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!