What is the difference between the Delta Commission and the Delta Programme?
In 2008, the Delta Commission (chaired by former minister Cees Veerman) looked at whether we can continue living in the Netherlands, even if we assume the most extreme scenarios for climate change and sea level rise, and advised the Cabinet on the basis of the conclusions.
The Delta Programme was the Cabinet’s elaboration of, and response to, the Delta Commission’s recommendations that flood risk management should be brought up to standard and that the country should be prepared for the future with five Delta Decisions. Those Delta Decisions are not based on the extreme scenarios from the Delta Commission but on the changes measured and the climate scenarios developed by the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI). This means that the Delta Programme is the sober and realistic elaboration of the recommendations of the Delta Commission. An updated version of the Delta Programme is published annually on Prinsjesdag (the state opening of Parliament in the Netherlands).