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!

rearviewmirror

I've just spent way too much time looking at the historical maps that are made available here: http://zldgwb.zeeland.nl/gw411sl/?Viewer=Cultuur%20Historie. Our project, and this blog, is called Dynamic Deltas. After visits to the Deltas of Bangladesh and the Mekong in Vietnam I often wondered if the designations 'dynamic' at all applied to the Dutch Delta. Strolling through times and locations on this website makes me realize it most certainly does, or maybe i should say, until the Delta works came in to the picture, it did. Below the growing together of the islands Tholen and st. Philipsland.

 1650

 1916

 1959

2014

New York going Dutch on CNN

http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2014/05/13/climate-change-dutch-netherlands-henk-ovink-new-york-rebuild-by-design/

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.

meanwhile in the Netherlands

The deltaprogram in the media: we need higher dikes!

http://nieuwsuur.nl/onderwerp/681455-grootschalige-dijkversterkingen-nodig.html

long live the Sundarban

(via Anna Wesselink, tnx)

Some reflections on the Dutch delta work, as seen on site

The Dutch delta work is a major social-technical response of the Dutch society and economy to coastal flood risk, clearly showed in the unforgettable flood event, early 1953. The core of this work is huge investments on water control infrastructures, aiming at reducing (as much as possible) coastal flood risk. What we can see nowadays as part of this delta work in Zeeland province are mega sea-dikes, sluice gates, embankment, and sophisticated river flow/level control systems along the coastline, especially at river mouths. Since its accomplishment, the Dutch delta work well served its purpose: effectively resolved the issues of coastal flood risk. At the same time, this mega investment shows the Netherland’s strong economic and engineering capacity; and equally important: people’s determination to create a safer living environment.

First reflection: Human land and water management seen as a layer superimposing on the natural landscape. At the landscape scale, I can relate very much the Dutch delta work to a layer of human’s management practices/infrastructure putting on top of the natural delta system. Once in place, this layer starts to modify the delta’s natural dynamics in ways that serves human’s wishes, in this case to reduce coastal flood risk. Of course there are also unwanted effects caused by this changed delta dynamics, like eutrophication caused by diminished tidal regime in regions after the sea-dikes. This idea of layering also triggers thinkings about alternatives, what if we put a different layer on this delta, how would such a layer look like?

Second reflection: History influences on Dutch delta approach, and issues of path dependencies. To me there is quite a strong influence of the Dutch’s long tradition of controlling water on the delta work. It looks like: from the countless years of water channelling, dikes construction and land reclamation, the ideology of controlling water emerged and solidified from generation to generation. And the delta work very well reflects this way of thinking. Then comes the question of path dependency. The water management history shows its role in shaping the basics of the current delta work, and the question then is: how this current work continues to shape the delta’s future. Is there any chance that this continuation could lead to a lock-in state, where the delta becomes so rigid that it becomes difficult to change? This way, the system becomes vulnerable to new risks.

Third reflection: Looking into the future, keep it or leave it? How long the current water management layer will last very much depends on its robustness in the future. As long as it ensures safety despite changes in sea level and hydro-climatic extremes, there are strong reasons to keep the system as it is. But this is also a matter of choice. The society might come up with other ideas, and people might start to think of changes, new ways to deal with water. Perhaps the emerging ideas of depoldering and natural tidal regime restoration are telling us something about the future of this delta?

May 20, 2014

Painting: The Rhone with Boats and a Bridge, Vincent van Gogh

Photos of the Deltatrip

Some photo's of the Deltatrip can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/yzbusio6uxdontv/AABCKJhhaiyIFN945NiHC4-ca

A VALUABLE EXCURSION TO THE SOUTHWESTERN COASTAL DELTA, THE NETHERLANDS

The Water Management Group of the WU Environmental Sciences Organization kindly set a pocket field trip for 08 PhD students with the support of Dr. Gerardo. However, the idea for the excursion was initially planned and prepared by Arjen, Martijn.

