ABSTRACT
In addition to the concerns associated with the protection of delta areas from the sea, the Netherlands is in particular affected by the increasing frequency of high and low water levels as a result of climate change. This awareness has warranted a drastic change of approach in water, land and nature management towards a strategy that uses nature’s resilience to provide for both human and natural environmental needs. Most notably in the parts of the Netherlands which are above sea level, water management is often practiced through co-management. In various projects seen here, many goals apart from water quality and quantity management are being integrated. Water retention, nature, recreation, economic diversifi cation,
agriculture and cultural history are often included which necessitates the involvement of each of the responsible organizations and NGO’s. This arrangement of relationships often creates the need for boundary spanning between actors, as well as rules and resources to cope with the complexity and dynamics of the process.
