Governance of ‘long term delta planning’ in Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Netherlands

Governance of ‘long term delta planning’ in Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Netherlands

The Deltas in Times of Climate Change Conference II, taking place in September 2014, Rotterdam, presented a suitable occasion to discuss both delta challenges and interesting approaches to how ‘delta dynamics’ are being dealt with worldwide. Delta dynamics include here both environmental (including climatic) and socio-economic processes, and since relatively recent ‘long term delta planning’ is taking shape as an approach addressing these in an integrated manner. The long term delta planning projects taking shape in, amongst other deltas, Bangladesh, Vietnam (Mekong) and the Netherlands, bring up highly relevant (water) governance questions. During the conference’s ‘Bangladesh Delta Session’, centered around the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 project, two particular issues were discussed: first, how the BDP2100 works towards practical implementation of the long term vision, and second, which lessons learned in the field of institutional coordination and stakeholder participation can be drawn from delta planning in Vietnam and the Netherlands. Representatives from the three countries, all heavily involved in long term delta planning projects in their respective deltas, presented the state of affairs of the delta plan initiatives and shared their views.

Three long term delta planning cases selected

Noting that in all three countries long term delta plans have been developed earlier, in recent history, new initiatives materialized in the form of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, the Mekong Delta Plan and the Dutch Delta Programme. These initiatives have picked up the challenge of grasping delta developments in the broadest sense, and are trying to come up with both long term delta visions and pathways towards sustainable futures.

The delta planning projects have now been on-going for a number of years, and this ‘phasing’, expressed by the number of years of experiences with long term delta planning, was an important reason to include the three deltas in the discussion. Besides this, the selection was based on the inherent dynamics in each of the deltas. Such dynamics, which include environmental processes (erosion, sedimentation, water flows and flooding, and climate variability), and socio-economic processes (urbanization, migration, rapid increase in economic activity), are materializing at different speeds in the three deltas.

	Bangladesh	Vietnam (Mekong)	The Netherlands
‘Phasing’ or number of years of experience with long term delta planning	3 years: 2012 (Feasibility study); 2013 – on-going (Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100)	5 years: 2010 – 2013 (start up and Mekong Delta Plan), 2014 focus on implementation	7 years: 2008 (Working together with Water); 2010 – 2014 (Delta Programme)
Contrasting environmental ‘delta dynamics'	Highly dynamic system, eg regular and extensive floods	Moderately dynamic system, eg regular floods	Relatively stable, eg rarely floods

Apart from those differences the Asian delta plans have in common that they are to a large extent inspired by the Dutch Delta Programme. This is demonstrated by the resemblance in terms of project objective, activities and supporting ‘tools’: the use of scenarios to outline and compare possible measures, explicit attention to uncertainty in decision-making and adaptive delta management as an overarching conceptual model. Some of these ideas are by hindsight captured in the framework of a ‘delta approach’ which was also put forward during the conference. Several renowned Dutch individuals and organizations are involved in the projects in Bangladesh and Vietnam.

Bangladesh: moving from visionary plans to reality…

With the launch of each ‘long term delta plan’ project, the question arises how to ultimately move from a visionary, attractively illustrated plan on paper, to the reality of programme financing and implementation on the ground. In the case of the Bangladesh Delta Plan, the institutional anchorage of the project lies with the same governmental institute that develops national investment plans: the Planning Commission formulates the so-called Five Year Plans. In this way, a cross-cutting institute, as opposed to a project being embedded in one particular ministry, has the ability to reach out to the numerous involved institutions, stimulate inter-ministerial collaboration, and to link long term vision development with (initially, five year) investment plans. Discussions are currently on-going between BDP2100 and the Planning Commission regarding the integration of BDP2100 activities in the 7^th Five Year Plan (2016 – 2020), which will be delivered next year. This exchange pursues that recommended no-regret measures will link to investment agendas, and materialize on the ground in the form of concrete projects.