                                                              Group photo

At 7:20 AM, 16th, May 2014, a field trip started at the Bonsesteeg apartment building, Wageningen in a minibus driven by Arijen. A list of visiting locations were put in a schedule as follows:
7:00 depart from bornsesteeg
9:00-10:00 the philipsdam, vantage point, AZ explains about the volkerak-zoom lake and blue green algae
10:15-11:45 visit the watersnood museum
12:15-13:00 lunch in zierikzee
13:30-13:45 photo moment Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier
14:00-14:45 visit the town of Veere
16:30-17:30 biesbosch and noordwaard polder 
18:30 back in wageningen

Figure: The route of the field tip

Philipsdam:

           My first impression for the trip is the green tree space along the express ways which are hidden by barriers in some sections to avoiding noise for people living in residential areas. Specifically, people in the Netherlands are allocated in block buildings or village houses in residential areas which are built up along the street make a difference compared with Vietnam. During the route, we can also see some kinds of animals such as cow, sheep or even white kangaroos grazing grass in the farms which are owned by private Dutch families.

Reaching the coffee break dropped in a nice coffee restaurant, valuable explanations were taken by Dr. Gerardo, Arjen and Martijn during the field trip about the flood happened in the Netherlands 1953, which caused a severe damage for Dutch with nearly 2000 people died and a huge number of losses of houses and properties. In the situation, the Dutch government decided to have a historical revolution of large scale concrete water structures to protect the country against floods. With an urgent determination and agreement of government and people, a set of dams, dikes and related water items so-called Delta Water Works were constructed to convert the Netherlands to be one of the most a famous and successful countries worldwide in water management and flood control.

There are about 15 focal water works mostly concentrated in coastal areas have been build (information referred from a Vietnamese website) to manage floods and tide throughout the country, enabling a protection of more than haft area below sea water level against floods and being a safe place to live over 60 years. However, Dutch people never satisfy with existing conditions of delta works and elaborate many researches, projects and innovative strategies dealing with water body. Informed by Dr. Gerardo, Arijen and Martijn, a growing challenge of Dutch Delta Committee is the management of saline, brackish and fresh water for sustainable environment in the context of climate change and sea level rise in coming years. The Philipdam is one of the two constructions (together Oester Dam) built behind the Oosterschelde Barrier. This dam is functionally constructed for reducing fresh water upstream flowing to the salt marshes for oyster cultivation since the appearance of Oosterschelde Barrier has been decreased the contrast of high and low tide from the sea good for oyster harvesting. Moreover, the maintenance of a saline environment is needed for blue typical aquaculture such as oyster and shellfish. Another problem derives from the Volkerak zoom lake, which was a saline water ecosystem in the history. However, after the construction of the Philipdams, the Vorkerak dam was closed permanently and the zoom lake was assigned as fresh water storage for local living. Growing water pollution appears with the emergence of blue green algae due to the nutrient from agricultural area upstream flowing to the lake (Arjen research) and this problem should be solved.

Watersnood museum: It is true to be called "caisson" museum, since it is a structure of 4 huge caissons used as tools for barrier constructions after the flood in 1953. All things and information in relation to the flood are shown inside. A documentary film gave us special emotion about what the Dutch suffered and overcame the flood damages.

Town of Veere: A small ancient village/town is located near the river bringing refresh and cool felling after a tour around is done.

Biescbosch and noordwaard polder/or Martijn polder (hahaha): This is actually one of the largest national parks of the Netherlands and one of the last extensive areas of freshwater tidal wetlands in Northwestern Europe. The Biesbosch consists of a rather large network of rivers and smaller and larger creeks with islands. Ever taught by Martijn about the de-poldering area (with dikes and ditch network) during his fied trip in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, I was very eager to come. It is sided in a sensitive place, which initially maintains a natural ecosystem for local inhabitants. Entering a museum in the Biescbosch, it was nice to watch a video about the livelihood of 70 local families within the polders. The film also informed clearly the complex water regime in the region affected by both tide and upstream river discharge and about the contrast opinions from inhabitants. It is surprised since first time I can watch a video together with a presentation simulating the situation at the same time directly to a "polder model", it is really an animation scene. The problem which Martjn is elaborating for his PhD thesis is the reconstruction of ecosystem-based dikes. To the plan, the old dike will be cut with 4 intakes of about 100-200 meter width and allows flood water overflow during the flood season (in winter).

