The Prince of Orange, Current Events 1 (October 2005 - May 2007)


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Status
Not open for further replies.

carlota

Majesty
Joined
Feb 21, 2004
Messages
8,327
Country
United States
post-12-1074332292.jpg

Welcome to the 2nd thread about Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands' Current Events

Please remember to credit all your images and articles, and if posting articles, to post only 20% of them then to provide a direct link to the article in compliance with our Copyright Rule.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Part of his upcoming duties:

4 Nov: the prince of Orange will receive first copies of the complete works of dutch author W.F. Hermans
13-16 Nov: WA and Maxima will visit Marocco
18 Nov: PoO will present the Erasmus prize to science historians (one of Prince Bernhards old 'jobs')
19 Nov: Baptism of the princess with the unfortunate names
25 Nov: PoO and Maxima will be present at the opening of an art exhibition of Delores Zorreguietta, half-sister of Maxima.
29-11/1-12: state visit from Jordan
23-6-06: PoO will present the King Willem I award.
 
Prince with BECKENBAUER

from anp
 

Attachments

  • 3230337.jpg
    3230337.jpg
    40.1 KB · Views: 328
  • 3230370.jpg
    3230370.jpg
    36.6 KB · Views: 327
  • 3230336.jpg
    3230336.jpg
    33.2 KB · Views: 308
Polfoto 11-01-2006 U. S. Congressman William Jennings Jefferson, far left, U.S. Sen. David Vitter, second left, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, fourth right, Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, third right, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, second right and Dutch Vice Minister for Transport, Public Works and Water Management Melanie Schultz van Haegen, far right, look at a scale-model of the Maeslant Barrier gates, during a visit at the Maeslant Barrier gates near Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006.

A delegation of 50 U.S. goverment officials, academics and business representives is on a three-day tour in the Netherlands to study flood prevention techniques in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The American visitors are focusing their attention on the so-called Delta Project, a 50-year project that constructed dikes, giant sea walls and flood gates that keep the low-lying country dry. The project was built after a similar flood in the Netherlands in 1953 left around 1,800 people dead. U.S. lawmakers Mary Landrieu, David Vitter and Bill Jefferson, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco are leading officials on the visit.
 

Attachments

  • AP542539_guest.jpg
    AP542539_guest.jpg
    40.1 KB · Views: 346
  • AP542484_guest.jpg
    AP542484_guest.jpg
    28.8 KB · Views: 348
  • AP542491_guest.jpg
    AP542491_guest.jpg
    30.5 KB · Views: 322
  • AP542492_guest.jpg
    AP542492_guest.jpg
    18.8 KB · Views: 388
  • AP542516_guest.jpg
    AP542516_guest.jpg
    27.4 KB · Views: 369
  • AP542485_guest.jpg
    AP542485_guest.jpg
    32.7 KB · Views: 245
Oh yes, the weather is just lovely over here at the moment. Just a perfect day for a visit to the Deltawerken or other nice and rainy spots along the Dutch coast... ;)

Thanks for the info and the pictures, purple! :)
 
from http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=14119

Prince of Orange receive visit by U.S. delegation at the Netherlands after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 11 January 2006

His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange on Wednesday, 11 January, will be present at the visit of an American delegation to the Maeslantkering and the Oosterscheldedam, consisting of politicians and representatives of the business world from the state Louisiana.

This delegation is present till Thursday on invitation of assistant secretary Melanie Schultz of Haegen of Traffic and Public works a visit at the Netherlands. Several months ago, New Orleans was hit heavily by wave of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Therefore the visit is the sign of the Dutch water management stands. The delegation want to put self on the height of the Dutch water approach. Not only a visit will become brought at the delta work. There will also particular attention go out to the new manners on which the Netherlands goes around with water.

Today the program stands paramount in the sign of knowledge division. Tomorrow the delegation brings a visit at the Maeslantkering and the Oosterscheldedam. On Thursday, ondermeer a visit afgelegd at the Waterloopkundig Laboratory becomes Digs and the Hoogheemraadschap Delfland.