… and synchronizing with on-going initiatives

From another perspective, already existing programmes, formulated by other actors, are being implemented while the long term vision is being developed. This became particularly apparent in the reality of hydraulic interventions in the southwest delta and ‘polder region’ of Bangladesh. The coastal zone is characterized as a highly vulnerable region, due to low-lying land, the occurrence of cyclones, floods and erosion, and a high population density. At the same time it is home to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove ecosystem in the world in connection to India, acting as a ‘coastal green belt’ reducing the impacts of cyclones. Several initiatives have targeted the southwest delta as a region for continued investments in the water and agricultural production systems at field level. Besides the BDP2100 (approaching the region as one of the ‘hotspot’ areas), the Dutch Embassy in Dhaka (the Blue Gold polder development programme) and the World Bank (the Coastal Embankment Improvement Project) have recently launched large scale water management programmes.  Different ideas about polders, delta dynamics and long term delta planning all converge here, and it remains to be seen how to synchronize these parallel initiatives.

Insights Vietnam and the Netherlands: institutional coordination and stakeholder participation

During the session, questions were raised about who ultimately ‘governs’ the delta plan – is this a collective task of a wider project community, or should a Delta Commissioner be appointed to oversee all? In the Netherlands, the position of a Delta Commissioner was designed as having no particular ministerial affiliation. This was, however, no easy choice and debated heavily from the start. In the case of the Mekong Delta Plan, a regional steering committee was installed to guide the project. It was put forward that there should be not only a Delta Commissioner that takes the Mekong Delta Plan further, but also a Red River Delta Commissioner, to pull off a simultaneous development in the Red River delta, where the Vietnamese central government is located.

Involving the broader ‘delta societies’, beyond the project consortium and partners, was brought forward as an important aspect of long term delta planning. In case of the Mekong Delta Plan, it was raised that public involvement came rather late in the process, and that more attention should go to interaction with especially the businesses community, which is growing in importance in shaping delta activities. This discussion came back in the challenging question raised by a representative of a Bangladesh NGO about ‘which percentage of BDP2100 focuses on engineering, and which percentage on social affairs’ – of course, a very difficult question to answer, but the message was clear: emphasize the need of ownership of the plan with the people well on time.

Concluding remarks

What became clear from the session is that there is a huge scope for continued intra-delta comparison and exchange of experiences, especially because long term delta planning centres around a number of similar principles, approaches and ‘tools’. Although these could themselves be the object of closer scrutiny, long term delta planners in the different countries may be confronted by questions and dilemmas that have been dealt with earlier by their colleagues. This also concerns some of the (water) governance themes as discussed above. Being aware, however, that deltas differ enormously in terms of its environmental and socio-economic dynamics, is important to avoid that a blueprint approach to long term delta planning is being followed.

Delta dolphins

Dolphins have been spotted along the Dutch coast, something that had not happened for a long, long time. According to this website, dolphins disappeared from the Dutch delta after the closure dam in the Zuiderzee was constructed in 1932 and only after some accidental events in the 1940s and 2004, it took until now that the dolphins 'returned'. They were spotted near the southwest delta, close to the Westerschelde.

This is not some small fact, only of relevance to biologist or environmentalists. No - this means that the last piece of the puzzle has been found (and fits)! Because now, the Dutch delta finds itself among the ranks of a number of other dolphin-rich deltas: from the Amazon to the Irrawaddy, but mainly from the Ganges to the Mekong: the two other cases in our comparative research program.

A nice account of a researcher's interest in delta dolphins, something that made me actually notice the importance of the rediscovery of Dutch delta dolphins, is the novel written by Amitav Ghosh, the Hungry Tide. He describes the experiences of a researcher trying to locate the Irrawaddy dolphin, which is the name given to dolphins living in the estuarine environment in Southeast Asia, in the Sumdarbans of the Ganges. In his book, dolphins in the Ganges delta are the central figures around which the delta stories are told.

He describes the dolphin as a species that 'knows' how to deal with the tidal dynamics, both with ebb and high water, and both with fresh and saline water. At the same time it is put under pressure by human settlement in deltas. Traditional knowledge and 'hard science' come together when trying to discover the animals' habits. For many environmental protectionist, the dolphin is an 'indicator' of healthy and good functioning delta ecosystems; for others, a source of spiritual guidance; and for again others, of very little relevance and only a means to reach other ends.

