“Climate adaptation and water investments have huge economic benefits, but it’s hard to translate that into financial revenue streams”, says International Water Envoy of the Netherlands Meike van Ginneken in this sixth and last episode of Waterproof. “You need ‘patient capital’. And that very quickly gets you to public finance. Governments have a very important role in this, in organizing climate adaptation.”

Water, biodiversity and food: it’s Nature’s Recipe. But how do you keep these important drivers balanced, healthy, profitable and resilient? And what do jaguars and strawberries have to do with it? You’ll find out in this fifth episode of my podcast Waterproof for Partners for Water.

This fourth episode of Waterproof is all about breaking the Build-Neglect-Repair Cycle. As we have called it: Build. Neglect. Repair. Repeat.

With the best intentions, countries from the global north often spend a bundle of money building something that people in developing countries need, or that the donor thinks they need. Then the locals can’t maintain it, or can’t afford to, or they don’t know how. It falls apart, and the donor either has to come back to repair it – or doesn’t come back at all. It’s a vicious circle. 

Once upon a time, Europeans would turn up in emerging countries with mega-infrastructure projects meant to help people. They were well-meaning, but often deaf to what the local populations wanted or needed. Times have changed and, as you’ll hear in this third episode of Waterproof, more and more, the locals run the show! More about the people you’ll hear in the show below:

This second episode of Waterproof is all about ‘The Salty Intruder’. All over the world, arable land is becoming more and more saline, threatening farmers’ livelihoods and our food security. But there are smart, innovative people looking for solutions – and the Dutch are helping, for example with a new Virtual Reality game to teach farmers to plant salt tolerant crops. I played it – but I wasn’t very good at it, I have to admit. Listen here:

My new podcast Waterproof is live! The first episode is called ‘Let Nature Do It!’, about nature-based solutions that help prevent flooding and provide places where nature can flourish. Listen here:

Over de hele wereld zijn Nederlands ingenieurs ingezet om het water beter te beheersen. Met
hun werken in acht landen vormen ze het middelpunt van een boek en een tentoonstelling van fotograaf Luuk Kramer.

Lees mijn verhaal via deze link (abonnees) of via de pdf hieronder.

De cultuurvloggers van Shot of Culture maakten deze superleuke video over Waterwijs, de tentoonstelling die ik als gastcurator heb samengesteld voor het buitenmuseum van het Zuiderzeemuseum.