Transdisciplinary Approaches for Climate-Resilient Adaptation: Insights from the Delta Wealth Project

The Netherlands’ Southwest Delta (SW-Delta) faces complex challenges as climate change and sea level rise (SLR) intensify conflicts between flood protection infrastructures, ecological health, and economic activities. Consequently, integrating multiple disciplines and across sectors to address competing needs and interconnected challenges is becoming crucial. The Delta Wealth project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), aims to develop adaptive climate adaptation strategies that enhance the long-term SW-Delta’s resilience by balancing a safe, ecologically healthy, and economically prosperous. This study aims to identify and evaluate the approach employed by the Delta Wealth project to bridge scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders in developing resilience strategies that balance ecology, safety, and economy, resulting in co-creating adaptive, scientifically sound, practical, and socially accepted resilience measures. We employed a literature review, interviews with researchers, biweekly meetings, expert meetings, project documentation analysis, and storyline communication to evaluate the opportunities and limitations of the collaborative methods applied by the Delta Wealth project. Our findings reveal that the Delta Wealth project applies a transdisciplinary approach, an approach that integrates diverse disciplines, practitioners, and stakeholders, and utilizes methods like co-creation processes, stakeholder engagement, and digital storyline tools to balance ecology, safety, and economy in the SW-Delta. They establish a science-policy-society interface (Learning Community), iteratively integrating knowledge produced by ongoing PhD students from different universities with multiple disciplines, including 1) flood risk management, 2) freshwater availability and salinization, 3) ecology, 4) social welfare, and 5) societal support. Research organizations like Deltares collaborate on expertise in freshwater, hydraulic, and flood risk modeling. Governmental institutions, including the Province of Zeeland, Rijkswaterstaat, and Waterboard Scheldestromen, provide insights into regional environmental management, national water management, flood defenses, and coastal protection. Private sector companies like HKV and Boskalis offer inputs on technical expertise in hydraulic engineering and flood defense design. Non-governmental organizations such as Het Zeeuwse Landschap and Bureau Waardenburg provide perspectives on environmental consultancy, ecological impacts, and landscape conservation. Stakeholder organizations, including Zeeuwse Land- en Tuinbouworganisatie (ZLTO) and Gebiedsoverleg Zuidwestelijke Delta, represent the agricultural sector and regional governance, respectively. They use ArcGIS StoryMaps, an interactive web platform based on simple narratives, visuals, and maps to communicate their findings. Our study demonstrates that their approaches effectively facilitate collaboration across sectors and support the development of climate adaptation strategies that acknowledge and navigate priorities. However, future research should broaden stakeholder engagement by prioritizing key disciplines and stakeholders and increasing the frequency of interactions through collaborative digital tools for more efficient communication. This paper provides insights and lessons that could be applied in other delta regions facing similar challenges and in similar transition processes to a long-term strategic delta planning approach.

Keywords: Climate Adaptation, Sea Level Rise, Transdisciplinary Approach, Stakeholder Engagement, Climate Resilience Strategies, Delta Wealth Project