Toespraak van minister Schultz van Haegen bij de opening van de International Water Week

Toespraak | 02-06-2014

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you very much for that question, Mr Chairman.
And thank you for your compliments regarding our country.
It is an honour to be here today

Let me begin by telling you a story that goes back to the year 1953.

About a nineteen-year-old boy from California, named Harry Morgan.
One February evening he was sitting at the cinema, waiting for the movie to begin.
But before it started, he saw a news item.
An newsreel about terrible floods in a small, faraway country.
That country was the Netherlands.

Right there, at that moment, Harry Morgan decided to help.
But since he had no money, he didn’t know how.
So he took his bicycle and started pedalling and hitchhiking east.

After three days he arrived in Chicago, where he heard a contest on a local radio station.
He called in and amazingly, he won a plane ticket to a European city of his choice!

So, a couple of days he arrived in Holland, travelled to the flooded areas and started to help.

He filled sandbags, brought supplies to people in need, and found shelter for people who’d been homeless.
He wanted to make a difference:
to people he didn’t know,
in a country he only knew from a cinema screen.

This happened over sixty years ago.
The Netherlands never faced such devastating floods again, because we decided to take serious action.

Not only to rebuild.
But to be prepared for the next emergency.
To act before it’s too late!

One third of The Netherlands lies below sea-level.
And four out of five Dutch people live in urban areas.
For them and for our economy we must always be prepared.

The Dutch approach starts with the view that everywhere on Earth, water is a complex system.

Its proper management requires three things: prevention, partnership and flexibility.
And we look at the world from that perspective.

First, we focus on prevention.
We know that there is no such thing as total safety.
But prevention means we can both save lives and manage our economy in the best possible way.

So we are ready when disaster strikes.
So we can react quickly and cope in the best possible way.
And we can rebuild as soon as possible.

We do this by making water an increasingly important element in spatial and urban development.
And we do so by giving water more space where necessary.

Second, we focus on partnership and good governance: partnership between government, the private sector and citizens.
But also between different levels of government: cities, provinces, our regional water boards and the national government.

We’re currently working on a new Delta Programme, aiming to make our country safe for generations to come.
It’s financed from a special government fund.
And it’s led by a special government commissioner, ensuring cooperation between all the parties involved.
This autumn I will be deciding on our new water policy for the next fifty years.

Thirdly, we aim for flexibility.
We know we must be prepared for a higher sea level and for both extreme rainfall and drought.
But we cannot exactly predict the future.
So we must always be able to adapt to changing circumstances along the way.

This new and lasting sense of urgency is the result of a great disaster that struck our country.

But I believe this sense of urgency should be felt worldwide!
Because other cities and river deltas in the world have faced the same emergency.
And we all face the growing need to prevent water pollution, to provide water security and waste water treatment.
Whether you live in America, Africa or Asia.
Or in a growing city, like Amsterdam, Bangalore or Singapore.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In 1953 Harry Morgan travelled back to the United States after several months of volunteer relief work in the Netherlands.
He told other Americans that their financial aid really made a difference.

That is indeed what we should do: make a difference.
Together.

Just like Harry Morgan, we can all help out after disaster strikes.
But it’s even more important to be ready before it happens.

The three conferences we are opening today are about the most important questions we and our children face:
how to ensure renewable energy, healthy food and clean air and water.

But also about the best ways to treat waste water, and to bring sanitation to those who live without.
And about making our growing cities resilient in the face of climate change.

But the heart of the matter is this: all these challenges are interconnected.
So we can only solve them with solutions that are connected as well.

We know that more floods, droughts and storms will come.
So we cannot let this moment pass.
We need to act now.

Since 1953, the Netherlands never faced such devastating floods again, because we decided to take serious action. Not only to rebuild. But to be prepared for the next emergency. To act before it’s too late. This new and lasting sense of urgency is ingrained in the Dutch consciousness. But I believe this sense of urgency should be felt worldwide! We know that more floods, droughts and storms will come. So let us dedicate ourselves to action. And to new and innovative solutions. Before it is too late.

So let us dedicate ourselves to action.
And to new and innovative solutions.
Before it is too late.

Thank you very much.