10 January 2006
 
from koninklijkhuis.nl

Short address by the Prince of Orange

on the occasion of a visit by a US delegation to the Maeslant storm surge barrier, 11 January 2006

Members of the US Delegation, madam vice minister, ladies and gentlemen,
Senator Landrieu, senator Vitter, thank you for your kind words about the Netherlands.

Our countries are old friends and it makes sense for us to help each other in times of need. That happened in 1953, when the Netherlands was hit by major flooding and the United States rushed to our aid, amongst others with mobile pumps. And it happened in 2005, when Louisiana was devastated by hurricane Katrina, when we sent the first replacements of those pumps back across the Atlantic. I visited the United States in November and had the opportunity to speak to many people involved trying to alleviate the human suffering and economic damage that Katrina and later on Rita caused. These conversations, combined with the experiences of our teams on the ground in Louisiana and Mississippi, made great impressions on me as they should do on anyone living in flood prone areas below sea level.

In 1953 we said: ‘This must never happen again.’ The Delta Project was the direct result of that, and the Maeslant storm surge barrier is the last of the major works. In America you are facing a similar challenge today: how to protect your country in the long term from flooding. You’ve come to the Netherlands to find a possible answer to that question. It is a complex issue and one country’s solutions may not be suitable for export unchanged. But sharing knowledge and expertise is an important condition for success. Just as you can learn from the Dutch approach, we can learn from your experiences. With that in mind, I am pleased that this visit is taking place and that the Netherlands and the United States are strengthening their cooperation on water-related issues.

I would like to stress that flood protection requires our constant attention.

 Because there is always room for improvement.
 Because insights and circumstances change.
 And – last but not least – because the global climate is changing.

The Netherlands has learned these lessons the hard way. The disaster of 1953 resulted in the Delta Project and the river floods in 1993 and 1995 triggered a whole new discussion about safety policy. Vice-minister Schultz van Haegen has set out the focal points of her policy for you. The keywords are: be prepared and be aware. Both are very important. Even in the Netherlands, too few people realise that seventy per cent of our GDP is generated below sea level. That is also where most people live. If something were to go wrong, the damage would be massive, materialistic but above all the toll in human lives. And that is the reason behind my call for constant vigilance. As chair of the Water Advisory Committee, which has been entrusted with the work of the recently dissolved Technical Advisory Board on Flood protection, I will also be making my contribution. Later this year, the state secretary will receive a recommendation from the Committee about a re-evaluation of Dutch flood protection measures.

I would like to make one final remark. It is good to keep your eye on the big picture. Flooding is not something that affects only the United States and the Netherlands. The whole world is in the same boat, especially in this century of climate change. We have to face that reality together. Sharing knowledge about water management and flooding is a global issue. Access to that knowledge is crucial to many third-world countries. This year’s World Water Forum in Mexico will provide abundant opportunities for progress in this area. US-Dutch cooperation could serve as an inspirational example there.
Ladies and gentlemen,

We will never be able to eliminate flooding completely. But being well-prepared can minimise the impact. In other words: you cannot control the wind, but you can adjust your sails. And that is what I hope for your delegation; that you will find plenty of inspiration here in the Netherlands to adjust your sails, on your voyage to a safer future.

Thank you
 
I'm so proud of him. he is such a good representative for holland and he REALLY knows what he talking about with water management.

I personally get bored to tears with the very thought of the subject but I'm glad he works on it since it is so quintessentially dutch.
 
Images from anp
 

Attachments

  • 2266959.jpg
    2266959.jpg
    22.2 KB · Views: 237
  • 2266986.jpg
    2266986.jpg
    23.3 KB · Views: 332
  • 2267001.jpg
    2267001.jpg
    24.1 KB · Views: 335
agreed completely, pollyemma.