Just to complete this theme - besides the Irriwaddy dolphin (orcealla brevirostris), Bangladesh is also home to the South Asian river dolphin (platanista gangetica): a much smaller cousin, living more (up to hundreds of kilometers inland, even in Nepal), with the habit of swimming sideways. In that way, the dolphin finds its way by touching the ground with one of its fins as a reference, because it can't see well.

Go, Flipper!

Presentation and Louise Fresco's statement on controlled flooding

Last month I had the opportunity to deliver a research presentation to the Wageningen UR Board of Directors. I immediately have to say that this opportunity arose not based on a first hand invitation, but because someone got ill and the organizers needed an alternative pitch - nevertheless, a great occasion to promote a number of research themes and trends in delta I'm working on!

The meeting was with a number of representatives of the Social Sciences Group as part of an 'introduction tour' of the new president of the board, Louise Fresco. Of course, most of you know that she has been one of the members of the 2008 Delta Committee and that initiated at least a few remarks, following the presentation. The link to the slides on Slideshare can be found here.

After the meeting I got in touch with mrs Fresco and she was willing to come up with a statement on controlled flooding: "In The Netherlands, a densely populated country with to two thirds of the inhabitants below sea level, we consider ourselves a living laboratory where infrastructure and a better understanding of controlled flooding coupled with a broad dialogue with society leads to a longtime approach of the challenge of living in an active delta." This would very helpful as a Statement of Support, for next research proposals on the topic!

From the Delta Works to the Göta Canal

While the Dutch have their Delta Works, the Swedish have their Göta Canal: a 190km long hydraulic engineering project, of which 87km are hand-made canals. During a short ‘field trip’ as part of the Sweden STS Summer School I attended (see another blog about this soon), I visited the Göta Canal ‘museum’ (two wooden barracks with some information about the project and its founding fathers) near Motala, central Sweden, and it was really worth it.

Because some similarities between the Dutch and Swedish ‘grand hydraulics’ are striking: where Johan van Veen can be said to be the intellectual mastermind behind the Dutch Delta Plan, Baltzar von Platen, a former navy officer and minister, has fulfilled the same role in Sweden by developing a master plan and bringing it into reality. During a 22-year period canal stretches and sluice gates were constructed at different project sites and the canal itself was inaugurated in 1832. Von Platen was one of the Canal Company Committee, which further consisted of Swedish and British hydraulic and navy engineers. The project gave a boost to the Swedish engineer industry, for example by Von Platen’s newly introduced forms of ‘wet excavation’ (based on British experiences) and the establishment of the Motala Verkstad, a large workshop where the required dredgers, excavators and other machinery equipment was produced.

The museum’s information leaflets presents another similarity in terms of hydraulic and nation-building discourse: the project was considered the ‘Swedish Structure of the Century’ and a project of ‘national importance’: arguments related to national defence and economic security were the most important ones that were used. The Göta Canal provides an alternative connection between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, thereby avoiding ships paying heavy toll to the Danes at Øresund. However, by the time the canal was completed the Danish tolls were lifted, and the developing railway transportation system provided an economically cheaper alternative for transporting goods and people within Sweden.

Some differences, on the other hand, are that the Dutch Delta and Swedish mountainous and hilly landscape, dotted with numerous large lakes, present different geographic settings. Coastal and riverine flood protection was not in high demand. Also, where the Dutch Delta Works were implemented following the 1953 flood, the Göta Canal was constructed based on non-disaster situation and brought forward as an economically interesting project.

The project now mainly fulfils a touristic and historic purpose, providing a nice and quiet water landscape.

The pursuit of permeability

Dams versus semi-closed storm surge barriers, dikes versus inlets, flood prevention versus flood restoration… the last weeks I’ve been thinking about a potential title for my PhD manuscript, and what seems to a central ‘issue’ in the themes and cases that I study, is how to strike a balance. The balance between the 'extremes' of fully closed and (partly) open, the balance between full flood prevention and ‘free’ tidal and river floods in the delta.