A thing I should not ignore to mention that a big Dutch dog running on the dike in Biescbosch is very lovely; a little Dutch worm in Zierikzee appeared in the lunch and welcomed the arrival of Mr. Wahid (Yemen), and a hurry drop for Mr.Long for catching up a train back to Amsterdam. All these things made the excursion more interesting and unforgettable.

In my opinion, all the interesting things learnt in the trip can contribute to a persuasion that the Netherlands is an ideal environment for student research. Again, on behalf of WMG PhD students, I would like express a sincere gratitude to Dr. Gerardo, Arjen and Martijn for giving us such a nicely unforgettable excursion.

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 

OECD Report on Dutch Water Governance

The OECD published a report on the question whether the NL's  Water Governance is fit for the future (in English!).

Report can be found here

Controlled flooding in the Mekong

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!

 

 

Islands of predictability at the Dies Natalis of Wageningen University

Yesterday I had the opportunity to give an 'elevator pitch' about my PhD research at the celebration of the 96th birthday of Wageningen University.

All pitches are somehow related to water and can be watched at WUR-tv. My contribution starts at 49:10 (you can navigate through the pitches by clicking the < arrow o the right side of the screen).

http://wurtv.wur.nl/p2gplayer/Player.aspx?id=cFqgjo

Prezi presentation doesnt work on the video, but it can be found here:

Fieldtrip on Urban Flood Management in Dhaka

The project team of NWO WOTRO Dynamic Deltas undertook a one-day field visit in Dhaka on the topic of urban flood management. This visit was organised by Farhana Ahmed of CEGIS, who is currently engaged in a PhD research project on Adaptation Tipping Points for urban flood management. The purpose of the field visit was to gain a better understanding of the main issues and recent (structural) responses related to urban flood management. Dhaka suffers from a range of urban flooding problems such as environmental pollution and a lack of adequate drainage services. The flood protection works comprise about 30km of earth embankments along the rivers Turag, Buriganga and Tongi Khal; and about 37 km of raised roads and flood walls along Buriganga river. Furthermore, there are a number of sluice gates, 1 regulator and 4 pumping stations (Kallyanpur, Goranchand Bari, Dholia Khal and Rampura). The team first visited the Rampura pumping station and sluices. The pumping station has a total capacity of 850 cumec, and starts pumping before the water level in the lakes reaches the danger level of 5.5 meter. The catchment area includes Hatirjheel, Banani lake, Ghulshan lake, Dhanmondi lake and Mohakhali lake. The second visit included a stop at the Buriganga river and at a specific section of the flood wall (near the Ahsan Manzil). After making a tour through the Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace) and a lunch at the Military Museum, the team continued the field trip with a visit of the Western embankment. This embankment has been constructed following the recommendations of the Bangladesh Flood Action Plan (FAP). Md Mostafizul Rahman Shibly (an expert from CEGIS) explained that the embankment is a good-practice example of a Multi-functional Flood Defence, since various economic and social functions have been integrated with flood protection. This was apparent from the economic activities going on at the field visit site, namely sand extraction and agriculture. The multiple use of the embankment in Dhaka is different to the common situation in the Netherlands, where the Water Boards have the responsibility to maintain the designed profile of the primary and secondary dikes. Yet, there are also some good examples of Multi-functional Flood Defences in the Netherlands , such as the primary dike Voorstraat in Dordrecht. This dike is also a shopping street, on which a large number of monumental buildings is located. The field visit ended with a Deshi dinner, offered by the host organisation CEGIS to the Dynamic Deltas team. At the dinner, ideas where exchanged for future collaboration between Dynamic Deltas and ongoing and planned CEGIS projects.