Willem-Alexander is now the Water Prince...

i just hope some of his events, like he did last year to China would get more coverage, similar to the ones his wife had.
 
lots of smiles, they seem like they are having a good time, it has been raining cats and dogs today,
liked the last part of his speech:

"We will never be able to eliminate flooding completely. But being well-prepared can minimise the impact. In other words: you cannot control the wind, but you can adjust your sails. And that is what I hope for your delegation; that you will find plenty of inspiration here in the Netherlands to adjust your sails, on your voyage to a safer future."



fanletizia said:
Images from anp
 
Thanks for the pictures. This is a very interesting visit, which hopefully will be of any use to the future safekeeping of US-gulfcoast. I read an article of senator Mary Landrieu (my favourite US senator), in 'The Economist' in which she already referred to this visit and about getting the know-how of their 'dutch friends'.
 
Last edited:
I'm glad to see that the representatives from Louisiana have gone to visit the experts in water management. Louisiana's loss of costal wetlands, New Orleans' historic concerns with flooding, and our changing climate issues make this a national/international concern.
 
By the way, how long has Willem-Alexander been involved in water management?
 
California Girl said:
By the way, how long has Willem-Alexander been involved in water management?

I think since he finished college. i believe he studied history so that was not his degree but he's worked on it so long that he can definitely be called an expert.
 
Thank you pollyemma. Living in the US we rarely receive information about other European royals and it is wonderful to find some information regarding these royal families.
 
Polfoto 11-01-2006 From left: U.S. Sen. David Vitter, Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, Dutch Vice Minister for Transport, Public Works and Water Management Melanie Schultz van Haegen, during a press conference at the Maeslant Barrier gates near Hoek van Holland, the Netherlands, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006.

A delegation of 50 U.S. goverment officials, academics and business representives is on a three-day tour in the Netherlands to study flood prevention techniques in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The American visitors are focusing their attention on the so-called Delta Project, a 50-year project that constructed dikes, giant sea walls and flood gates that keep the low-lying country dry. The project was built after a similar flood in the Netherlands in 1953 left around 1,800 people dead. U.S. lawmakers Mary Landrieu, David Vitter and Bill Jefferson, and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco are leading officials on the visit.
 

Attachments

  • AP542804_guest.jpg
    AP542804_guest.jpg
    20.4 KB · Views: 312
  • AP542797_guest.jpg
    AP542797_guest.jpg
    22.3 KB · Views: 360
The blonde, long-haired secretary of state who escorts the Crownprince, Melanie Schultz-Verhagen, is often mistaken for Princess Maxima (by afar), especially in the early days of the marriage...
 
2 more from koninklijkhuis.nl without watermark
 

Attachments

  • 2266971-anp-pvo-11012006-groot.jpg
    2266971-anp-pvo-11012006-groot.jpg
    42.1 KB · Views: 297
  • 2267132-anp-pvo-11012006-groot.jpg
    2267132-anp-pvo-11012006-groot.jpg
    44.4 KB · Views: 334
http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=14357

Prince of Orange will attend World Water Forum in Mexico on 16 March until 18 March 2006

His Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, on Thursday 16 March till Saturday 18 March, will attend the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico-City, Mexico.

During the opening of the water conference, the Prince will hold a speech. The next day, the Prince will make a field visit to the example project Lago the Pátzcuaro. The Prince opens Saturday 18 March on the Forum the themadag over complete water management.

The Fourth World Water Forum start on 16 till and with 22 March through the Mexican government in the Centro Banamex in Mexico-City organized, and has as a theme Local Actions for a Global Challenge. During the Forum will to expectation 8,000 - 10,000 participants with each other in dialogue go over the activities that they undertook the water situation in their own surroundings to improve.,. The participants present plan and divide can discharge experiences so the world-wide water crisis on. In total become there on the Forum in 195 sessions, single hundred example projects presented. During the conference, each day an own theme gets, as risk management, water for food and integral water management.

The Forum is an initiative of the World Water Council and becomes round the three year organized. On 22 and 23 March finds there to occasion of the World Water Forum a Ministerial Conference place, where the global water crisis are discussed. For the Netherlands, assistant secretary of Traffic and Public works, Melanie Schultz of Haegen at the conference will participate.