This made me come up with the preliminary title: the pursuit of permeability. It reflects the continuous attempt of human actors in aiming to strike the ‘right’ balance: in the past with (nearly) zero permeability ("this never again" motto after the 1953 flood), towards compromising semi-closed (or semi-open?) flood management infrastructure measures (Oosterschelde), and nowadays towards ideas that deal with floods by allowing and even facilitating floods. Over time, different social, political, technological and economic conditions have asked for continuously re-adjusting the balance between open and closed (or anything in between) rivers or estuaries.

Such ‘greener’ ideas are amongst others represented in practice by de-poldering projects or dike relocations, allowing more space for flood and tidal dynamics. Agricultural areas are converted into floodplains for the sake of flood safety (lowering peak river discharge levels) and go hand in hand with efforts in the domain of (new) nature development. The Overdiepse polder and the Noordwaard polder fit well into this picture. But de-poldering is also proposed on different grounds: as a compensation measures for dredging the Scheldt river (Hedwige polder) or the expansion of the Rotterdam harbour (Rhoonse polder), or aiming to stimulate socio-economic activities in a not-so-attractive-anymore area (Perkpolder). All have in common though, that they are the result of a ‘shift’ in balance: apparently we are moving away from full flood protection to open or semi-open approaches towards floods – at least, in some areas of the Netherlands. How to strike the ‘right’ balance, is the contemporary (and long term) challenge both in technological, policy and social domains.

Especially the Noordwaard polder (which is the Dutch case in my project) is interesting and connects to both ‘pursuing’ and ‘permeability’. Firstly, the water managers and environmentalist who, for different reasons, have pursued de-poldering and flood restoration in the area. And secondly, because the restored flood regime is controlled by semi-permeable dikes: partly lowered at four locations (representing inlets of flood water once the river reaches a certain height). Some water should stay behind the dike, while other water should turn into a managed flood – hence the ‘permeable’ dike.

Let's see in a few years time what has remained of this initial, working title ;p.

Article submitted: Let’s bring in the floods: de-poldering the Noordwaard

Last Tuesday I submitted a manuscript to the Water International journal and hopefully they will accept it for publication – no doubt after several rounds of addressing comments, corrections and other changes ;p. For those interested, a short summary is provided below. Also check out the infographic, initially made in Dutch by Loek Weijts, who was so kind to send me the ‘empty’ file (with only credits due), in which I inserted the English translation. Thanks again! A very and illustrative way to get familiar with the project.

Let’s bring in the floods: de-poldering the Noordwaard

The Noordwaard is an agricultural polder in the Southwest of the Dutch delta. It has been appointed to be de-poldered (or in other words, the embankments of the polder will be lowered or removed, in order to reconnect the area to the river) to enable the discharge of extreme volumes in the Merwede river. By de-poldering the area, fresh water tidal fluctuations (more or less along the edges of the polder), and water from the river flooding the polder (yearly during winter, and during peak river water levels, will overflow the lowered embankment and enter into the area) are restored.

Main driver of this project were the (near) floods in the Dutch rivers in the mid-1990s that initiated the Room for the River programme. In the programme, various measures were proposed to create more space for rivers to deal with extreme discharges, and included dike relocation, river widening and bypasses. De-poldering the Noordwaard has long been a contested measure which severe impacts on the local farmers – some of them had to move out of the polder. After a long period of contrasting views, support, protests and negotiations, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management decided in 2005 to de-polder the area.

What I find most interesting about the project, is what may be covered by a slogan: ‘restore delta dynamics’: this includes facilitating flood regimes (yearly small scale floods while being able to accommodate larger floods), the growth of the Biesbosch river wetlands, providing ‘room’ for natural dynamics and environmental quality, lots of green and seeing benefits from delta floods. But at the same time, some typical delta dynamics are deemed ‘unfit’ for the area. Restored floods are expected to bring in sediments, but this will affect the hydraulic discharge the project initially was designed for. So, sediments (but also excessive growth of vegetation) should be removed as to guarantee ‘free’ discharge of peak river water flows. The Room for the River hydraulic objective of carrying a peak 18,000 m3/s (although still debates in scientific and political arenas) needs to be met. Understandable, but how about the storyline that ‘the safest areas in the Southwest delta are the areas outside the dike, that have received most of the sediment during the last centuries’. How about sediments increasing the height of the area – very very slowly, but still: one way to be safe from larger floods is to have your land high enough. 

