Concern about the effects of climate change have set in motion a search for flood protection measures to adapt coastlines to the foreseen accelerated sea level rise. In this context, the potential role of salt marshes to adapt the Wadden Sea’s flood defences was explored in the Netherlands Wadden Region Delta Programme. This paper provides an overview of the steps taken by the programme in developing a climate change adaptation strategy so that others might learn from its experiences. The second aim is to summarize the knowledge generated by the programme on the potential role of salt marshes as part of a climate change adaption strategy. Explorative modelling results indicate that Wadden Sea salt marshes affect wave heights, even under extreme conditions. Therefore, a salt-marsh zone in front of the Wadden Sea dikes that could keep pace with sea level rise may result in a reduced dike reinforcement task. A salt marsh potential map gives a rough impression of locations that are potentially interesting for salt marsh conservation and development, based on the current situation, on available information about abiotic conditions for salt marsh formation and the habitats present in the coastal zone. Besides elongated stretches were seminatural salt marshes are already present or developing, several stretches along the Dutch Wadden Sea coast have favourable abiotic conditions for salt marsh development. However, the prospects for integrating salt marshes into flood defences depend also on other aspects. Various nature conservation agreements are in effect with their associated obligations. Furthermore, the foreseen value of salt marsh development compared to traditional reinforcements, in terms of both costs and benefits, must be considered.

中文翻译：

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盐沼可以适应荷兰瓦登海沿岸的洪水防御。

对气候变化影响的担忧促使人们开始寻求防洪措施，以使海岸线适应预计的加速海平面上升。在这种情况下，荷兰瓦登地区三角洲计划探讨了盐沼对瓦登海的洪水防御的潜在作用。本文概述了该计划在制定气候变化适应战略中所采取的步骤，以便其他人可以从其经验中学习。第二个目的是总结该计划产生的关于盐沼作为气候变化适应策略一部分的潜在作用的知识。探索性建模结果表明，即使在极端条件下，瓦登海盐沼也会影响波高。所以，瓦登海堤前的盐沼地带可能与海平面上升保持同步，这可能导致堤防加固任务减少。盐沼潜力图会根据当前情况，根据有关盐沼形成的非生物条件和沿海地区生境的可用信息，粗略地反映出盐沼保护和发展可能感兴趣的位置。除了已经存在或正在发育的半天然盐沼的拉长河段以外，荷兰瓦登海沿岸的几条河段也为盐沼的发展提供了有利的非生物条件。但是，将盐沼纳入防洪系统的前景还取决于其他方面。各种自然保护协定及其相关义务均有效。此外，