The Prince of Orange was the chairman of the Second World Water Forum in March 2000. The Prince is protector of the Global Water Partnership.

1 March 2006
 
Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of World Water Forum in Mexico City, 16 March, 2006.

from getty
 

Attachments

  • 21.jpg
    21.jpg
    26.3 KB · Views: 263
  • 22.jpg
    22.jpg
    29 KB · Views: 275
  • 57107060.jpg
    57107060.jpg
    39.7 KB · Views: 151
  • 57107191.jpg
    57107191.jpg
    49.7 KB · Views: 269
Last edited:
Speech by the Prince of Orange, 16 March 2006
at the opening ceremony of the fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City
‘Restoring the home of the tadpoles’:
boosting local action by enabling leadership and sharing knowledge”
Señor Vincente Fox, president of the United States of Mexico, Your Imperial Highness, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
First, Mr President, let me thank you for hosting this fourth World Water Forum. And with you, I would like to thank everyone in Mexico involved in the preparations. Organising global conferences like this one is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work, as I remember only too well from the second World Water Forum in The Hague. So I appreciate all the more your efforts to boost action on water issues all over the world. The message we are sending to the world this week is that we need local actions. I salute the Mexican government for acknowledging this fact, thereby showing the leadership we need to pick up our pace in dealing with the important water issues that determine the future of billions. For the Mexican government, it is clearly beyond dispute that water should remain a priority on the international agenda. And I’m sure it will come as no surprise that I agree with that entirely.
Ladies and gentlemen, according to a well-known saying from the world of management, ‘processes don’t do work, but people do’. You can’t really argue with that. Yet I believe that it doesn’t strictly apply to our work here. Ever since the first World Water Forum in Morocco, water has been higher on national and international agendas than ever before. Many initiatives have already been launched. The numerous actions that will be discussed here in the coming week show that sustainable water management is a hot issue the world over. Without the vision formulated in Marrakech in 1997, and the call issued there for a Blue Revolution, we would never have gotten this far. The step from vision to action, which it was my privilege to present in The Hague in 2000, was also essential. And Kyoto in 2003 was a landmark because it linked an action programme for water with the Millennium Development Goals. I believe that the main aim of this fourth World Water Forum is for the hundreds of projects that will be presented here to act as catalysts for thousands of new projects worldwide.
All these events form benchmarks. And yet, at the end of the day, it is people who do the work. That is something we should never forget. Because the global challenges we face must indeed be met with actions at local level. I only need to point to the findings of the UN Millennium Project and the Sachs Report.
Ladies and gentlemen, one person who really knows how to work is Wangaari Maathai, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. In her acceptance speech, she took her audience back to her childhood in Kenya. The water in the small river near the family home was clean, safe and healthy. Fifty years on, she could still remember her joy and wonder as a child every time the frog spawn in the stream transformed into thousands of tadpoles.
But now, fifty years later, said Ms Maathai ‘.. the stream has dried up, women walk long distances for water, which is not always clean, and children will never know what they have lost.’ With these words, she revealed the exact reasons why she set up the Green Belt Movement in 1977. This organisation, which since then has planted more than thirty million trees, is making a big difference for many people, mainly because they themselves play a leading part in the work of the Green Belt Movement. Putting an end to deforestation in this way not only leads to economic development in rural areas. It also improves the water supply, strengthens the ecosystem and – last but not least – boosts the self-confidence of the thousands involved. Or, as the Nobel Prize winner herself put it: ‘The challenge is to restore the home of the tadpoles and give back to our children a world of beauty and wonder.’
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the kind of leadership we need if we are to do justice to the motto of the fourth World Water Forum: local actions for a global challenge. Wangari Maathai is the living proof that ‘think globally, act locally’ can – and must – be more than a clever slogan in the global dialogue on water, development and sustainability. Or to put it another way, for me, the significance of this Forum lies in the follow-up at local level.
I think it is safe to say that, at this point, we don’t need more new policies. What we do need is swift action. Especially in view of last year’s Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. That report brings home to us how careless we have been with the earth’s natural resources in the past fifty years. It also shows that the tide must be turned if we are to survive. Biodiversity is at stake and with it, the well-being and very existence of future generations.
Water is a crucial factor and it is no exaggeration to say that the figures and water scenarios presented in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are frightening. Let me give you a few of those figures. The number of flood events rose dramatically between 1950 and 2000. In Asia, they increased sevenfold and on the American continent roughly by a factor of nine. Recent, highly destructive hurricanes and cyclones like Rita, Katrina and Damrey give us little hope for the future. Especially in the light of climate change which – amongst other things – will lead to more extreme weather conditions and rising sea-levels.
Another factor that is cause for concern, given the already increasing scarcity in many regions, is the growing demand for water. In the most pessimistic scenario, global water withdrawals will increase by 85 per cent between 2000 and 2050. At the same time, water availability will increase by no more than seven per cent. The main reason for this growing demand is population growth and the need for more food. As I have stressed on many earlier occasions, the global water crisis is mainly an agricultural crisis because 70 per cent of all water withdrawals are being used to grow crops. And that is only an average. In some countries, the figure is nearly 100 per cent. In the light of the scenarios I have just sketched, water managers and scientists of all kinds will be under increasing pressure to ensure that in the near future farmers can grow more crop per drop. The world simply must increase its agricultural productivity with less water. There is no other way. Those among you who also attended the second World Water Forum in The Hague and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 will recognise this as one of my favourite themes. But, as I just said, we don’t need new policies. The ones we have are cutting edge. The growing demand for water has yet another dimension which, I am convinced, will become increasingly prominent in the years to come. That is the ongoing discussion on our future energy supplies. The demand for energy is growing, one of the reasons being the rapid economic growth of countries like China and India. At the same time, reserves of fossil fuels are limited. So it is logical that the demand for hydropower will increase. In many respects that is good news for the world, since hydropower is clean and ecosystem-friendly. But generating it calls for a continuous, reliable flow of water, with consideration for the interests of all stakeholders. That is not only an extra challenge for water managers. It also places restrictions on withdrawals of water for other purposes .

