The Dutch are world champions and coastal protection. They have to be, because large parts of their country lie below sea level. Now they are upgrading their dikes. English silt grass, which takes energy from the floods, is supposed to help. Climate change is already more than an abstract spectre in the Netherlands: sea levels are rising. Floods will hit the coasts more frequently in the future. At the Royal Institute for Marine Research, scientists are looking for new ways to protect the dikes. They have discovered that Spartina anglica, also known as English mudgrass, can slow down waves and soften their impact. The only question is how to plant the English mud-grass in the mudflats without it being washed away again and again by the ebb and flow of the tide. They have found a solution for that too. A honeycomb-like framework made of potato starch. The Dutch expertise in coastal protection is in demand worldwide, because many countries simply have no experience.