8.6.2 Develop an Integrated Understanding and Approach
to Managing Drought
In areas where freshwater resources are crucial both for agricultural production
and for the protection of nature areas, the impacts of drought, such as low water
levels and soil moistures, can be detrimental. Various policies and initiatives at
multiple governance levels will have implications regarding the design and implementation of the measures for preventing and alleviating such impacts. The EU
policies, such as Natura 2000, and regional initiatives, such as the ZON agreement
and the irrigation policy, are at their infancy regarding the incorporation of drought
adaptation and alleviation measures. The water authorities in the east and south of
the Netherlands are recommended to use this opportunity for putting forward the
specific context of the region in terms of drought vulnerability and intensifying their
efforts for making sure that drought-related measures are sufficiently elaborated in
these policies.
Another aspect that could benefit from an integrated approach is the treatment of
flood and drought as separate policy issues. Despite the historic role of floods in
Dutch water management, there is an emerging emphasis on the “double-goal” of
managing flood and drought together. The pilot project that has been implemented
by the WGS is a typical example of such an approach. Such integrated measures
can be intensified when introducing other measures such as renovations in the water
system and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the indicators on water
availability and consumption. A final recommendation regarding monitoring and
evaluation is the upscaling of monitoring mechanisms, for instance through creating
system-level knowledge on the water budget to monitor sectorial water use (which
are mainly agriculture and environment in the Salland Region) and define actions
that can be taken by different actors at different levels. The complicated actor
network of water management in the Netherlands makes it a big challenge to hold a
single actor responsible for integrating all the knowledge regarding different aspects
and for having an overview of the overall water resource situation and the water
balance. However, as the pressure from drought impacts increase the competition
among the water user sectors, development of such comprehensive monitoring
mechanisms could be inevitable in the near future.
8.6.3 Raise Farmers’ Drought Awareness Towards Creating
Ownership and Drought-Sensitive Water Use
As in many other regions, farmers in the Salland Region can be key actors for
reaching both economic and environmental goals. In this regard, the communication of drought-related information, particularly the drought-related risks, would be
crucial. Information sharing tools that both deploy the technical knowledge and
take into account the local knowledge and needs of farmers can be developed and
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177
to Managing Drought
In areas where freshwater resources are crucial both for agricultural production
and for the protection of nature areas, the impacts of drought, such as low water
levels and soil moistures, can be detrimental. Various policies and initiatives at
multiple governance levels will have implications regarding the design and implementation of the measures for preventing and alleviating such impacts. The EU
policies, such as Natura 2000, and regional initiatives, such as the ZON agreement
and the irrigation policy, are at their infancy regarding the incorporation of drought
adaptation and alleviation measures. The water authorities in the east and south of
the Netherlands are recommended to use this opportunity for putting forward the
specific context of the region in terms of drought vulnerability and intensifying their
efforts for making sure that drought-related measures are sufficiently elaborated in
these policies.
Another aspect that could benefit from an integrated approach is the treatment of
flood and drought as separate policy issues. Despite the historic role of floods in
Dutch water management, there is an emerging emphasis on the “double-goal” of
managing flood and drought together. The pilot project that has been implemented
by the WGS is a typical example of such an approach. Such integrated measures
can be intensified when introducing other measures such as renovations in the water
system and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the indicators on water
availability and consumption. A final recommendation regarding monitoring and
evaluation is the upscaling of monitoring mechanisms, for instance through creating
system-level knowledge on the water budget to monitor sectorial water use (which
are mainly agriculture and environment in the Salland Region) and define actions
that can be taken by different actors at different levels. The complicated actor
network of water management in the Netherlands makes it a big challenge to hold a
single actor responsible for integrating all the knowledge regarding different aspects
and for having an overview of the overall water resource situation and the water
balance. However, as the pressure from drought impacts increase the competition
among the water user sectors, development of such comprehensive monitoring
mechanisms could be inevitable in the near future.
8.6.3 Raise Farmers’ Drought Awareness Towards Creating
Ownership and Drought-Sensitive Water Use
As in many other regions, farmers in the Salland Region can be key actors for
reaching both economic and environmental goals. In this regard, the communication of drought-related information, particularly the drought-related risks, would be
crucial. Information sharing tools that both deploy the technical knowledge and
take into account the local knowledge and needs of farmers can be developed and
8 Drought Awareness Through Agricultural Policy: Multi-level …
177