Toespraak van minister Schultz voor de korte openingsbijeenkomst van High level Experts and Leaders’ Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP)

Toespraak | 28-05-2014

Ladies and gentlemen,
A warm welcome to you all, here in the heart of Rotterdam. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you today.
Unfortunately, our chair Dr Han can’t be with us, but he asked me to chair this third HELP meeting, and I’m honoured to do so.
This is also my very first HELP meeting, so please forgive me if I’m not yet familiar with all your wishes and ideas.
The one thing you need to know about me is this: I consider this international forum to be very relevant and urgent.
Water-related disasters still occur all too often and will continue to do so.
We have seen the consequences of the tsunami in Indonesia, and flooding in Thailand, New York, France, the UK, and now in the Balkans.
These disasters claim too many lives, human misery and trauma’s. And they causes too much economic damage.
It’s our ambition to do something about that.
Our goal is not only to assess the damage after a disaster, but to take action before it happens. Prevention and risk reduction can and must be put higher on the international agenda.
Research has shown that prevention works out seven times cheaper. It not only saves lives, but also saves billions of dollars.

The timing of this meeting is perfect.
Next year, decisions will be made on three UN processes:
First, the post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, as a successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action.
Second, the post-2015 Framework for Sustainable Development (the SDGs).
And third, the UNFCC climate agreements, focusing on adaptation and its funding.
We’ll also have the 7th World Water Forum in early 2015.
All unrelated, you might think. But they all have one thing in common: water.
To my mind, that gives this meeting an added sense of urgency, as I’m sure you’ll agree. Together we can put things in motion.

To illustrate this, I’d like to take you back to the day I was appointed vice chair of HELP.
It was the second of December last year. Three days later, a storm raged across Europe, combined with a spring tide. Here in the Netherlands we saw the highest water levels since the deadly floods of 1953.
We had to close our major storm surge barriers.
In some places, water splashed over the embankments, but disaster was averted. Mainly thanks to our having invested in the Delta Works.
It provided the perfect motivation for getting started at HELP.
For all countries must prepare themselves for climate change. And for the social and economic consequences.
Around the world, the number of people living in vulnerable delta cities is rising. But the number of water-related disasters is rising too.
I repeat: it’s up to us to plan and work ahead: not cleaning up and rebuilding after the disaster, but putting effective measures in place before the disaster.

So I’m pleased that we’re meeting here today in Rotterdam – a typical example of a large delta city.
Its contribution to our economy is vast, mainly thanks to the water. You’ll see that for yourselves this afternoon when you visit the port.
But being caught between rivers and the sea, it is vulnerable too, like this picture shows.
That’s why Rotterdam is working to become a climate-resilient city. I’m sure Mayor Aboutaleb will tell you more about this.
Tomorrow you’ll see how we protect this region, with the Maeslant storm surge barrier – the result of decisions we made sixty years ago.
We’re now preparing for new decisions.
More people are living in vulnerable areas now. Economic value has changed. And we must take climate change into account. More on this later this morning.

That preparation needs to be done not only here, but in the rest of the world, too.
I’m convinced that if we pool our efforts, we can do something about the risks and their consequences.
So first, I’d like to invite you to share your knowledge actively today. I see it as my role to facilitate that interaction.
And second, I would call on you to be as concrete as possible, so that by the end of the day we’ll have achieved a result.

I imagine, for instance, that we could agree on how to get prevention higher on the international agenda.
I also imagine that we could arrange to carry out a risk assessment for a hundred major cities around the world. As a first step towards reducing risks.
We could present our commitment in this area to the post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Let’s decide on specific further steps, so that by the next HELP meeting in Washington this autumn we’ll have made real progress.
I’d now like to give the floor to the Mayor of Rotterdam, Mr Ahmed Aboutaleb.