Linking water, energy and climate change
Alleen de uitgesproken tekst geldt.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This is an ambitious meeting. We could have decided to limit our focus to one issue, such as how to use energy more sustainably. Or how to deal with a decreasing freshwater supply while demand is increasing. But we made a different choice. We will be discussing how we can secure both our future energy supply and our future freshwater supply.
This is not only a tough challenge; it is also an absolute necessity. Because our attempts to make energy use more sustainable must not hamper our freshwater supply, and vice versa. Clean water is one of life’s basic necessities, which makes it a top priority for us all. At the same time, we need to limit our consumption of fossil fuels.
For too long, the debate focused exclusively on energy, without taking the water issues into account and vice versa. However, I am confident that water- and energy policies can strengthen instead of undermine each other – that we can take measures that serve both purposes. This would allow us to kill two birds with one stone or and achieve a win-win situation.
Let me give you a brief example. The Afsluitdijk is a major dike in the North of the Netherlands that was built in the 1930s to make our country a safer place. The Afsluitdijk closed off a large saltwater inlet of the North Sea and transformed it into a freshwater lake.
Now that sea levels are rising, this dike is no longer high enough or strong enough. It needs to be renovated in the next fifteen years. We take this opportunity to do more than securing our future freshwater supply and protecting ourselves from floods. We also want to improve the natural environment, increase tourism and introduce sustainable energy generation at the dike. We can generate energy is by taking advantage of the confluence between seawater and freshwater.
However, there are many other things we can do to prevent water- and energy policies from undermining each other and to ensure they support one another. I believe we can learn a lot about this subject from each other today.
We will be able to follow the debate from several perspectives this afternoon: Arjen Hoekstra will tell us about the impact of bio energy on water resources. Jos Frijns will look at it from the opposite perspective: he focuses on the climate footprint of the water cycle. We will also discuss possibilities to improve the connection of water and energy policies. Jamie Pittock will speak about an ambitious international research initiative on how we can combine sustainable water management with energy security.
I am pleased to leave the stage to these – and other - interesting speakers.