Dutch Water Envoy Welcomes Louisiana Governor and Other Leaders on First Day of Economic and Resiliency Mission

Louisiana / Amsterdam – The Louisiana Office of the Governor reported on August 8, 2022, that Governor John Bel Edwards and a group of Louisiana business and government leaders had an agenda that included a meeting with the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands Henk Ovink, as well as a tour of major water infrastructure sites and research facilities across the country in an effort to forge economic and resiliency partnerships with their Dutch counterparts.

The visit includes:

• The Noorwaard Polder, among the key sites of the country’s large-scale flood control project, “Room for the River.”
• Kinderdijk, a UNESCO world heritage site whose 19 windmills have historical significance in the development of water management and pumping stations.
• Delft, home of the Deltares water research institute featuring the largest wave-testing facility in the world.

“The Netherlands has been an invaluable partner to Louisiana in our quest to develop cutting-edge solutions to the state’s complex flood control challenges,” Lousiana Governor Edwards said. “Our ongoing exchange of water management best practices is a model for the kind of international collaboration that is required to confront an environmental crisis of this magnitude. On behalf of the entire state, I thank Special Water Envoy Ovink for the invitation to continue the exchange of ideas and experiences to the historic water challenges we both face.”

In 2015, the Dutch Cabinet named Ambassador Henk Ovink as the world’s first national cabinet-level water management head. As the Ambassador for Water, he is in charge of raising water awareness around the world and forming coalitions of governments, businesses, and non-profits to find innovative solutions to the world’s severe water problems. In 2019, he traveled to Louisiana to share best practices with resilience leaders and investors in the state’s developing water business sector.

“This important and inspiring visit with Governor John Bel Edwards and the Louisiana delegation comes at a critical time,” Ovink said. “Working together on water starts with understanding and valuing water better. Louisiana and the Netherlands share the same challenges and opportunities, and importantly have a shared ambition to step up to the water, climate and sustainability needs. Forging coalitions like ours can inspire the world to scale up and replicate the needed actions. I applaud the governor and his team for their leadership and look forward to scaling our collaboration across the world.”

The fact-finding mission comes after meetings on Sunday with U.S. Consul General Kate Nanavatty, Dr. Bregje Van Wesenbeeck, scientific director of Deltares and an international expert in nature-based flood risk reduction solutions, and Dr. Lauren Alexander Augustine, executive director of the National Academies of Science Gulf Research Program, where she oversees management of $500 million in Deepwater Horizon settlement funds.

Wesenbeeck and Augustine informed the governor on a planned partnership with state, federal, and local partners in Louisiana to establish a national Center for Equitable Climate Resilience. They also talked about the possibility of creating a “Blue Carbon” or “Coastal Carbon” market, which would harness aquatic and wetland plants’ ability to trap and store carbon to generate greenhouse gas credits and motivate investment in Louisiana wetlands restoration.

The participation of leaders from two countries at the forefront of climate change comes as the Netherlands prepares to co-host the United Nations 2023 Water Conference. World leaders will gather at the United Nations in New York City on March 23-24 to build a cohesive action plan for what organizers term “a water secure world for everyone.”

Governor Edwards and members of the delegation updated his Dutch hosts on a number of breakthrough projects underway in Louisiana as part of their best practices exchange.

Chip Kline, Chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, reported on the progress being made in restoring and safeguarding coastal Louisiana with the completion of several restoration projects, sediment diversions, and flood protection measures. Ehrenwerth and Baton Rouge Area Foundation CEO Chris Meyer talked about the Louisiana Watershed Initiative and the sustained success of the Baton Rouge Water Campus, the country’s first major center dedicated to coastal restoration and sustainability research. And Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson discussed how higher education partnerships are fostering a strong water management workforce through initiatives such as the Coastal Technical Assistance Center (CTAC) on the Nicholls State University campus, which connects Louisiana businesses to coastal restoration project contracts.