Samenvatting

Recent studies have shown that the climate is seeing a rapid change, causing amongst other sea level rise. Although the protection standards for conventional flood protection are generally high in The Netherlands, flood protection experts from government, research and industry are exploring alternative concepts not just based on hard infrastructure, the concept of Future Flood Protection Landscapes is currently drawing attention.

Future Flood Protection Landscapes is a wider area/landscape comprising the foreshore, the current dike and part of the hinterland to ensure flood protection in a climate adaptive manner. Within this area there is space for natural processes such as sedimentation resulting in higher foreshores and/or land level rise in the hinterland. The concept provides opportunities for co-benefits/ecosystem services such as nature development, carbon capture, agri-/aquaculture and recreation. In this thesis, Future Flood Protection Landscapes is referred to as FFPL. FFPL can be distinguished for their larger spatial scale, there have been multiple studies on the concept of FFPL, but there is a lack of research specifically on public attitudes towards the spatial implications of future flood protection landscapes.

The main research question for this thesis was ‘’What is the opinion of the inhabitants of Zeeland on FFPL and what effect does scientific information on sea level rise and flood protection landscapes have on these opinions?’’

The concept was qualitatively researched with three different methods. Firstly, a literature review and expert interviews. Secondly, a physical survey in a field research with a wooden market stall and an online survey which was spread through HZ network and LinkedIn. The online survey was accompanied by an explanation video of the concept. And thirdly, focus group discussions. Five experts were interviewed. 79 surveys were collected with the physical market stall and an additional 40 online. Furthermore, two focus group discussions were held in Waarde and Kloosterzande.
This thesis study found that there is already a lot of available scientific information on the subject from literature and experts. There are however still some insecurities such as the technical feasibility with sedimentation speed and primarily social feasibility due to public support. The majority of the respondents from the market stall and online survey report an increased feeling of safety from FFPL due to the extra buffer zone and value the natural process with which the land is build up. Most people who agree also value nature and like the concept because of it. From the focus groups it can be concluded that in Kloosterzande participants are more in favour of seawards defence, and in Waarde more in favour of traditional measures. In general traditional measures are still accepted to be sufficient and in some areas favoured over seawards and landwards defence. As for landwards defence, apart from a few participants, the focus group participants were not in favour of the concept. While the market stall research concluded the opposite.

To answer the main question of this thesis: the opinion of the inhabitants of Zeeland on FFPL varies widely, large groups of people feel positive about landwards and seawards defence while other groups prefer traditional measures over both. People who visited the local markets around the Western Scheldt or filled out the online survey are overwhelmingly more positive about the concept compared to people spoken to during focus group discussions in Waarde and Kloosterzande. In general the scientific information did not have significant effects on the opinion of the participants of the focus group discussion, while the opinion of the inhabitants visiting the market stall primarily changed positively.