we have the regulating and

benefits

an example of this one is that we have

reduction

in CO2

because plants they capture CO2 so

that's good for the environment

so these are the four types of added

benefits that can be linked with

nature-based Solutions

so now we are coming to an end of this

lecture to summarize we can say that

nature-based Solutions have the

following advantages

first of all they are cost effective

second of all

they are sustainable

thirdly

another Advantage is that they are

flexible

so climate change is very unpredictable

but the developing field of the working

with nature can help us to cope on a

good manner with climate change effects

and lastly they also deliver many added

benefits like I explained in the drawing

so

this was my story for the nature-based

solutions that are linked to the coasts

which endure both sea level rise and big

storm

so lastly I wanted to share with you

that even though I only talked about

coastal areas that many nature-based

solutions exist as well for other

climate change problems

such as for example drops and Gardens

heavy rainfall in cities and the urban

heat Islands affect during summer

however this is not for this lecture and

therefore I challenge you to like to

take a look around and cities and

villages

and I am sure now that you know what

nature-based Solutions are that you will

definitely find some nice examples

so thank you for your attention and I

hope you know now what nature-based

Solutions are and what these can