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In recent years, there has been a sharp rise in awareness of foundation problems in the Netherlands, with the drought of recent years playing an important role. Although a lot is already known about the problems relating to foundations and how to tackle them, at the same time there is still a lot to learn. A new report from TNO and Deltares commissioned by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 'Towards a knowledge agenda for foundation problems', explains the scope and nature of the problem in the Netherlands and gives an initial outline of a knowledge agenda for an effective approach to the problem.

The evaluation of ten years of the Sand Motor shows that the innovative Sand Motor pilot is a success. The peninsula made of 21.5 million cubic metres of sand was created in 2011 on the coast near Kijkduin using the Building with Nature principle. The aim of the pilot project was to determine whether the wind and currents would spread the sand along the coast and towards the dunes, strengthening the coast in the long term and creating a dynamic nature and leisure area. That goal has been achieved. The evaluation shows that the coast is wider, that the dunes are growing well and that leisure visitors appreciate the area. The Sand Motor is also contributing to knowledge development about coastal management and maintenance, and inspiring other coastal protection projects worldwide.

Deltares has applied a new dataset and found that coastal zones in much of the world are lower than has been realised. Flood risks are therefore higher, particularly given sea level rise and land subsidence.

Accounting for tropical cyclones more than doubles the global population exposed to low-probability coastal flooding. This is according to a new study from Deltares, the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at VU Amsterdam and the Netherlands eScience Center, that simulated extreme sea levels that are caused by tropical and extratropical cyclones at global scale.

The Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean near Africa includes 115 islands, less than a third of which are inhabited. The country is ranked high on the development index for this continent but income inequality is also relatively high. Like many small islands, the Seychelles are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Sea-level rise is expected to have severe consequences. To adapt to sea-level rise a range of options exists: protection, accommodation, coastal advance and retreat. So far, retreat has been mostly used post hoc, rather than preemptively. Researchers from Deltares, Utrecht University, New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute at Victoria University of Wellington, and Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations demonstrate in the scientific journal Science how exploring pathways to managed retreat adds value in the context of the accelerating and long-term commitment to SLR. They argue that there is an urgent need to keep coastal retreat on the table as an option to adapt to sea-level rise.