The National Climate Adaptation Strategy (NAS) was the Dutch answer to the call from the European Commission to all member states to create an adaptation strategy no later than 2017. The NAS included four diagrams (hotter, wetter, drier, and rising sea level) to visualise the effects of climate change on nine different sectors. The NAS 2016 was evaluated in 2022. In order to accelerate the implementation of the NAS 2016, a new report was published in 2023, titled “the National Implementation Programme on Climate Adaptation" in Dutch shortened to the "NUPKA". This document shows what measures have already been undertaken for the upcoming years, and which measurements are still necessary. It shows the implementation and speeding up of the NAS. In 2026 the new “NAS” will be published.
The NUPKA (2023) states, for instance, that every development in the Netherlands from now on must take into account sea level rise, increasing heat, longer periods of drought, and more extreme rainfall. It also discusses that policies to make the Netherlands “climate proof” need to be more intelligent, intensive, and inclusive.
The NUPKA pays special attention to the following four domains:
- Water: protection against sea-level rise and flooding
- Agriculture, nature, and the environment: climate robust agriculture, resilient nature, and preparations for climate risks
- People and culture: heatproof cities, staying healthy in times of climate change, and protecting cultural heritage
- Living and working: climate-adaptive buildings and climate-proof living, resilient infrastructure, and resistant waterways
