Markerwaard

The Markerwaard is the name of a proposed, but never built, polder adjoining the IJsselmeer in the central Netherlands.

In the late 1970s, the project was revised down leaving wide bordering lakes between the polder and North Holland.

The questions concerned the need, on one side, for more agricultural areas, new residential subdivisions, and a new airport (to relieve pressure on Schiphol).

On the other side of the debate were primarily ecological issues, with the argument that the value of the lake as a recreation area was considered by some to be stronger than the potential benefits of the polder.

[4] In 2012, plans emerged to create the Marker Wadden,[5] a group of islands designed to establish nature reserves in the north of the Markermeer.