Communities and institutions for flood resilience: Enhancing knowledge and capacity to manage flood risk in the Bangladeshi and Dutch Deltas Matchmaking “Urbanising Deltas of the World” 10 December 2012, Rotterdam

WOTRO-Integrated Programme (IP) Two-stage process (pre-proposal, full proposal) Stakeholder workshops in NL and BGD to define full proposal Review Panel (pre-proposal): “Strong participation of wide variety of stakeholders. International, bilateral and national multi- stakeholder collaboration very well developed.” Application process

Southern-based research institutes: Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM) Center for Env. and Geo. Information Services (CEGIS) Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) Khulna University & KUET Southern-based non-research institutes: Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Unnayan Shahojogy Team & Dhaka Ahsania Mission Partners

Northern-based research institutes Wageningen University (lead) – Irrigation and Water Engineering group and Disaster Studies group UNESCO-IHE – Flood Resilience Group University of California, Berkeley Northern-based non-research institutes Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency Dura Vermeer City of Dordrecht Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Centre Links to programs (Delta Alliance, Water Mondiaal)

Assess and compare the strategies and policies of governments, professionals and communities to reduce flood risk and vulnerability in the Bangladeshi and Dutch Deltas Contribute to poverty reduction through the strengthening of institutional and community capacities to manage moderate floods and increase resilience to extreme floods Mutual learning and international collaboration Objectives

What can be learnt from the similarities and differences between the approaches of the two countries? Which (new) tools, methods and approaches will: Increase resilience to floods? Improve the effectiveness of flood management and disaster preparedness? Lead to a better embedding of new knowledge and action with local stakeholders? Research questions

Active exchange and joint methodology development PhD 1: delta knowledge agendas in NL and BGD PhD 2: urban flood risk management in BGD and NL PhD 3: rural flooding & CC adaptation in BGD and NL PhD 4: novel flood risk and disaster management approaches: comparison between the two deltas Topic 5: mutual learning and collaboration 4 PhD projects to analyze the strategies and policies to manage flood risk

Rigidity + stability (NL) vs. dynamic + fluid (BGD) Climate change changes the game in NL  BGD BGD has a lot to offer in terms of resilience and non-structural approaches to flood management Large infrastructural solutions (alone) no longer appropriate (infrastructure legacies) A portfolio of “no-regret” responses to managing risk, that increase adaptability and sustainability Mutual learning & bilateral collaboration

Rural flooding and climate-change adaptation in BGD and NL Focus on how rural communities in the Southwest of Bangladesh are adapting to climatic extremes in practice, especially floods How their social resilience to floods can be further improved Local adaptation to climate change Tidal River Management (de-poldering) Adaptive capacities comparison

New flood and disaster management arrangements Focus on integrated approaches to disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and flood risk management globally How these arrangements are constructed and contribute to building resilient deltas in Bangladesh and the Netherlands Explorative and integrative