In order to protect the Netherlands from the impacts of climate change, the Dutch government placed a variety of dikes, dams and barriers to the low-lying Southwestern delta. The Eastern Scheldt, once an open estuary, was transformed into a salt water basin with the introduction of a semi-open storm surge barrier.
Over the years the amount of intertidal areas has dramatically dropped, primarily due to an imbalance between the existing basin morphology and the tempered tides. This imbalance is also known as a 'sand deficit problem'. There are two options when dealing with this problem, the first is to protect the existing salt marshes, the second is to create new intertidal areas. The project 'Rammegorn Tidal Restoration' focusses on the latter.
Within the project there are a couple goals:
- Increasing the amount of knowledge on the abiotic ( for example groundwater) and biotic (like vegetation establishment, benthic communities) factors that influence the speed of recovery.
- Training of young professionals by improving the knowledge of teachers to be supported by case studies added to the curriculum
- Promoting knowledge circulation within the field by combining all the knowledge within the Delta Expertise site.
