Based on historical hindsight, this paper shows that sea-level rise has played a fundamental role in the development of the low-lying environment of the Netherlands. It was beneficial in morphological terms during the mid-Holocene, but from Roman times, it has been a threat to the coastal zone evolution and human habitation. Collective human response started to play a role in coastal evolution as early as the ninth century, while its influence started to become a major factor during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Throughout its history, Dutch society has always been receptive to new technologies, approaches, and policies in its dealings with the many water-related challenges. The success of concerted human response explains why the water boards were successful as the first democratic institutions in the Netherlands. Development of technology and increasing financial means (the Dutch Golden Age) gave rise to increasingly viable flood abatement measures and reclamation projects, which took place on increasingly larger scales. This culminated in large-scale works such as the closure of the Zuiderzee and the Delta Project in the twentieth century. During this project, a turning point in thinking emerged; while flood protection remained a top priority, human interventions were considered in a broader, more holistic context with natural values being weighed against socioeconomic interests. In the face of the challenges of the twenty-first century, policy and management approaches as well as science and technology approaches need to be adapted further in accordance to the principles of working with nature in a trans-disciplinary way. The success of this adaptation will to a large extent determine the viability of the Dutch society as a whole

Policy development is a dynamic and cyclic process characterised by successive stages of development, implementation and evaluation. Throughout this process, interaction between science and coastal management plays an important role. An illustration is given in this paper, based on an analysis of the history of coastal policy in the Netherlands over the last two decades. Evaluation in 1995 of the coastal policy of Dynamic Preservation, developed during the late 80's and implemented in 1990, led to a redefinition in 2000. Implementation in 2001, of a sustainable coastal policy in the Netherlands with both a small- and a large-scale approach, is the result. The analysis in this paper indicates that the successful development and implementation of coastal policy in the Netherlands, is related to the use of a systematic ‘frame of reference’; characteristics are explicit definitions of both strategic and operational objectives applied in a 4-step decision recipe of (1) a quantitative state concept, (2...