Biodiversity the basis for a healthy society
Biodiversity is the basis for a healthy society. It means we have food and clean water but also that we can produce sustainable energy or medicines. Biodiversity is declining rapidly, not only in the Netherlands but also throughout the world.
That downward trend has to be reversed if we want a healthy and safe existence. Deltares is contributing by providing insights into the effects of human intervention and natural change on biodiversity in deltas. But above all by also providing solutions with a positive impact on biodiversity.
To keep deltas safe, healthy and liveable, measures are taken that, with hindsight, often cause problems with biodiversity. Examples include interventions in rivers to help shipping, or the construction of dams, locks, dikes or polders. So it is advisable to determine in advance the effects on biodiversity.
To get to grips with the relationship between measures and biodiversity, Deltares has developed a relatively straightforward framework. By asking a number of relevant questions and with support from an ecologist, experts such as hydraulic or geotechnical engineers can make an initial qualitative assessment in a short time of their projects’ impact on biodiversity. The appropriate mitigation measures can then be proposed on that basis. The framework is a promising way of establishing meaningful dialogue between engineers and biologists.
Core of our expertise
Deltares has knowledge and expertise relating to rivers, coasts and seas. We use our models, software and research facilities to provide a picture of factors such as water depth, currents, morphology, salinity, temperature and pollution. These are abiotic factors that are included in our knowledge base and that also allow us to determine how they influence biodiversity. From salinisation, water shortages and pollution to floating solar panels and offshore wind farms: Deltares measures and models the impacts on organisms’ habitats. Knowledge about the ideal conditions allows us to devise solutions to preserve, improve or restore biodiversity. We are also eager to share this knowledge with our clients, knowledge partners and industry. We want to contribute to healthy water and soil systems for people and nature.
Progress so far
At Deltares, ecologists have talked to experts in the fields of infrastructure and hydraulic engineering about the focus on biodiversity in their projects. Ideally, a solution can be found that preserves biodiversity or even makes use of nature. We recently described the implications of the scenarios used in the Delta Programme for biodiversity. What happens to species if we enclose the entire Netherlands with dikes, or actually live with the water? What are the implications for the species we have at present: can they cope with salinisation and, if not, what will be the consequences for the overall ecosystem and where are there openings for biodiversity?
To share our knowledge via practical tools, we also want to include biodiversity more explicitly in the WFD Explorer. That is a tool that we, and others, can use to determine the impact of measures taken to fulfil the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. The focus here is primarily on specific species covered by the Water Framework Directive. However, the total ecosystem is relevant for the restoration of biodiversity. By including the significance of these species for the ecosystem, we acquire more insight into how ecosystems function, obviously with the aim of using this knowledge to propose effective measures for improvements.
