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Climate Changing? Meuse Adapting!

Thursday, march 18 2010

Site Visits - HOWABO and Steenbergse Vliet - The Netherlands

AMICE Partners and followers had the opportunity to visit each others and discover two investment locations in The Netherlands on March 18th and 19th, 2010.

The first one is the HOWABO project in the City of  s Hertogenbosch (in AMICE known as action 19 in WP3). A bus tour was organised around the future flood reservoir. Participants grasped how big this storage will be. Joop de Bijl, Waterschap Aa en Maas, explained everything from the negociations with the landowners, the technical issues - the reservoir inlet, the highway - that are still being studied, to the global sustainable management plan around the city. The investment is very much supported by the local authorities, who took part to the journey and brought their points of view. Speeches were also given about the Waterschap, the AMICE project, the transnational cooperation on the Meuse basin. A caroussel was organised to exchange views in an informal way on water-related topics. Great ideas came out of it.

In the evening, a walk-and-eat tour was organised around the ancient city of s Hertogenbosch. This was a pleasant opportunity to discuss with all participants and know more about each others culture.

The second one is the Steenbergse Vliet project in the most downstream part of the Meuse basin (in AMICE known as action 16 in WP2). Participants were welcomed in the brand new town hall of Steenbergen by the Mayor itself. Speeches were given on the Waterschap Brabantse Delta and the AMICE project. Participants were then invited aboard for a boat trip on the Steenbergse Vliet and the Krammer Volkerak lake. There was additional presentations that demonstrated that the Waterschap takes into account ecological, cultural and climate issues. The local situation is really complex. The participants were lucky with the weather and could admire the stunning landscape of the Meuse delta, the diversity of birds, the fortress Hendricus and Ron Lambregts floating house.

The event reached its target: to gain knowledge of each project area in relation to the total Meuse basin, to develop a team spirit, an attitude of information sharing at a transnational level, between all operators on the Meuse basin in order to cope with the effects of climate changes.

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