More in the link below
http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=14595
 

Attachments

  • Prins Alexander_Mexico-wfa-groot.jpg
    Prins Alexander_Mexico-wfa-groot.jpg
    49.1 KB · Views: 239
  • r4122926973.jpg
    r4122926973.jpg
    56 KB · Views: 185
  • notimexpix166190.jpg
    notimexpix166190.jpg
    3.9 KB · Views: 179
  • zunique056410.jpg
    zunique056410.jpg
    6.6 KB · Views: 161
Last edited:
#1-3: Prince William Alexander of the Netherlands, delivers a speech during the second Magisterial Conference on water at the IV World Water Forum 18 March, 2006 in Mexico City .
#4: Prince William Alexander of the Netherlands (L), speaks with an assistant during the second Magisterial Conference on water at the IV World Water Forum 18 March, 2006 in Mexico City.
From Profimedia
 
Speech by the Prince of Orange, 18 March 2006.

From www.koninklijkhuis.nl
at the opening of the session on Integrated Water Resource Management during the fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City. “Integrated Water Resource Management: much achieved, even more to be done.”


Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Global Water Partnership. As patron of this very prominent lobby for the IWRM concept, I mention this fact at the start of today’s session with some pride and satisfaction. Thanks to the work of the Global Water Partnership and others, IWRM has gained a firm place in the worldwide debate on water. Exactly three years ago today I was able to say the following at the opening of the third World Water Forum: ‘More and more people are now convinced that the current water crises arise from inadequate or improper management of water resources, rather than water shortages per se.’ I am repeating this today not because I enjoy quoting myself, but to show that this conviction has grown ever since 1992. In that year it was concluded in Dublin and Rio de Janeiro that traditional, sector-specific water management was economically inefficient, socially inequitable and environmentally unsustainable. That is why, at Kyoto, I expressed my satisfaction at the agreement reached in Johannesburg in 2002 that all countries would have IWRM in place by 2005, along with water efficiency plans.
So there is reason enough now, at the start of 2006, to take stock of our position.
As the Global Water Partnership’s recent IWRM survey shows, 21 per cent of countries are making good progress with their integrated water plans. Three years ago, that figure was only 12 per cent. And 53 per cent are now taking some steps towards IWRM. The percentage of countries still in the initial stages dropped in three years from 39 to 26.
That means that we have failed to meet the Johannesburg targets. That much is clear. So I would urge the countries concerned to move faster. At the same time, I conclude that for the majority of countries, water is apparently no longer a commodity that can be taken for granted in policymaking. It is no longer something eternal, that just flows by. The awareness that is needed even to start IWRM means that more and more countries are now treating water as a resource to be appreciated, understood and protected. As something that has to be managed, because it is crucial for social and economic development, for the ecosystem and for security. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call progress.
Of course, we still have a long way to go. Of course, we still need more proof that we can implement plans by taking action on the ground. And of course, we need to pick up our pace. But let us not forget that we started with next to nothing. So my message to you at the start of this session is that the IWRM glass is not half empty, but half full. Our common mission here today is to make sure that we fill the rest off the glass as quickly as possible. And as I said earlier this week, during the opening ceremony, we don’t need new policies. What we do need are projects in which real people deal with their own, very real problems.
The Partnership’s survey also shows the two main obstacles before us. The first is money – too little money to buy the hardware needed for projects, and too little money to invest in human software through education. This underscores once again how important it is for donor countries to meet their international commitments and earmark 0.7 per cent of their GDP for development cooperation. It’s in their own interest tot do so. Because investing in water means investing in development, equity and stability, and therefore in the future of our planet. I know that this sounds simple, but the solution to the first obstacle for a large part lies in the attitude of donor countries.
