Having spent the greater part of the last five centuries reclaiming viable land from the sea, the low-lying country of the Netherlands is now embarking on a massive water-control project to see that it stays as high and dry as possible, regardless of how many square miles of ice chunks collapse.

Despite sea rises of more than four feet predicted in the next hundred years, the Dutch have come at the problem with a can-do attitude, with Cees Veerman, an ex-agriculture minister, stating that, “There are challenges but no dangers we cannot overcome”.  

Unlike the dikes and barriers constructed in the wake of deadly flooding the in 1950s, the new project will use the natural deposition of sand by rivers and ocean currents to raise the level of coastal lands. The project will require large amounts of earth to be added to existing shorelines, and is estimated to cost some 100 billion Euros over the next century, or roughly half a percent of the nation’s GDP.

As the coastal impact of global warming grows, both from melting ice and increased storm power, this landmark Dutch project may become the technical inspiration for thousands of similar projects worldwide.