To me this aspect is a point to make and food for thought. If you have any comments, please leave them in the 'comments' field below!

PS: see also an earlier news item on the project (in Dutch): http://nieuwsuur.nl/video/517058-hoe-nederland-de-voeten-droog-houdt.html

Controlled flooding in the Mekong delta

Six years after my last visit to Vietnam I returned to Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong delta and it was amazing and a real delta adventure! So many things have changed (my former guesthouse is now a lively bar), but also many other things have remained exactly the same (motor bike taxi’s, go-with-the-flow traffic, and the hassle in Ben Thanh Market).

The purpose of the visit was to get an impression of how controlled or facilitated flooding in the Mekong delta takes shape, representing the third case of my PhD project. For that, I travelled together with Tran Duc Dung, who will start his own PhD project soon, to the northern part of the Mekong delta. There are some regions (and a project) where controlled flooding is an inherent part of the agricultural and water system of the delta: notably in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces. Most of the farmers there grow two rice crops per year, and during the flood season a layer of flood water flows overland from Cambodia (and to some extent via the several rivers that make up the Mekong) onto the fields, bringing the required sediments and nutrients in and flushing the water system. It is for that reason that farmers talk about mùa núóc nô, or ‘happy flood’. The slowly raising water levels are kept at bay until August (by the so-called August dikes). Then, the water overflows the dike and floods the area where the second rice crop has just been harvested from.

But (central) governmental policy makers are thinking about growing three rice crops per year, which would necessitate large scale infrastructure to block the overland and controlled floods. Various other actors, from local farmers to representatives from local governments, research institutes and NGO’s are worried about this development and expect increased flood risks in Can Tho (since flood water would not spread out in the north anymore), the largest urban area in the Mekong delta. In addition, preventing sedimentation and nutrient deposition is expected to lead to deteriorated agricultural production, and does not compensate anymore for soil subsidence. It is indeed the balance between facilitating regional ‘good floods’ versus preventing large scale ‘bad floods’ in the delta. These discussions are also taking place within the context of the recently issued Mekong Delta Plan, where Vietnamese and Dutch water experts have aimed to streamline various existing master plans and development trajectories for the delta.

During the first days, Dung and I had some informal discussions with staff from An Giang University. Then we spent a few days by motor bike driving about 250k to visit different districts of An Giang province. In the northwest we visited the flooded forest wetland, which requires a certain flood dynamic (timing and water level) to function as an ecosystem, providing ‘modern nature’ and lots of bird life to the region. On one of the island in the Mekong distributaries the North Vam Nao project proved a very interesting case: the project was designed for full flood control, but after local actors’ engagement, the area now employs rotational flooding in the fields. Also the interviews at the Mekong Delta Development Research Institute, Can Tho, and IUCN, Ho Chi Minh City, were very informative. The movie suggested by Andrew Wyatt (and Ngan Le, who will soon also post on this blog) are very interesting: the disappearance of the flooding season (see also parts 2 and 3).

The coming months I will continue working on this case and later on also plan some short re-visits. If you have ideas, comments or questions (I have lots of additional interesting literature), please let me kow. Thanks to Gerard Pichel for a nice lunch, Dung for sharing our  delta adventure, and Gerardo van Halsema for initial ideas, advices and a nice sea food dinner on the 27^th of Feb!


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Update: new research group, refining research themes and delta cases

Hi there! Welcome back to my research project. Several things have changed over the last year - so it was about time to post this update!

After working in 2012 at the Disaster Studies chair, in 2013 I moved to a different research group. I'm now with the Environmental Policy Group, located in the Leeuwenborch. Unfortunately, a few months after I moved the Disaster Studies chair was dissolved. ENP conducts environmental social science and policy research. Some PhD's are involved in the Building with Nature programme; an interesting link!

In terms of research themes, some modifications have been made to the original research proposal. I don't want to bother too much with what has been changed, added or downsized - instead, it is much more informative to discuss about the refined main features.

