The Politics of Amphibiousness: Shifting Coastal Management in the Netherlands

Summary

This paper explores the consequences of a shift in Dutch coastal management. The management approach transitioned from aiming to keep the sea at bay toward the stimulation of dynamic sea-land relations. This shift toward “dynamic management” can be seen as part of wider trends in both ecological and science, technology, and society thinking on coasts as amphibious more-than-human entanglements. We draw on a case study of the Wadden Sea barrier island Ameland to develop the notion of amphibious response-ability. We show that while dynamic management enabled amphibiousness in the land–sea interface, it limited other types of amphibiousness, with consequences for the possibilities to respond to coastal changes. These consequences for amphibious response-abilities became critical when rapid coastal erosion threatened and partially destroyed a gas platform. Our case shows that even when coastal management regimes are amphibious because they unleash and build on natural processes, they can still have harmful consequences, and they can in fact limit the possibilities for integrated responses to coastal change. We conclude by suggesting that heterogeneous knowledge alliances are needed to expose and work with the politics of (amphibious) coastal management regimes.