On Friday, 1 February, Jaap Kwadijk, the Deltares Scientific Director, will be introducing Dutch flood protection policy at a conference in New Jersey for planners.
He will be focusing in particular on the long-term policy, including areas like the Delta Programme.
Friday will be the 60th anniversary of the disastrous floods that afflicted the Netherlands in 1953 and resulted in the first Delta flood protection programme. In his introduction, Jaap Kwadijk will focus in particular on the second Delta Programme, which is currently being developed, with Deltares playing a major role. The second Delta Programme will map out, and determine strategies in response to, the consequences of climate change and sea-level rise for the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the global front-runner in terms of policy development in this field.
The meeting in New Jersey is being organised by the American Planning Association-New Jersey. It focuses on a range of planning developments in this state, including flood protection, an issue that has acquired even greater urgency in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Initially, the meeting was planned on 1 and 2 November but it was cancelled because of the hurricane.
[mappress]
Press Release, January 30, 2013