A sneak preview by means of the new research title: de-poldering and controlled flooding in the Dutch, Bangladesh and Vietnamese (Mekong) deltas. 'Greener' approaches to dealing with flood function as a context. In the next posts, I will post more on each individual delta cases: the Noordwaard, Tidal River Management and controlled flooding in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle.

I still hold my affiliation to the Netherlands Water Partnership, were I work as an advisor to the Water Mondiaal programme. The aim of the programme is to coordinates the bilateral collaboration between Bangladesh and the Netherlands in the field of water. It's a busy period with two large water management programmes on-going, funded by the Dutch Embassy in Dhaka: Blue Gold, on integrated polder development in the southwest delta, and the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 project, aiming to assist the Bangladesh government in developing a long term vision (and strategy) for dealing with socio-economic and other delta trends. Dealing with floods will surely be part of it!

Weekly world flood update

This week I came across numerous news items, reporting floods occurring everywhere around the world... No wonder that the Proventium Consortium has a specific newsletter specifically concerning floods (you have to register first and then click the newsletter topics of your choice)!

Oxfam reports floods in Niger, affecting more than half a million people and causing 80 casualties. The floods are due to heavy rains and have caused a lot of damage to especially the agricultural sector. Food prices are expected to rise sharply in the coming months.

In Cameroon, heavy rains caused the breach of a large water reservoir, which surprised the North Eastern parts of the country (and also parts of Nigeria). Also in this case, huge secondary flood impacts are expected, especially in the field of health – cholera, malaria, and other infectious water related diseases.

More than a million people are displaced in the North Eastern part of India (bordering Bangladesh, where downstream flood waters are also expected). Next to reports of casualties and damage to properties, also the National Park has been affected (photo Indian Times).

NL MoFa move to invest in water related DRR

The department of Humanitarian Relief of the Foreign Affairs Ministry recently formulated a concrete ambition in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction: in accordance with international agreements, 10% of the humanitarian relief assistance should be invested in DRR (see doc, in Dutch). The rationale is to invest beforehand in the reduction of risks, instead of only responding to a crisis. This is an interesting, and fruitful, development.

I was happy to be invited by the ministry for a meeting yesterday to informally discuss and brainstorm about the approach and options to invest in disaster risk reduction activities in water management. And, I could not resist to translate this into possible activities in the field of flood risk management in deltas ;p. Participants liked the ideas and to name a specific outcome, it was recommended to develop 10 long term Delta Visions for at leas 10 world deltas, to advise on integrated holistic approaches and flood risk management activities, supported by Dutch know-how and expertise. Cool! Also we discussed about options for urbanized delta areas, for example in the field of water and sanitation.

Participants included representatives from DME (the 'water'department), DSH (stability and humanitarian relief), the Red Cross and the Red Cross Climate Center, Deltares, and the Delta Commissioner's staff and we are likely to get together again the coming months.

Three sides of the delta

The last two weeks the research team enjoyed an excellent time in Bangladesh. I’d like to share with you some personal impressions and lessons learned from the trip.

The workshop on the 2nd of December confirmed the interest in and opportunities for research on greener flood management solutions and strategies, from a Bangladesh perspective. Especially in the parallel discussion it showed that this would fill a gap between water related research versus more environmental related research. On the other hand, it also became clear that the terminology needs some tuning: despite attempt to define ‘green flood management’ it was still understood in multiple ways; as in green economy (solutions contributing to sustainable economic growth), green growth (measure to ensure higher agricultural production to feed the country), to considering the environmental impacts of planned flood infrastructures. So, my first task is to re-check terminology and possible alternative formulations of the research theme.

The second part of the trip involved field visits to the Jessore-Khulna region. It was great to have an impression of the delta, which reminded me also about my work in Vietnam some years ago. Very remarkable to see (nearly) the same practices, rice and fish production, similar kind of houses, and the general 'delta looks'. We visited some of the beels in which Tidal River Management is on-going, took place or is planned. TRM is a nice example of ecosystem-based flood management, as the practice departs from the dynamics in the river and broader ecosystem functioning simultaneously. Especially the social dimension of TRM is interesting: people developing, hijacking, promoting, opposing the concept. I also enjoyed the discussions with Mahmouda, Farhana and Arjen on our individual research plans and shared interests. We also had a intensive session in which we developed an outline for a joint paper.