The second obstacle to introducing IWRM is the responsibility of individual countries themselves. As the survey shows, a considerable number of countries are seeking an increasing level of perfection in policy formulation, and that is becoming almost an end in itself. Many policy and lawmaking processes take more than four or five years to complete. The trick is not to fall into that trap and yet at the same time to take account of all the people and groups that have a stake in the plans. Because if any of them are left out, the plans have little to do with IWRM and their implementation can never be truly integrated.
The good news is that not a single country will have to start from scratch. And that brings me to the purpose of today’s session. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience available, with the Global Water Partnership as our focal point. Let me give you two European examples.
  • The Netherlands has had water boards ever since the Middle Ages; they are in fact our oldest democratic institution. For many hundreds of years they have forged a direct link between interests, representation and payment of costs in local water management. So we have more than 800 years’ of relevant experience to offer. Of course, applying that experience elsewhere always involves adapting to the local situation. But even so, eight centuries of knowledge and know how offer plenty of excellent opportunities to speed up IWRM in other parts of the world. For the past four years, Dutch water boards have been working with partners in Suriname, Indonesia, South Africa and Egypt to set up local and regional water authorities. In Egypt for example, knowledge exchange has produced positive results in the Fayoum district, where stakeholders have joined forces to manage drinking water, irrigation and drainage systems. South Africa adopted a modern, highly ambitious Water Act in 2000, which brings water management closer to the people. Pilot projects with Catchment Management Agencies are now operating in two river basins, with the help of Dutch water boards who act as sparring partners.
  • My second example is the European Water Framework Directive. Its aim is to bring the quality of the water in the entire European Union up to standard by 2015. By that year, water must be clean and ecologically healthy. For the first time in history, the 25 member states of the European Union have committed themselves to jointly managing all their freshwater resources at river basin level. This makes the Directive a remarkable piece of water legislation. But it took thirty years to get this far. You can well imagine that those thirty years, and the Directive itself, have taught us enough lessons to share with other countries and regions. And of course we are ready to do so.
The bottom line is that there are no magic buttons that we can push to fix things immediately. With IWRM we are in for the long haul. It takes patience and hard work. But in the end, all that hard work pays off. Applying IWRM is like playing with an endless supply of building blocks. With every block, we lay the foundation for the next change needed for the perfect house. We may well ask whether we will ever achieve our ultimate aim – total implementation of IWRM. But anyone who has ever seen children playing with building blocks will agree that the process is the critical success factor. Consultation and taking account of each other’s ideas and interests, will gradually bring us closer to perfection. So the boldness of the IWRM concept itself seems to contradict the satisfaction we have to take in the small steps we can make.
I personally experience that satisfaction every time I have the opportunity to see for myself how countries, regions and villages are coping with water issues.
  • In October last year, for instance, I was in Zhengzhou, China, where I witnessed the start of the first GWP water partnership at river basin level between the nine Chinese Yellow River provinces. It was a wonderful example of multi-stakeholder involvement and integrated planning, which deserves to be copied all over the world.
  • In November last year, standing on a bridge over an irrigation canal in Morocco, I was again struck by the realisation that all our work in international conference halls is meaningless if it does nothing to improve the lives of people living in water stressed regions.
  • And the most recent experience to make an impression on me was in January, when I accompanied a delegation from Louisiana on a tour of major water works in the Netherlands. Governor, senators and their delegation were eager to learn how we dealt with our own Katrina – the storm that devastated our southwest coast in 1953, claiming more than 1800 lives. I can honestly say that we were eager to share our knowledge, because what happened in New Orleans brought back many sad memories to the people of my country. The Louisiana delegation’s visit proved to me once again that sharing knowledge and experience is essential in dealing with the water issues we face.
More from http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=14606
 
