[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
VOICE-OVER: The Netherlands has been living with water intensively since its earliest history.
For us, it's a source of great wealth and opportunity...
that simultaneously poses risks and carries a continuous reason to act.
This conflicting mission dealing with both the promise...
and the threat of the water, laid the ground for the creation...
of Rijkswaterstaat 225 years ago.
Let us trace the journey we've made in collaboration with our partners around the world...
and the collective journey we see ahead of us.
For hundreds of years, the management of waterways in the Netherlands was in the hands...
of regional water authorities, and many local authorities.
But in 1798, the hydrological engineer...
Christiaan Brunings, laid the foundation for the national organization...
that we know today as Rijkswaterstaat.
In 1953, the power of the sea asserted itself at its darkest...
as the massive waters breached the dikes and flooded large parts of the country.
This disaster also created a new impulse for Rijkswaterstaat...
to work more closely with its partners in the world.
A collaborative effort that saw its culmination in 1986...
with the completion of the Delta Works.
Since the 1970s...
thinking about water management began to change, however.
In addition to successfully keeping water out and draining it away...
the importance of retaining bodies of water and of managing...
natural resources sustainably started to gain understanding.
After the year 2000, this came to involve concepts...
such as wind energy and creating room for our rivers.
It created new priorities and projects at Rijkswaterstaat.
as well as new international collaborations.
Today, the Netherlands is one of the best protected river delta...
and coastal areas in the world.
But the climate is changing at an alarming pace.
Drought, cluster rains, rising sea levels...
more extreme than we've seen before.
What is the impact on our safety?
Challenges for the shipping industry and road traffic?
How do we deal with these challenges when we can no longer only rely...
on existing models?
This requires choices based on well-founded knowledge...
at both the European and the Intercontinental level.
So we from the CHR perspective...
identified three major issues to work on for the coming years.
Number one is climate change itself.
How is the discharge changing?
For example, if the glaciers are melting, if it's getting warmer.
The second point is the social economics.
Who gets the water at the end of the day?
The third one is sediment and sediment management.
For example, the Netherlands sit on the delta of the Rhine.
Now, if you get -70% of the fine material into the marine environment...
this also leads to the need for action.
[UPLIFTING MUSIC]
Through the bipartisan infrastructure law...
We are providing over $9 billion dollars to help communities build more resilient...
transportation infrastructure through the PROTECT program.
This funding, along with our efforts to provide tools and guidance...
will help us make more meaningful progress to address the climate crisis...
and meet our goal of more resilient transportation infrastructure.
I’m really proud of the information that we've shared across all of our networks to ensure...
that the operation and maintenance of barriers like you can see behind me...
really carry on and protect the people and property.
The Netherlands is a water country.
We have a lot of water knowhow that we want to share with the world.
Obtaining water security is urgent.
By 2030, water demand will outstrip water supply...
by 40% worldwide.
So let's work together.
Let's learn together.
And let knowhow flow like water.