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# Correction wording flood risks for the Netherlands in IPCC report In the 2007 IPCC report by the Working group 2 (Cli mate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability) a mistake has entered the text that was supplied by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, regard ing the risks of flooding for the Netherlands. In the chapter on Europe, on page 547, it says that 55 per cent of the Netherlands is below sea level (‘The Netherlands isan example of a country highly susceptible to both sea level rise and river floodi ng because 55% of its territory is below sea level’). This should have read that 55 per centof the Netherlands is at risk of flooding; 26 per cent of the country is below sea l evel, and 29 per cent is susceptible to river flooding. Examples of the latter are the near floodings, in the mid-1990s, of areas along the rivers Meuse and Waal – areas that are we ll above sea level. The Netherlands is sensitive to climate change. Sea level rise as well as peak river discharges require precautionary measures. The inco rrect wording in the IPCC report does not affect this conclusion. Research continuously improves the insights with re spect to possible flooding scenarios in specific areas (e.g. the project ‘Mapping safety in the Netherlands’ (Veiligheid Nederland in Kaart), www.projectvnk.nl ). On this subject, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency very recently published a study on flood-risk zones within the Netherlands’ (Overstromingsrisicozonering in Nederl and). 

### Additional information: map of flood-prone areas The map shows the areas within the Netherlands thatlie below Amsterdam Ordnance Datum (NAP), as well as the areas that are suscepti ble to flooding. Based on the current contour map and spatial planning of the Netherlands , we can state that:

26% of the Dutch land surface is below NAP; 1. 

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7/20/2010 http://www.pbl.nl/en/dossiers/Climatechange/content/correction - wording - flood - risks.html59% of the Dutch land surface (i.e. excluding the W adden Sea, the IJsselmeer and other open waters) is susceptible to flooding. This 59% encompasses the areas both within and outside the dyke rings, the s o-called ‘river foreland’; 2. 55% of the Dutch land surface is located within thedyke rings, and is protected by dunes, dykes, dams and artificial structures 3. 4% of the Dutch land surface is situated outside th e dyke rings and, therefore, is not protected by dunes, dykes, dams or artificia l structures. 4.

These figures have been calculated in a cooperation between the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the Directorate -General for Public Works and Water Management. The percentages have been determi ned using the Geographical 

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7/20/2010 http://www.pbl.nl/en/dossiers/Climatechange/content/correction - wording - flood - risks.htmlInformation System (GIS) to calculate the surface a reas. The data used in these

calculations have been obtained from Actueel Hoogte bestand Nederland (a digital contour map of current heights of all of the Netherlands) o f the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, and have been combined with the land statistics from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), and the database on d yke rings of the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management. 

### Flooding patterns differ per region The risk of flooding is not equally divided over th e flood-prone areas. The way a flood occurs in actual practice, depends on local circums tances and is largely determined by differences in height within a certain area, and fo r instance the presence of secondary dykes, construction of roads, and railway lines. Th rough further research on possible flooding scenarios in specific areas, insights into the risks of flooding are increasingly gained. In the study ‘The Netherlands in the Future ’ (MNP, 2007), regional differences between flooding scenarios have already been includ ed in, for example, calculations of economic damages and human casualties. On this subj ect, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency very recently published a study on flood-risk zones within the Netherlands. 

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