looks like WA is having lots of fun... :D :D

Crown Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands dances with African Dancers on Saturday 18 March 2006, at the pavilion of Africa during the celebration of the World Water Forum held in Mexico City earlier this week.

from ANP (EPA/Miguel Dimayuga)
 

Attachments

  • 2529848.jpg
    2529848.jpg
    35.9 KB · Views: 423
Dutch crown prince Willem Alexander addressing in the IV World Water Summit, Saturday March 18, 2006, in Mexico City.

from ANP (EPA/Jorge Núñez)
 

Attachments

  • 2523228.jpg
    2523228.jpg
    21.1 KB · Views: 268
  • 2523279.jpg
    2523279.jpg
    21.6 KB · Views: 230
from http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/content.jsp?objectid=14606

Speech by the Prince of Orange, 18 March 2006

at the opening of the session on Integrated Water Resource Management during the fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City. “Integrated Water Resource Management: much achieved, even more to be done.”

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Global Water Partnership. As patron of this very prominent lobby for the IWRM concept, I mention this fact at the start of today’s session with some pride and satisfaction. Thanks to the work of the Global Water Partnership and others, IWRM has gained a firm place in the worldwide debate on water. Exactly three years ago today I was able to say the following at the opening of the third World Water Forum: ‘More and more people are now convinced that the current water crises arise from inadequate or improper management of water resources, rather than water shortages per se.’ I am repeating this today not because I enjoy quoting myself, but to show that this conviction has grown ever since 1992. In that year it was concluded in Dublin and Rio de Janeiro that traditional, sector-specific water management was economically inefficient, socially inequitable and environmentally unsustainable. That is why, at Kyoto, I expressed my satisfaction at the agreement reached in Johannesburg in 2002 that all countries would have IWRM in place by 2005, along with water efficiency plans.

So there is reason enough now, at the start of 2006, to take stock of our position.

As the Global Water Partnership’s recent IWRM survey shows, 21 per cent of countries are making good progress with their integrated water plans. Three years ago, that figure was only 12 per cent. And 53 per cent are now taking some steps towards IWRM. The percentage of countries still in the initial stages dropped in three years from 39 to 26.

