FLOODING DUTCH POLDER IS BEST WAY TO RESTORE NATURE

The Dutch should give part of the land they drained a century ago back to nature, a special committee advised agriculture minister Gerda Verburg on Tuesday. Allowing water to flood farmland is the best way to repair damage done to nature, the committee said.

The area under discussion is the Hertogin Hedwige polder in the south-western province of Zeeland. Ed Nijpels, who chaired the advisory committee, said he understands local sensitivities. "I know the proverb 'a person from Zeeland doesn't relinquish land to water' but we can't get around it if we want to restore nature," Nijpels said.

Zeeland is largely below sea level and suffered a major flood in 1953 in which 1,835 people died. In 2005 the Netherlands and Belgium agreed to deepen the Westerschelde (the estuary connecting the Scheldt river to the North Sea) to restore damage to the local environment and protect the adjoining Antwerp region from flooding. read more (nrc.nl)


more features

October 27, 2008