Bangladesh can outpace sea level rise by trapping silt in low-lying areas

In the New Nation (Bangladesh), from a June 3 speech by the Dutch ambassador, Bea Ten Tusscher: Bangladesh and The Netherlands have had a long and fruitful relationship. We were among the first nations to recognise Bangladesh after independence. And we were among the first to provide support for Bangladesh's development, starting in 1975. Since that time we have been active partners, working together on a variety of projects and programmes…Here, I would like to focus on one of these development themes in particular: water. Water is crucial for Bangladesh: it feeds crops, provides transportation and sustains the drinking water needs of the population. But water is also a threat. Floods, droughts, storm surges, water logging, river erosion. These are some of the threats that Bangladesh faces. And the year 2007 unfortunately really brought home that message. Again.

The Netherlands faces the same threats. And that is, I think, why we have worked so well together: because we understand each other's problems. Allow me to demonstrate this with some examples. Firstly, participatory water management. Some 450 years ago the principle of participatory water manageluent was established in The Netherlands. The Government of that time realised that it could never effectively operate and maintain the thousands of kilometers of dykes, canals, and sluices that had been constructed to form our polders. Participatory 'Waterboards' were formed in which people collectively decided on the actions to be taken to improve water management. Our agricultural production flourished, and the people were safe from floods.

Over the last 15 years the same principle has gradually been introduced into Bangladesh. First into policies. Then into guidelines. Now into implementation - by the Bangladesh Water Development Board, and by the Local Government Engineering Department in their water development projects. In Participatory Water Management local communities are helped to organise themselves into 'Water Management Organisations'. These are modelled on their Dutch examples, which by the way, continue to function until this day! The results are very impressive: better operation and maintenance of dykes, sluices, regulators; production of crops; more production of fish; better protection against floods and cyclonic water surges.

Those are the visible results. But perhaps even more important are the non-visible results: true meritocracy at grassroots level; active participation of women in decision making processes; improvement of the status of women in society; empowerment of local communities; reduced power of the' elites'; and a more accountable government…

Map of Bangladesh from the CIA World Factbook, Wikimedia Commons