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.
For this episode I joined a Dutch delegation form Blue Deal, the international program of the Dutch Union of Water Boards, to Ghana. The possibilities as well as the dilemma’s quickly became clear: restoring and maintaining the mangrove forests is one of the bst ways to combat the consequences of climate change and to create new sources of income for the local inhabitants, but selling mangrove wood is also an important source of income. After all, for the Ghanaians nothing makes smoked fish taste better than the tang of mangrove wood!
Listen to it here:
I spoke with Bregje van Wesenbeeck of Deltares, who is experimenting with willows and mangroves to see how they stand up to storms. Carel Nobbe of the Blue Deal says: first you have to make sure the people you’re working with are on board. Wetlands ecologist Emmanuel Nii Attram Taye from Ghana is working to save the mangrove forests that protect the coast. And for the Netherlands, says Alex Hekman of NL2120, it’s both: nature-based solutions are essential, in combination with hard infrastructure.
One of the people I met who impressed me most, was the chief of a village (photo) on the coast of the Lower Volta River. His village had been washed away and they had to relocate. Do he and his people feel safe now? “No, we are not safe,” he said. “The sea will come.”
The next episode of Waterproof is about the increasing salinity in the world, which threatens our drinking water and food security. It goes live on Dec. 5th.
Waterproof is a 6-part production for Partners for Water, a program of the Dutch government that focuses on internationale water security through long-term collaborations with local partners in countries all over the world.
