8 October 2014: Decision makers and practitioners from Bangladesh, China, the Philippines and Viet Nam participated in a World Bank supported study tour to the Netherlands to learn about water resources management and flood protection.

If no concrete mitigation and adaptation measures are put in place, the World Bank estimates that 410 million urban dwellers in Asia will live in areas facing high flood risks by 2025. Within this context, the study tour brought participants from delta cities to the Netherlands to learn from the Dutch’s 400 years of experience in protecting its deltas from flooding.

Participants learned about the Dutch approach to allow ‘room for the river’ to flood safely. Although the Dutch traditionally relied on infrastructure to protect their populations and cities, high tides in the early 1990s showed the limitations of this approach. Consequently, the Dutch shifted from holding back the water with heightening dikes and levees to living with the water. They adopted a long-term strategy, the Dutch Integrated Delta Plan, which includes financial, institutional and regulatory arrangements.

The Dutch also widened rivers in a way that improved the quality of their environmental and social surroundings. They built multi-functional urban structures, such as water plazas that lowered the flood peak discharge and parking garages that can serve as additional inner-city water retention capacity when needed.

Study participants expressed appreciation for knowledge they gained during the tour. Bangladesh’s State Minister of Water Resources, Muhammad Nazrul Islam, said the Dutch “have years of experience in applying technologies we could potentially customize to our own country context.” Maria Belen Andaya-Eusebio, Mayor of Pasig City, the Philippines, agreed that many developing countries could learn from the Netherlands’ knowledge and innovation, saying “We have really come to realize that solving the climate change challenge requires integrated planning and innovative approaches.”

The World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice organized the study tour through the Water Partnership Program, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) in September 2014. [World Bank Press Release] [Room for the River Programme]