To conclude this short story, for me the trip ‘joined’the three sides of the delta: the Netherlands, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Golden Artery Nature - looking for water

On the 29^th of January I witnessed a 2,5 hour discussion in De Balie on the value and future of nature in relation to water management. It was called 'golden artery nature' in relation to water. And yes, you can taste some disappointment here, because interaction with the audience was virtually absent – no invitations for questions, feedback, comments etcetera from the people, who took the trouble to travel to Amsterdam. Anyway - you’ll find the full podium-monologue via the recordings:

The stories were quite interesting and strongly related to my research themes. The NGO Natuurmonumenten organized this debate. Against the background of reduced investments in the Ecological Structure (the policy plan to create nature reserves and connect them throughout the Dutch delta), and I would also not be surprised, about the abolishment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries, Natuurmonumenten intends to explore future and progressive collaboration with the water sector. Not only to work on nature conservation, but also to see how nature can be beneficial or supportive in water management.

Huib de Vriend (director Ecoshape) and Katheleen Poels (Royal Haskoning DHV) gave a very complete overview of projects and initiatives in the Dutch delta, that fall into the broader ecological conceptualization of water (and flood) management. The examples ranged from nature-inclusive (more room for the river) to nature-based (ecoshape) solutions. They both concurred that the incorporation of ecosystems dynamics and functions has taken a flight during the last years – the projects working in the line of thought of Ecoshape, now outnumber the formal Ecoshape projects. Classifying the projects based on landscapes, as Katheleen did, comes very handy in understanding which types of projects could be applicable to which kind of landscapes – whether it would be in the Dutch, Bangladesh, or Vietnamese deltas.

My short talk over drinks with Frans Vera, one of the authors of the Plan Stork (in turn one of the landmark publications that supported the ecological conceptualization in flood management), was also very interesting. He agreed with the ecological conceptualization 'movement' in water management and found my classification of nature-inclusive and nature-based approaches to floods appropriate and useful for my research.

Bangladesh hit by cyclone Mahasen

Yesterday Bangladesh was hit by cyclone Mahasen, which made land fall in the region Patuakhali - Bhola - Chittagong. Bangladesh newspapers indicate that so far 10 persons have been killed and about a million have left their homes in search of shelter. Interesting to think about this in the context of the slow onset diasters vs sudden disasters. How to prepare for an event of such magnitude, when knowing that definitely it will happen every few years. And even then it comes as a surprise...



(source: www.bdnews24.com)

See also: http://www.dutchwatersector.com/news/news/2013/05/evacuation-to-embanked-shelters-started-as-cyclone-mahasen-approaches-coast-of-bangladesh-and-myanmar/

Deltanet Conference in Ghent

Last Monday, Dynamic Deltas team members Jeroen Warner, Arjen Zegwaard and myself joined the Deltanet international conference on interregional cooperation between European deltas. Deltanet is an EU-funded programme to stimulate knowledge exchange between deltas in Spain/Portugal, Belgium/the Netherlands, UK, Romania, Germany and Poland.

It was quite nice to hear, for example, stories about the Schelde from the Belgian perspective. Usually Dutch people (with myself as a now outdated example...) tend to think about the Southwestern Delta only in terms of Dutch issues: 1953 flood, Hedwigepolder, nature development/coastal protection, water quality issues in the Volkerrak, sedimentation issues, salt water intrusion. But ofcourse also across the border, many issues are going on and plans are being developed to deal with them. See for example the Belgian Sigma plan. This needs international collaboration in order to work according to an integrated approach.

Next to that I could (re-)establish links with persons working in the Danube delta, the Ebro delta, and the Minho delta. So far, the programme will end March next year but the consortium partners are now thinking and working on applying for a next phase.

Ofcourse a visit to Ghent could not be limited to just going and coming back the same day (which is in logistical terms almost impossible). So we went already on Sunday afternoon, enjoyed a Ghent stoofvlees dish with Belgian beer (picture by Arjen) and slept in an old monastry, to complete the 'total experience'.