Kustverdediging deelrapport 3: A Bird’s Eye View of Coastal Defense Research in the Netherlands.

The field of coastal defense research is not clearly demarcated and not static. Rather the field is constituted of different, partly overlapping subfields and over time when social and policy priorities change, new subfields may emerge and become relevant, while others may decline. To decide whether or not a research group or institute belongs to the field of coastal defense research is therefore not a clearcut matter. Demarcation of the field involves a decision on two aspects.

First we need to decide on the definition of coastal defense. What does it include and what not? In report 2 we found that increasingly coastal defense policy becomes part of a broader policy objective of integrated coastal zone management (Merkx 2007). Also there is a relative shift in policy emphasis from mere defensive strategies to more adaptive strategies. These changing social and policy priorities form an argument for using a broad definition of coastal defense. Such a broad definition of coastal defense could include for example agricultural research in crop varieties that can grow on saline soil and which may form an adaptive strategy.

Second, we need to decide when research is considered relevant for coastal defense issues. Do we include basic scientific research in for example fluid mechanics, in ecology or in climate change research which may be potentially relevant for the field of coastal defense research, or not?