[harryf]

The other problem is the Netherlands are at risk of getting wiped out by rising sea levels.

Your example of Italy is bad news - in effect countries that could produce their own are buying Dutch because it’s cheaper, presumably because economies of scale now work in Holland’s favor.

In other words we depend on a country that’s at risk of being wiped out by flooding for food _and_ that same countrys dominant market position is also holding back food production in other countries.

Sounds like the back story for a bad movie.

[jillesvangurp]

Sea level changes are not that much of a challenge. We have centuries of experience building infrastructure to manage that and decades more to leverage that. Much of the country is already below sea level and already well prepared for extreme water levels. Some of the infrastructure will need some upgrading of course. The reality of sea level changes is that they will be most devastating in places where they won't be able to pull together the economic resources to put infrastructure in place or where they are making the historic mistake of assuming it won't happen.

[misja]

This is a myth. Despite the global warming, Dutch sea level rising has not accelerated. See e.g. https://www.clo.nl/en/indicators/en0229-sea-level-dutch-coas...

[radicalbyte]

I was worried about that too, only it turns out that due to the exact location the risks due to the sea level are much lower than in other countries. Having the British Isles as a buffer from the Atlantic really helps.

Changes to the weather pattern (particularly the rain) are a bigger cause of concern.