ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��

On Friday, October 3, Martijn van Gils will defend his dissertation entitled “Soil subsidence and water level management in peatlands”&�Բ�����;

Soil subsidence is a major challenge in Dutch peat (meadow) areas. Over the past centuries, the soil in these areas has subsided by several metres, making them some of the lowest-lying parts of the Netherlands. In rural areas, soil subsidence is mainly the result of avoidable human activity, caused by the drainage of peat soils. In built-up areas, the soil subsides due to the weight of buildings and infrastructure.

For a long time, soil subsidence was considered a normal development in the physical environment. Measures were thus mostly aimed at temporarily preventing the adverse effects of subsidence, such as lowering surface water levels, raising gardens and repairing roads.

However, it is slowly sinking in that periodic measures alone are no longer sufficient to tackle soil subsidence. In recent decades, the adverse effects of soil subsidence have been steadily increasing, both in rural and built-up areas. In rural areas, land subsidence leads to greenhouse gas emissions, reduced water quality and the drying out of nature protection areas. In built-up areas, land subsidence results in damage to foundations and infrastructure.

A more effective approach to soil subsidence, aimed at preventing or limiting these adverse effects as much as possible, is therefore needed. In rural areas, this requires changes in water level management and agricultural land use in order to ‘break’ the vicious circle of drainage, peat oxidation and soil subsidence. In built-up areas, a combination of mitigating measures, such as periodically lowering the water level, and adaptive measures, such as applying lightweight foundations, is needed.

This doctoral thesis examines how environmental law can contribute to a more effective approach to soil subsidence through the environmental legal duties and powers assigned to the national, provincial and municipal government and the Regional Water Authorities. It examines how – and within what limits – these governments can exercise their duties and powers, such as establishing water level decisions and setting rules in the environmental plan and the environmental regulation, to change water levels in peatlands, to change or restrict agricultural land use in peatlands, and to set requirements for the locations where and the manner in which new construction can take place in peatlands.