That means that we have failed to meet the Johannesburg targets. That much is clear. So I would urge the countries concerned to move faster. At the same time, I conclude that for the majority of countries, water is apparently no longer a commodity that can be taken for granted in policymaking. It is no longer something eternal, that just flows by. The awareness that is needed even to start IWRM means that more and more countries are now treating water as a resource to be appreciated, understood and protected. As something that has to be managed, because it is crucial for social and economic development, for the ecosystem and for security. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call progress.

Of course, we still have a long way to go. Of course, we still need more proof that we can implement plans by taking action on the ground. And of course, we need to pick up our pace. But let us not forget that we started with next to nothing. So my message to you at the start of this session is that the IWRM glass is not half empty, but half full. Our common mission here today is to make sure that we fill the rest off the glass as quickly as possible. And as I said earlier this week, during the opening ceremony, we don’t need new policies. What we do need are projects in which real people deal with their own, very real problems.

The Partnership’s survey also shows the two main obstacles before us. The first is money – too little money to buy the hardware needed for projects, and too little money to invest in human software through education. This underscores once again how important it is for donor countries to meet their international commitments and earmark 0.7 per cent of their GDP for development cooperation. It’s in their own interest tot do so. Because investing in water means investing in development, equity and stability, and therefore in the future of our planet. I know that this sounds simple, but the solution to the first obstacle for a large part lies in the attitude of donor countries.

The second obstacle to introducing IWRM is the responsibility of individual countries themselves. As the survey shows, a considerable number of countries are seeking an increasing level of perfection in policy formulation, and that is becoming almost an end in itself. Many policy and lawmaking processes take more than four or five years to complete. The trick is not to fall into that trap and yet at the same time to take account of all the people and groups that have a stake in the plans. Because if any of them are left out, the plans have little to do with IWRM and their implementation can never be truly integrated.

The good news is that not a single country will have to start from scratch. And that brings me to the purpose of today’s session. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience available, with the Global Water Partnership as our focal point. Let me give you two European examples.
  • The Netherlands has had water boards ever since the Middle Ages; they are in fact our oldest democratic institution. For many hundreds of years they have forged a direct link between interests, representation and payment of costs in local water management. So we have more than 800 years’ of relevant experience to offer. Of course, applying that experience elsewhere always involves adapting to the local situation. But even so, eight centuries of knowledge and know how offer plenty of excellent opportunities to speed up IWRM in other parts of the world. For the past four years, Dutch water boards have been working with partners in Suriname, Indonesia, South Africa and Egypt to set up local and regional water authorities. In Egypt for example, knowledge exchange has produced positive results in the Fayoum district, where stakeholders have joined forces to manage drinking water, irrigation and drainage systems. South Africa adopted a modern, highly ambitious Water Act in 2000, which brings water management closer to the people. Pilot projects with Catchment Management Agencies are now operating in two river basins, with the help of Dutch water boards who act as sparring partners.
  • My second example is the European Water Framework Directive. Its aim is to bring the quality of the water in the entire European Union up to standard by 2015. By that year, water must be clean and ecologically healthy. For the first time in history, the 25 member states of the European Union have committed themselves to jointly managing all their freshwater resources at river basin level. This makes the Directive a remarkable piece of water legislation. But it took thirty years to get this far. You can well imagine that those thirty years, and the Directive itself, have taught us enough lessons to share with other countries and regions. And of course we are ready to do so.
The bottom line is that there are no magic buttons that we can push to fix things immediately. With IWRM we are in for the long haul. It takes patience and hard work. But in the end, all that hard work pays off. Applying IWRM is like playing with an endless supply of building blocks. With every block, we lay the foundation for the next change needed for the perfect house. We may well ask whether we will ever achieve our ultimate aim – total implementation of IWRM. But anyone who has ever seen children playing with building blocks will agree that the process is the critical success factor. Consultation and taking account of each other’s ideas and interests, will gradually bring us closer to perfection. So the boldness of the IWRM concept itself seems to contradict the satisfaction we have to take in the small steps we can make.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom