Chapter 5
Chances for Nature - A Matter of Substitution
E.C.M. Ruijgrok . P. Vellinga
5.1
Introduction
"Coastal zone management involves the comprehensive assessment, setting of objectives, planning and management of coastal systems and resources, taking into account
traditional, cultural and historical perspectives and conflicting interests and uses; it is
a continuous and evolutionary process for achieving sustainable development" (IPCC
1993). According to this definition, it may be clear that integration is motivated by the
concept of sustain ability.
Though sustain ability is both an ecological and an economic concept, it will be explained here by using the capital theory. So far the natural capital of the coast has been
substituted by physical (defence) capital, even though this may not lead to sustainable
economic development. This can be explained by different views on substitution possibilities and the fact that nature is a common.
If one looks at the Dutch history of coastal zone management one can discern a
development from a civil engineering approach of flood protection towards an approach of environmental neutrality. For a long time coastal zone management was
merely focused on protecting society against the dangers of nature, by substituting
natural capital with man made defence capital. At the beginning of the '70S, increasing
awareness of environmental impacts of coastal protection works lead to the adoption
of the double criterion of flood protection with environmental neutrality. At that stage
the aim was to minimize environmental impacts of coastal defence measures. This
approach was applied up until the early '90S (Vellinga and Klein 1993). Only recently
the view has been adopted that coastal defence and nature development can go hand
in hand; examples of this approach are the building with nature approach applied on
land reclamations (Waterman 1990) followed by the policy of dynamic maintenance
(Bucx and Jonkers 1995) and the recent plans inspired by "Growing with the Sea"
(Helmer et al. 1996) that promote both economic and ecological development.
Although the appreciation of natural defence capital seems to be increasing in the Netherlands, nature remains a common which economic value is hardly accounted for in economic transactions since it is unknown. Because natural capital does not have a market
price, it is easily exploited or substituted more than would be economically sustainable.
5.2
Nature as a Common
Nature may be regarded as a common because of its characteristics. Natural capital
has the following distinguishing characteristics (Verbruggen 1995):
Chances for Nature - A Matter of Substitution
E.C.M. Ruijgrok . P. Vellinga
5.1
Introduction
"Coastal zone management involves the comprehensive assessment, setting of objectives, planning and management of coastal systems and resources, taking into account
traditional, cultural and historical perspectives and conflicting interests and uses; it is
a continuous and evolutionary process for achieving sustainable development" (IPCC
1993). According to this definition, it may be clear that integration is motivated by the
concept of sustain ability.
Though sustain ability is both an ecological and an economic concept, it will be explained here by using the capital theory. So far the natural capital of the coast has been
substituted by physical (defence) capital, even though this may not lead to sustainable
economic development. This can be explained by different views on substitution possibilities and the fact that nature is a common.
If one looks at the Dutch history of coastal zone management one can discern a
development from a civil engineering approach of flood protection towards an approach of environmental neutrality. For a long time coastal zone management was
merely focused on protecting society against the dangers of nature, by substituting
natural capital with man made defence capital. At the beginning of the '70S, increasing
awareness of environmental impacts of coastal protection works lead to the adoption
of the double criterion of flood protection with environmental neutrality. At that stage
the aim was to minimize environmental impacts of coastal defence measures. This
approach was applied up until the early '90S (Vellinga and Klein 1993). Only recently
the view has been adopted that coastal defence and nature development can go hand
in hand; examples of this approach are the building with nature approach applied on
land reclamations (Waterman 1990) followed by the policy of dynamic maintenance
(Bucx and Jonkers 1995) and the recent plans inspired by "Growing with the Sea"
(Helmer et al. 1996) that promote both economic and ecological development.
Although the appreciation of natural defence capital seems to be increasing in the Netherlands, nature remains a common which economic value is hardly accounted for in economic transactions since it is unknown. Because natural capital does not have a market
price, it is easily exploited or substituted more than would be economically sustainable.
5.2
Nature as a Common
Nature may be regarded as a common because of its characteristics. Natural capital
has the following distinguishing characteristics (Verbruggen 1995):